The now-collectable Beacon label was mainly dedicated to Soul/Pop, though it also issued several Psychedelic singles and the first records by Rock band UFO. Its earliest mention in 'Record Retailer' came in the issue of the 7th of February 1968, which said that the label was to make its debut on the 16th of that month with 'Ain't Nothing But A Houseparty' by the Show Stoppers (3-100). Distribution was to be by members of the BIRD group: Keith Prowse, H. R. Taylor and Clyde Factors. Milton Samuels, who according to the report had previously been an independent producer for Decca, was named as Beacon's chief; the label's strategy was to concentrate on Pop-flavoured R&B at first, with Gospel and Soul LPs coming later. 'Houseparty' got the company off to a good start, just failing to crack the Top Ten; also it tickled the Top 50 in 1971, when it was reissued. 'RR' of the 25th of September revealed that Beacon had left BIRD and had moved to EMI; it said that the first single under the new deal would be BEA-108. Catalogue numbers were initially in the 3-100s but they changed to a more conventional BEA-100 series, presumably shortly before the time of the move: BEA-107 wasn't an EMI pressing and didn't have the kind of label that was used after the move to EMI. Several of the early singles were reissued with numbers in that new series.
Beacon had ambitions: 'RR' of the 8th of January 1969 reported that it was launching a subsidiary label, Zan, later that month; in passing it noted that the company had moved from 331-333 High Road, Willesden, to 51 Charles Street, London. For some reason Zan doesn't seem to have got off the ground: the single listed as ZAN-2, 'Pretty Girl' by Marshall & The Chi-Lites, came out on Beacon as BEA-119; ZAN-1, 'Potatoes' by Claude & Samuel, appears to have been cancelled completely. More successful was Young Blood, which was set up by Miki Dallon in the Summer of 1969 and was run in association with Beacon; Beacon also provided marketing and promotion ('RR', 23rd July 1969). A label called 'Upfront' or 'Up-Front' (q.v.) was added shortly afterwards: according to 'RR' of the 13th of September it was owned by Milton Samuels and Roger St. Pierre, while a later 'RR' (2nd of November) added that it was intended for independent productions. Eddy Grant's 'Torpedo Records' (q.v.) came on board in November 1969 ('RR', 2nd November); its 'Whitchi Tai To' by Taiconderoga was released on Beacon as BEA-143 but records started to appear on the actual Torpedo label early in 1970. A year later Seven Sun (q.v.) joined the Beacon stable; it was owned by Don Lawson, manager of the band Black Velvet, which had had several records out on Beacon ('RR', 8th January 1971). In addition to these, Beacon successfully launched its own Monuagu label (q.v.) in March 1972 ('RR', 4th March). In another development 'RR' of the 28th of March stated that Lugton and Clyde Factors had been recruited as additional distributors, to reach dealers that EMI could not.
The Spring of 1972 saw a slight hiatus: after the release of BEA-188, in April, there were no Beacon issues for several months. Then 'Music Week' of the 9th of September announced that Beacon was back and that its records were now to be distributed by CBS. Somewhat confusingly, catalogue numbers went to go back to the beginning and started from BEA-100 again. A few of the old singles were re-released with new numbers; by chance, 'Houseparty' kept its old number, BEA-100. All was not well, however, and just over a year later 'MW' of the 3rd of November 1973 broke the news that Beacon had been compulsorily wound up in the High Court the previous week; MCPS were named as the petitioners.
Early pressings of the first Beacon single had an eye-catching red-and-white-hooped label (1); for later pressings and for the other records in the 3-100 series this was replaced by a plainer yellow design (2). At the time when EMI took over manufacture and distribution labels became white with a black circle (3); the company sleeve dates from this era. With BEA-146 the design changed somewhat: the logo grew and migrated to the top of the label, where it replaced the old label name, and the colours changed to black-on-sea-green (4), with silver replacing the black occasionally (5). At some point between BEA-177 and BEA-179 the label turned white again; BEA-180 was green, while from BEA-181 onwards the white colour returned but the perimeter circle and the logo were dropped, the latter being replaced by the label name as before. This kind of label was used when Beacon was revived, in September 1972, but that time around colours were either grey (6) or orange (7) (BEA-100; 112 onwards). CBS handled manufacture of this last batch of Beacons, as well as distribution. Thanks to John Timmis for the fourth scan.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.