A moderately prolific label from the late '70s and earlyish '80s. Response was formed by Mike Clare (formerly at Penny Farthing and United Artists) and Chris Ellis. Reporting on its launch, 'Music Week' of the 13th of December 1975 said that the company was based in Castelnau, Barnes, and that its aim was to 'Concentrate on offbeat material rather than Pop, in the early stages'. It gave evidence in support of that claim by revealing that the first two Response albums were to be by popular television presenter / gardener Percy Thrower (a double album, 'Percy Thrower's Guide To Good Gardening'; RES-002) and by dance band leader Sid Gateley of Pontins Holiday Camps ('Party Dances '70s Style'; RES-001). During the first four years of Response's existence it added to its catalogue LPs of train sounds, Barbershop singing, and music made by mechanical devices, as well as more Spoken Word efforts (including four by another television personality, Jack Hargreaves). Its entry into the Singles market was somewhat delayed, but it took the plunge in the Summer of 1977. Catalogue numbers suggest that it went on to issue something in the region of forty singles, but several of the lower numbers and a lot of the higher ones seem not to have been used. Sadly (if understandably) its singles catalogue wasn't quite as esoteric as its album listing: most of its releases appear to have been in a fairly straightforward Pop vein with some Disco mixed in, though the occasional oddity sneaked out - for example an EP of Christmas carols played by the Chiappa Fairground Organ (SR-522; 9/78). Seven-inch records were numbered in an SR-500 series; SR-540 appeared in 1985. Only one Response single ever cracked the Charts: Black Gorilla's 'Gimme Dat Banana' b/w 'Funky Jungle' (SR-502; 8/77) just about crept into the Top 30 in 1977. Manufacture and distribution were by Pye, though an advert in 'MW' of the 29th of July 1978 said that SRs 516, 518 and 519 were also available from Lightning. A later 'MW' (26th August 1978) said that Mike Clare was the owner and chief executive of the company, and that it was operating out of premises in Dennis Road East, Molesey, Surrey. The discography below only covers the 1970s and it has several gaps in it, which are probably down to the records not having been issued. Releases in the 1980s appear to have been few and far between: there seem to have been only a handful, the last coming out in 1987.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.