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A weasel, they say, is more weasily recognised than a stoat, which is stotally different. Telling the difference between an Edsel and a Demon is sometimes less straightforward... Although the theory is that Edsel releases generally relate to previously released items, and Demon LPs are new, or at least new to this country, the reality is that the distinction is sometimes blurred.
One might suppose that since Johnny Copelond's Copeland Special, a 1980 album by the Texan blues guitarist, is on Demon, having never been released in the UK before, that Pickin' Up The Pieces by Poco or Supersnozz by the Flamin' Groovies, neither of which had achieved UK release before, must similarly be on Demon. Not so — both are Edsels.
Andrew Lauder suggests that the label chosen is more a conceptual matter than a hard and fast rule: "John Prine's Aimless Love is on Demon, and so are Loudon Wainwright's recent albums, but his Album III is on Edsel. Suicide's debut album, which was released here on Red Star/Bronze a few years ago, feels like a current record, so it's been released on Demon." Tell Sigue Sigue Sputnik about it ..
By the some token, while Del Shannon's Runaway Hits and I Go To Pieces albums are on Edsel, his more recent Drop Down And Get Me, which was produced by Tom Petty, is on Demon. It's a little harder to work out why the first three George Thorogood albums, licensed from Rounder and released here some time ago by Sonet, are on Demon, and the same applies to the several T Bone Burnett albums, which are all on Demon, although some have been released previously, albeit with about as much promotion as an out-break of foot and mouth disease.
Mainly it's a question once again of whether Thorogood, Burnett and Ian Dury (whose classic New Boots And Panties, an early Stiff release, is on Demon,) are regarded by the Brentford boys as both still active and with a contemporary sounding album. Obviously, they are, as is Nick Lowe, the subject of two blisteringly good compilations (available on CD as well,) 16 All Time Lowes and Nick's Knack.
Of course, nothing's that straightforward down by the canal where the Demon barge is tethered behind the office/ warehouse, as Lauder mind-bogglingly reveals: 'We've just released two Roky Erickson albums, one on Demon and one on Edsel. Some of the material on the Edsel album is newer than the material on the Demon album — Gremlins Have Pictures, but the Demon album hasn't been out before, so it's new, and the one on Edsel's called I Think Of Demons, which is even more confusing. Ian Dury's New Boots is on Demon because it's always been available somewhere, and the some is true of T-Bone's Truth Decoy, which mokes it seem like a current record"
Joe Walsh used to say, when asked about the meaning of the title of his LP The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get that if you thought about it long enough, weird logic would appear. Perhaps the same is true of the Demon/ Edsel dividing line, although most afficianados of the output of the Demon group are probably unaware of the label on which some of the more borderline albums have been released, while they care not a jot.
WHEN CONSIDERING the legendary centres of rock music, several places come quickly to mind — Memphis, Liverpool, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, London, of course — but for the last five years, a most unlikely London suburb could make a justifiable claim to be included in the pantheon of rock resorts: Brentford, a small Thames-side area to the west, has been the home of a vinyl empire where past glories mingle freely with potentially heroic future somebodies.
The Demon Group of labels (incorporating Demon, Imp, Edsel, Zippo, Hi, HDH, Demon Verbals and with an umbilical connection to F Beat) has become a major force among record companies not just domestically, but internationally. This is their story.
An early version of the label existed at the start of the Eighties, releasing singles by acts such as Department S (Is Vic There? was a Top 30 hit in 1981), Bananarama and the Subterraneans (a group featuring well known scribe Nick Kent), but the label's main function of that point was to provide an outlet for new talent while its bigger brother, F Beat, looked after Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and a few others. Although the Demon name remained, label head Andrew Lauder and Jake Riviera abandoned the original label because it was less than viable financially and was very time-consuming.
"New Acts" are quite demanding of their first label" says Lauder "and Demon at that time proved to be of more benefit to the A & R departments of major labels than to anyone else."
