Debatable, this one - it may not actually be from the 1970s. All I know for certain about Hine Records is that the company was based at Clock House, Devenish Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 9LX; the address is given on the back of the picture sleeve of Paul Lucas's single 'The Chastity Belt' b/w 'Greensleeves' (BB EP-001). As can be gleaned from the labels, the single was recorded by a studio in Maidenhead, which seems appropriate; it was intended as a souvenir of Lucas's gigs in the Elizabethan Room at the White Hart Hotel, in Sonning. The label layout is very similar to that used by the MJB Recording and Transcribing Service (q.v), of Maidenhead, which may be more than a coincidence. Production and second guitar were by Mike Cooper, who recorded for Pye from 1969 to 1972. I haven't been able to find any proof as to the year in which the single was issued, but Cooper recorded one of Paul Lucas's songs in 1965, which indicates that they were in contact at that time and suggests that this single may be from that era. There again keyboard player Alan Cook, who also featured on the single, played with Cooper in June 1971 on the sessions which led to the release of the 'Machine Gun Co. With Mike Cooper' LP on Dawn (DNLS-3031) in 1972, so it's possible that the two of them may have co-operated with Lucas around that time. The presence of the word 'Mono' on the labels suggests that perhaps a date in the early '70s is more probable than the mid / late '60s - mono was the norm in the '60s and companies generally didn't see any need to mark their mono records specially, whereas in the early '70s stereo was to the way to becoming the norm and deviations from it were sometimes marked. Thus I've given Hine the benefit of the doubt and awarded it a page on this site. Googling has failed to reveal the existence of any other records on the label. Any more information, particularly with regard to the year of release, would be welcome.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.