MPA appears to have been associated with Music Plan Studios, of Manchester - Greg Francis, who was the music director at Music Plan featured as producer and / or arranger on several MPA records, which suggests there was a link. Steve Foley of Smile (q.v.) Studios also served as producer on a number of MPA records, on a couple of occasions in tandem with Francis. MPA specialized in making custom recordings, not only from masters that were recorded in the two studios mentioned but also from others, as can be seen from the examples shown above. The only records that I have been able to trace on the label came out in 1979 and are listed below; they include a couple of collectable Punk / Power Pop singles, Northern Lights's 'Bad Girl' b/w 'Exodus' (SMP-077) and 'T.V. Movie' b/w 'American Heart Beat' by the SlowGuns (SMP-088). Numbering seems to have started at 051. Singles, EPs and LPs shared the same numerical sequence but they had different prefixes: 'SMP' for singles, 'EMP' for EPs and 'MP' for LPs. Several singles with an MPA 'SMP' prefix were issued on the TJM label (q.v.). MPA records would have been pressed in small quantities, which helps to account for their rarity. As can be seen, the boxed-logo label came in a variety of different colours. Thanks to Sam Mauger for the scan of the light-blue label (2), and to Robert Bowes for that of the black-on-white one (7); thanks also to Steve Brady for alerting me to the possible Music Plan connection. Pressing of the few box-logo records that I have seen in the vinyl was by Decca.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.