George Harrison's record company. Dark Horse was founded in 1974; 'Music Week' of the 25th of May reported that A&M had acquired worldwide rights to the label's product, and added that the extent to which Harrison would be involved with it was not known, as he was under contract elsewhere. In the event 'MW' of the 24th of August was able to confirm that the first two Dark Horse albums would be produced by Harrison; according to the article they were due out on the 5th of September. As it happened, Harrison's contractual obligations meant that he would be unable to issue his own recordings on his own label until 1976. In the meantime Dark Horse proved that it was a functioning record company and not just a vanity outlet by issuing records by Ravi Shankar, British duo Splinter and a couple of American bands, Attitudes and Stairsteps.
Splinter gave the company an early taste of Singles Chart success when their 'Costafine Town' b/w 'Elly May' (AMS-7135; 9/74) got into the Top 20, but from then on hits proved elusive. The duo's follow-up, 'Drink All Day' b/w 'Haven't Got time' (AMS-5501; 2/75) ran into trouble: 'MW' of the 1st of March 1975 revealed that it had been refused airplay by the BBC on the grounds that it contained drink references and the word 'bloody'; as a result it had been withdrawn and replaced by 'China Light', with 'Drink All Day' being relegated to the 'B' side (AMS-5502; 2/75). Dark Horse itself ran into trouble in the summer of 1976, in the form of a falling-out with A&M. 'MW' of the 6th of November broke the news that the company was moving to Warner for distribution, and then a month or so later the issue of the 12th of December threw some light on the parting - A&M were suing Dark Horse firstly for the non-delivery of an album by Attitudes despite a $250,000 advance, and secondly for the non-delivery of a George Harrison solo album despite the contract saying that one had to be provided before the 26th of July.
After the move to Warner, Dark Horse pared its artist roster. Splinter stayed on for another eighteen months or thereabouts, but when they departed the label appears to have curbed its ambitions and to have devoted itself to George Harrison's own work. His first four singles all failed to bother the Chart compilers, and a fifth, 'Blow Away' b/w 'Soft Touch' (K-17327; 2/79) only reached the No.51 spot. It was not until 1981 that he cracked the Top 20 with 'All Those Years Ago' b/w 'Writings On The Wall' (K-17807; 5/81). He continued to put records out sporadically on Dark Horse for the next two decades.
Initially A&M-era singles shared an AMS-7000 numerical series with those of the parent company (1), but in early 1975 they were given an AMS-5500 series of their own (2). Singles from the WEA years shared a K-17000 series with those of Warner Brothers. One label design was used throughout the '70s and into the '80s, though after the move to Warner the text 'A Warner Communications Company' appeared at 6 o'clock, together with a Warner logo (3). Promo labels were marked with a hollow 'A' and the appropriate text during the A&M period (4). There were no promo markings during the Warner years - in line with those of the other WEA companies Dark Horse's singles had a hollow 'A' on the appropriate side, but it was smaller and it merely indicated which side was the 'A'. The company sleeve dates from the A&M years.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.