The record label of Richard and Mike Vernon's 'Chipping Norton' recording studio, from the town of that name in the Cotswolds. The Vernons opened the studio in 1972, after deciding to concentrate on independent productions and shutting down their 'Blue Horizon' label. It had a long and honourable history, and is still going today. By contrast the record label was a somewhat fleeting affair. It released four singles and at least one album, 'Hot To Trot' by the Olympic Runners (NORT-1) in 1976-77, none of which troubled the scorers; the Runners, however, went on to have several hits after leaving the company. Numbering was in the CHIP-0s, and the label was handled by Transatlantic. Transatlantic sourced its pressings from a number of different companies, and thus Chipping Norton singles can be found in two forms: the first two singles were pressed by Pye and had paper labels (1), while the next two were injection-moulded Phonogram pressings (2). For my money, the paper one is infinitely prettier - the birds and the hares decorating the logo are all but lost on the injection-moulded version. The label made a brief comeback in 1981, with a different, plainer, design, adding at least two more singles to its catalogue: Pete Wingfield's, 'Too Much Of A Good Thing' (CHIP-5) and 'Another Night' by Bernie & The Mysterons (CHIP-6). This time around Pinnacle were the distributors. Presumably in the interim the studio concentrated on recording songs rather than issuing them.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.