A London-based Reggae label, owned by Dennis Harris and D. L. International. Dip singles first saw the light of day in 1973; they were to appear in a variety of designs and in any number of colours, the 'dancer' logo featuring on most of them. Popular items can be found in more than one design. Initially singles were numbered in a DLxx/5000 numerical series, where 'xx' was the last two digits of the year of the record's release; for example DL73/5002 was issued in 1973. By 1974 the xx' had disappeared and numbers had become just plain DL-5000s. Several Dip singles were manufactured in Ireland, presumably due to a lack of pressing plant availability here, and had their labels marked accordingly (14). The labels of some other singles are plain; these too look like Irish pressings (12). In 1975 singles on the new DIP subsidiary Lucky (q.v.) began sharing the DL-5000 numerical series, and it seems that the Lucky label replaced the Dip label early in 1976, although a final couple of Dip singles saw the light of day in 1977.
Dip received just a couple of mentions in the mainstream Trade press. 'Music Week' of the 4th of October 1975 said that its records were available through Dip Promotions or by mail order from the company's headquarters in Brockley Road, SE4. A month or so later 'MW' of the 15th of November revealed that Dennis Harris had licensed three singles to Polydor, the artists involved being T.T. Ross, Jackie Robinson and Hot Ice. These duly appeared on Polydor, with a 'Lucky' logo added. Robinson's 'Little Green Apples' was backed with 'Theme From Jamaica' by Hot Ice and was issued as 2058-678 in March 1976; neither track appears to have surfaced on the Dip or Lucky labels as such, whereas T.T. Ross's 'Last Date' b/w 'I Am Sorry' (2058-665; 11/75) had already been issued as Lucky DL-5104. Every scan except the first, the fifth, the twelfth, fourteenth and seventeenth has been supplied by Robert Bowes; thanks to him for them. Thanks also to John Timmis for the fifth scan, which has had a pushed-out centre replaced.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.