Lauder at that point joined Island Records for part of 1981. "At that time, F Beat was having problems as Rockpile (a group which included Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds) had broken up, and things were getting tight, so I felt I'd better earn a living elsewhere, so it seemed logical to join Island" Looking after the shop of F Beat was Andy Childs, who worked on any F-Beat releases which emerged at that time, notably Trust and Almost Blue by Elvis Costello, plus albums by Carlene Carter, Clive Langer and the well-named Blanket Of Secrecy, the latter a duo comprising noted producer Roger Bechirian and singer/ guitarist Pete Marsh, formerly most notably of Twist, whose 1979 LP, This Is Your Life, included contributions by Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve. The sole Blanket Of Secrecy LP was released in the US, but no-one seems sure whether it crept out here, although in typically enigmatic Demon manner, the LP's UK title was Walls Have Ears, whereas the US knew it as Ears Have Walls.
Childs takes up the story: "F Beat started in 1980 with two highly active years. Get Happy was the first F Beat LP, and I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (both by Elvis Costello) was the first single, and both were hits, so we got off to a flying start." However, the label experienced difficulties with the companies to which they were allied for the mechanics of making, selling and distributing their products, and when Lauder emigrated to Island, in the words of Childs: "F Beat had gone a bit flat."
Both Lauder and Riviera were restricted by contractual obligations from relaunching Demon - their agreement with WEA for F Beat stipulated that any Demon release which reached the chart would be taken over by WEA, which gave them little incentive - but Lauder's departure to Island effectively freed him from that obligation, and a fresh deal for F Beat with different terms left the field clear for Lauder and Childs to put into action the plans which had been formulated for a fresh start for Demon.
Notes Lauder: "It was financed internally through Riviera Global and F Beat - not that it was a huge investment just enough to get things moving. I had a couple of months off after Island, working out what I wanted to do, which didn't take long!"
As well as Demon, the inntention was to also launch a sister label, Edsel - named after a legendary and totally unsuccessful Ford car, but also, in rock terms, the name of the group - the Edsels - who recorded the 1961 US Top 30 hit, Rama Lama Ding Dong.
The theory behind Edsel was, and is, to make available great records from the past which might still have a future, but for various reasons were unavailable. This has not been a hard and fast rule, as the first Edsel releases included a compilation of collectable tracks by London Sixties mod band The Action, and a 10-inch LP by the Pirates, the erstwhile backing group for the late Johnny Kidd.
Lauder: "The Pirates told us they were about to knock it on the head and invited us to their last gig, so we suggested they use Nick Lowe's studio to record a final studio album with some Pirates rock-n-roll classics, but those two come out in early 1981, and there was nothing more on Edsel until I came back at the start of 1982. It was always considered that Demon would be for new stuff an Edsel for old stuff." Adds Childs: "The idea was to have the freedom to do reissues alongside the new things, because we all knew the problems of working with new acts, and felt that we needed a little light relief, while we also felt that certain records which weren't available out to be. Demon is more time-consuming - managers, agents, the acts themselves always ringing you up - and in the early days, the two of us did everything, from taking the orders, packing and despatching them, liaising with printers and factories, unloading vans, as well as negotiating contracts!
“It was easier to pump Edsels through and generate some income, although more recently, it’s been 50/50 between Edsels and Demons, which is the right balance,” says Lauder. Here it should be noted that talk of “pumping Edsels through” may mislead the reader unfamiliar with the care and love lavished on all the releases on the label. As Childs notes: “Edsels are still time-consuming, as you have to spend time on the sleeves and ensuring that the tapes you use are the best quality, but you don’t need other people for that sort of thing, so it’s possible to do things quickly, often at home in the evening. Also, one of the things which other labels seem to neglect is working on a record after it’s released, which is something I’ve been guilty of in the past. You’re so happy to see a record finally released that you can’t wait to get on with the next one, but that’s the time when you should be following up review, checking on radio play and so on. Having said that, there’s much less to do with an Edsel than with a Demon once it’s been released.”
In case it hasn’t yet become clear, Edsel is a label with a distinct sense of history, and Edsel compilations are frequently treasured equally by those featured and by purchasers, a good example being that of the Artwoods, a Sixties London R&B group whose leader, Art Wood, is the older brother of Rolling Stone Ronnie. The Group also included famed Deep Purple keyboard man Jon Lord.
Childs: “The Artwoods held a reunion for the night in a pub when the album was released – we got a very encouraging response from them. Art himself is a designer now, and works for the same company as the bass player, Malcolm Pool, so Art designed the sleeve, and Derek Griffiths, the guitarist did, the liner notes. It was great fun, and very rewarding”.
