British; the first UK independent company to be dedicated to Church music. Abbey was formed in 1967 by Harry Mudd and Peter Myers, and it gained worldwide recognition over the decades in its particular field. It was almost exclusively an album label; the vast majority of the 7" records that it put out were issued in the 1960s, but there was at least from the 1970s: Paul Dutton's 'Bless This House' (PDS-711), which came out in 1971 and was pressed by EMI (3). EPs and LPs shared the same '600' numbering, which eventually became '700' and '800', but had different prefixes: EPs had an 'E-7' in front of the number, which gave way to an 'FE' prefix during 1968. I assume the 'PDS' prefix of the Paul Dutton single stands for 'Paul Dutton Single', or possibly 'Paul Dutton Stereo'. The Magdalen College Choir EP shown above was pressed by Orlake (1), the Gunter Wassertheurer by CBS (2); 'Music Week' of the 11th of April 1970 says that EMI had taken over manufacturing. Distribution in the '70s was mainly by the BIRD group of independents; 'MW' of the 5th of May 1979 says that the label had been previously distributed by Selecta but was now being handled by Cassion Ltd, of Eden Grove, London NW7, but by November it was back with Lugton and H.R. Taylor. The discography below lists such Abbey 7"s as I have managed to trace: all but the Dutton seem to be EP, and the artist and title details may not be entirely accurate. Most appear to have been issued both in mono and in stereo forms, without any difference in the catalogue number. Many of the missing numbers belong to LPs.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.