An ill-fated small independent. Yorkshire Records ran into trouble with its very first release, 'Don't Cry' b/w 'R.I.P' by Vivian Nicholson & The Two Aspreys (YRC-1; 1973): it found itself on the wrong end of a legal action from York Records (q.v.) on the grounds that its logo and name were so close to those of that company as to be an infringement of their rights. As a result Yorkshire Records had to undertake not to sell or offer copies of 'Don't Cry' with the offending logo on them. It also had to agree to only use its registered name - Yorkshire Recording Company - in future. Googling fails to reveal any Yorkshire Recording Company releases, but there may possibly have been some as the company was not struck off the Register of Companies until the 5th of March 1976. The recording engineer of the single, H. A. Mathias, had a studio in Huddersfield and his own record label, 'Mat' (q.v.). The producer, Geoff Asprey, was the brother of the artist, pools winner Vivian Nicholson; Steve Linstead suggests that the company was a Nicolson family affair and was organized by Vivian's brothers. My thanks go to Steve for being kind enough to respond positively to a daft request from a stranger and provide the scan. He reports that his father took over a shop that used to belong to Vivian Nicholson and found a box of the records in an upstairs store room. Steve managed to rescue a few copies, but his father threw the rest of them out.
Copyright 2016 Robert Lyons.