A label formed by Mike Collier and David Watson, of publishers Carlin Music. 'Music Week' of the 10th of July 1976, reporting on Feelgood's launch, noted that Collier and Watson had a track record in Afro Rock and had launched the bands Assagai and Osibisa. According to the article their new label had the backing of Carlin and was intended to feature "any interesting type of Black music." Its first release was to be Osibisa's 'Black Ant' b/w 'Kotoko', which had been retained by Watson from his early association with the band. Feelgood were to sell the record to Black music shops themselves, with Pye picking it up if the response was good enough. 'MW' of the 27th of November 1976 quoted Watson as saying that his personal ambition for the company was for it to become the Tamla Motown of Great Britain and for it to sell commercial Black music all over the world, but perhaps inevitably that ambition wasn't realized. Feelgood issued five singles in the first six months of its existence, using an FLG-100 numbering series, but after that the flow of releases eased to a trickle: only three singles were issued in 1977 - the year in which Carlin gave Feelgood a Pop-orientated sibling, Solid Gold (q.v.) - and three more in 1978. There were no releases at all in 1979; it may well be that Collier's efforts were devoted to Carlin's new Disco label, Flamingo (q.v.), which enjoyed considerable success during that year. July 1980 saw the start of a last burst of activity from Feelgood, with four singles coming out in ten months; though as three of them were by Rockabilly band The Cruisers it would appear that Feelgood was more or less a vehicle for them during that period.
A couple of successful artists featured in Feelgood's catalogue, in the forms of Osibisa and Desmond Dekker, but despite that none of its records ever threatened the charts. Manufacture and distribution of the first single were by Pye, and they also distributed (and manufactured?) FLG-105 to FLG-108. There is no reference to FLG-102 to FLG-104 in the 'Music Week' 'Release' pages, which would seem to rule Pye out; presumably Feelgood were doing the job themselves. From FLG-109 onwards a variety of distributors handled the company's records: first Charmdale, then Spartan, then Pinnacle. RCA pressed and distributed the final three singles. 'Music Master' links the label to Carlin's recording enterprise, CMC, from December 1976, so it seems likely that promotion and marketing were done by that company. The label's design remained basically the same throughout its life but its colour changed twice: from brown-and-yellow to brown-and-cream with FLG-112, and then to green-and-white with FLG-113. The three RCA-era singles have a reference to that company at the bottom of the label. Thanks to Schnozzle of the 45cat site for discographical input.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.