Lauder explains: “With the Yardbirds, when we did the Roger The Engineer album, Chris Dreja did the sleeve just as he;d done with the original, and Paul Samwell-Smith, who produced it, mastered it for CD.” Childs: “When Cliff Bennet discovered we were doing a compilation of his work, he popped into see us, because he runs a shipping company, and he’s up and down the Great West Road out there going to Heathrow several times a week.” Lauder: “Steve Young wrote a sleeve note for the reissue of his Rock Salt and Nails LP. Usual artist/label relationships can be a bit fraught, but as we’re not disappointing anyone since they don’t have career expectations for these records, they’re just happy to see them out, and are pleased to help if they can.”
In addition to sales through conventional record shops, Demon/Edsel permit certain acts signed to the labels to sell their own albums on gigs, a good example being Loudon Wainwright III, one of the few semi-established artists whose brand new records come out through Demon, while selections from his back catalogue are reissued via Edsel. Lauder: “Loudon sometimes actually sells his own records after gigs and signs each one, and Dr. Feelgood often sell theirs. This sort of thing has never happened before to major acts, although we don’t do it with Elvis Costello, of course”. (13 of Costello’s early albums are now available through Imp, part of the Demon label). “The Neville Brothers sold their records when the played the Shaw Theatre, and when Loudon played there, he sold hundreds. It’s a question of making records available to people conveniently and at a time when they’re enthusiastic, just after a gig, and there are certainly many people today who don’t enjoy going into record shops.”
One particularly impressive aspect of the Demon/Edsel empire is their full colour 52 page catalogue, which is sold (price: £2 including postage in the UK, £2.50 overseas) to both dealers and other interested parties. Says Childs: “At dealer level, everyone seems to find it useful, particularly as a sizeable proportion or our total sales occur outside the UK, which we do ourselves from here, along with a few exporters like Caroline, Windsong and Lasgo. The catalogue definitely stimulates business and we wanted to do one that would be kept and not immediately binned. It’s obviously not cheap to produce, but it has a good effect.”
Such attention to detail is equally reflected in the suppliers used by Demon for the various processes necessary in the release of an album, as Lauder relates: “The quality of our reissues is very important to us. We use three main cutting rooms. We’ve always been with George Peckham at Porky’s Mastering Room, almost since he left the Fourmost! That was when I was at United Artists, Tim Young of CBS Studios has always been involved since we started, and Paul Riley, our ‘technical supervisor’ has a relationship with Tape One. They all understand what we want, so we work together well.” Peckham, apparently is good on loud, rowdy records – as Child adds: “Many of the American acts on Zippa have said that our mastering of their records is better than they’ve had in the US or elsewhere, because George whacks the volume up, being a great rock’n’roll fan.” Young, according to Lauder, “is more of a soul fan, so we do things like the Hi label reissues with him. Overall, it’s a question of horses for courses.”
Next comes the pressing of the records, for which Childs is responsible, selects the plant which he feels is most appropriate, although in certain cases as with material licensed from CBS, there is a contractual commitment to press such material at the CBS factory. Not that Childs finds such requirements restrictive – as he remarks: “We also press a lot of other things there, because quality-wise, what they produce is great. I don’t think it’s a good move to only use one pressing plant, because at busy times, you end up competing with yourself. They ring up and say “Which one of your albums do you want first?” and the answer, of course, is all of them.”
Due to the fact that at any moment in time, around 25 different titles are being re-pressed in addition to several new releases, Childs splits pressing requirements between three pressing plants: “CBS, because of its size and efficiency, get the lion’s share, and we also use Damant, because they’re very conveniently placed geographically for us, and can give us a very fast turnaround if we need it, and then there’s PR in Wimbledon, who aren’t so quick, but as they check 100% of their pressings, the quality’s amazing. Apart from those three we still put stuff through Mayking. If things were pressed there, originally, we go back to Mayking for re-pressings, but sometimes Mayking’s at a disadvantage and at the mercy of exchange rates, as it buys vinyl in francs, which makes it difficult for me to justify the extra cost, even though the quality of pressings is very good, and we’ve never had any problems with that aspect of its work.”
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