An independent American company, formed in 1973 by Neil Bogart, Cecil Holmes, Buck Reingold and Larry Harris. Casablanca released its first singles in its home country in January 1974, but it didn't make its debut in Britain until November of that year. 'Music Week' of the 2nd of November broke the news that the company had signed with EMI for Europe under a 'Third Party deal', which according to the article was the same kind of deal that EMI had with Motown. The first Casablanca singles duly appeared, with catalogue numbers in a CBX-500 series, but the results were less than spectacular. After nearly two years had passed without any of its singles troubling the Chart compilers Casablanca appears to have sought a change of direction. 'MW' of the 30th of October 1976 reported that the three-year deal with EMI had been terminated twelve months early, by mutual agreement; negotiations with RCA had been broken off, and the company was looking for distribution. According to the article Casablanca was considering setting up its own marketing and promotions office, or even going independent. The split with EMI may have caused the cancellation of CBX-522, Angel's 'Feelings' - it was listed among the 'MW' 'Releases' for 24th of September, so if it reached the shops at all it would only have been available for four weeks or so.
In the event the search for a new distributor was successful and the idea of independence was not followed up. 'MW' of the the 19th of February 1977 was able to reveal that a long-term licensing deal had been signed with Pye. The deal was said to be a two-way one, with Casablanca distributing Pye product in the USA. Some difficulties seem to have arisen: 'MW' of the 23rd of April 1977 said that 'prolonged contract negotiations' had delayed the settlement of the deal, but that the first Casablanca records would be released on the 6th of May. The delay appears to have involved a change in the nature of the deal: 'MW' of 1st of July 1978 referred to it as currently being for pressing and distribution, but said that it was due to revert to a full-blown licensing one - presumably the company had been doing its own marketing and promotion until that point. The article also said that plans for a London headquarters appeared to have been shelved. The move to Pye saw a successful shift of emphasis towards Disco music. The label design changed at the time of the move (2) and the catalogue numbers switched to a CAN-100 series. Despite frequent Top 20 Chart singles by Donna Summer and lesser hits by the likes of Patrick Juvet, Kiss and Giorgio Moroder, money troubles struck. Bogart left the company in 1980, and sadly succumbed to cancer in March 1982. Casablanca continued into the '80s under the ownership of PolyGram, but it appears to have stopped issuing material in 1986.
Two label designs were used in the 1970s: the EMI-era one had silver print on a dark blue background, which wasn't especially legible (1); the Pye-era one had black print on a fawn/cream background, which was an improvement. The new label added 'Records and Filmworks' under the logo, which shrank in size and was given a new background. Initially artist credits on the Pye label were on the left hand side (2), but they migrated to a more usual position at the bottom from CAN-145 onwards. A small 'A' was added to the labels from July 1979 onwards, beginning with CAN-159; it was usually at 10 o'clock (3) but sometimes at 2 o'clock. Polygram ownership in the 1980s saw a change to injection moulded labels. EMI promos followed the usual style of that company (4), but Pyes came in a few different varieties. Initially, while the artist's name was on the left, promos had a small 'A' at 10 o'clock and the appropriate text at 2 o'clock (5), but after the name moved to the bottom the small 'A' became a large one and moved to the middle. Sometimes this large 'A' had the release date under its bar (7), at other times it didn't. For some reason a trio of demos in September / October 1979 were given a smaller, fatter central 'A' (6), but the slimmer, larger sort soon returned. Casablanca singles only gained a company sleeve after the move to Pye; EMI ones came in plain white sleeves. The discography below only covers the 1970s. Thanks to Alan Daulby for the fifth scan.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.