Radar Records was a UK-based record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 formed by Martin Davis (managing director) who had previously worked at United Artists Records

United Artists Records

United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

, and Andrew Lauder

Andrew Lauder (music executive)

Andrew Lauder is a record company executive and former A&R manager. Initially noted for his adventurous signings of bands as diverse as Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Can, Hawkwind and Brinsley Schwarz to Liberty Records and United Artists Records in the 1960s and 70s, he went on to form numerous...

, who had previously been head of A&R

A&R

Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...

 at the UK divisions of Liberty Records

Liberty Records

Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...

 and United Artists. The label's first records were released in early 1978.

Overview

Radar was distributed in most of the world by WEA Records (now known as Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

). In the USA, three Radar artists (The Inmates

The Inmates

The Inmates are a British garage rock/pub rock band, formed after the split up of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In the early 1980s, they had a medium sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with "The Walk"...

, Bram Tchaikovsky

Bram Tchaikovsky

Bram Tchaikovsky is the lead singer of an eponymous power pop band. The group scored a U.S. Top 40 hit in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, with "Girl Of My Dreams". In the Netherlands "Sarah Smiles" was a minor hit, reaching #33 in February 1979.Tchaikovsky was vocalist and guitarist for his band...

 and Yachts

Yachts (band)

Yachts were a British pop/rock band, best remembered for their 1977 single, "Suffice To Say", and “minor new wave classic”, "Love You, Love You".-Career:...

) were signed to Polydor Records

Polydor Records

Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

 through a licensing deal.

Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe

Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...

 released both the first Radar single ("(I Love the Sound of) Breaking Glass)"/"They Called It Rock", ADA 1) and its first album (Jesus of Cool

Jesus of Cool

Jesus of Cool is the 1978 solo debut album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe who left Brinsley Schwarz in 1974. Produced by Lowe, it was released in March 1978 by Radar Records in the UK...

, RAD 1). Lowe had previously been signed to Stiff Records

Stiff Records

Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....

, as had several other Radar acts, including Yachts

Yachts (band)

Yachts were a British pop/rock band, best remembered for their 1977 single, "Suffice To Say", and “minor new wave classic”, "Love You, Love You".-Career:...

, Richard Hell

Richard Hell

Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...

 and The Voidoids

The Voidoids

The Voidoids, also known as Richard Hell & The Voidoids, were an American rock band from the first wave of punk rock, fronted by Richard Hell, a former member of the Neon Boys, Television and the Heartbreakers...

, and Radar's major act, Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

 and the Attractions. Costello and Lowe were brought to Radar by their manager Jake Riviera

Jake Riviera

Jake Riviera is a music business entrepreneur best known for his management of such performers as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and as co-founder of pioneering British indie label Stiff Records.Riviera was in school bands and local groups in north-west London in the 60s, and became road manager of...

 when Riviera left Stiff, which he had co-founded.

Other prominent Radar acts included La Düsseldorf

La Düsseldorf

La Düsseldorf was a German band, consisting of onetime Kraftwerk drummer and Neu! multi-instrumentalist Klaus Dinger and occasional Neu! collaborators Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe. La Düsseldorf was formed after Neu! disbanded following the release of their Neu! '75 record...

, The Pop Group

The Pop Group

The Pop Group are a British post-punk band from Bristol, England, formed in 1978, whose dissonant sound spanned punk, free jazz, funk and dub reggae. Their lyrics were often political in nature...

, Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...

, Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu (band)

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...

, Clive Langer and the Boxes

Clive Langer

Clive Langer is a British record producer active from the mid 1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films Still Crazy and Brothers of the Head. Prior to his record producing career he was a guitarist with the British cult band Deaf SchoolLanger...

, 999

999 (band)

999 are an English rock band who formed in London in 1977. They are often cited as one of the first punk rock bands. Between 1978 and 1981, they had five Top 75 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and one Top 40 single. After extensive touring across the Atlantic Ocean, the band's third and fourth...

, Wayne Kramer

Wayne Kramer (guitarist)

Wayne Kramer is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and film and television scorer....

, The Soft Boys

The Soft Boys

The Soft Boys were a pop band during the punk era led by Robyn Hitchcock, whose initially old fashioned music style of psychedelic/folk-rock became part of the neo-psychedelia scene with the release of Underwater Moonlight...

, Bette Bright and the Illuminations

Bette Bright

Bette Bright is an English rock singer.-Career:In the late 1970s Bright was a singer for the art rock band Deaf School. After Deaf School disbanded, Bright went solo with her backing band, 'The Illuminations'. Band members were Henry Priestman , Rusty Egan and Glen Matlock...

, Tanz Der Youth, Visage

Visage

Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...

 and Métal Urbain

Métal Urbain

Métal Urbain was one of the first French punk groups, formed in 1976 in Paris.-Career:They were heavily influenced by The Clash and The Sex Pistols on one hand, and on the other by an electro approach related to "Metal Machine Music" by Lou Reed...

. Several of Radar's early releases (including Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

 and James Williamson's Kill City

Kill City

Kill City is a 1977 album by Stooges vocalist Iggy Pop and guitarist James Williamson. "Johanna" and "I Got Nothin'" were both performed live during 1973-74 by the James Williamson-era Stooges.-Recording:...

, National Lampoon's That's Not Funny, That's Sick!, The Good Rats

The Good Rats

The Good Rats are a rock band from Long Island, New York. Their music mixes elements of rock with blues and pop. Although they have had some success both nationally and internationally, it's on their native Long Island that they have always been best known....

' From Rats to Riches and Pezband

Pezband

-Early career:Their first album, 1977's Pezband, received a great deal of critical acclaim, with Record World declaring them the "Most Promising New Act of the Year," with more positive reviews from Billboard and Trouser. Lyrics for all songs on this album were re-written by John Paul Morris, later...

's Laughing in the Dark) were licensed from independent American labels. Radar also released new albums by original 1950s rockabilly

Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

 singers Ray Campi

Ray Campi

Ray Campi is a distinguished musician often called The King of Rockabilly. Campi's trademark is his white double bass, which he often jumps on top of and "rides" while playing....

 and Mac Curtis

Mac Curtis

Wesley Erwin "Mac" Curtis, Jr. is an American rockabilly musician.Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Curtis began playing guitar at the age of 12, entering local talent competitions. He moved to Weatherford in 1954, and while there he formed a band with two classmates, Jim and Ken Galbraith...

 through an arrangement with Rollin' Rock Records

Rollin' Rock Records

Rollin' Rock Records is an American rockabilly record label founded by producer Ronnie Weiser. Initially created as music magazine Rollin' Rock in 1969, the magazine became a full-fledged record label in 1970...

.

Some Radar releases were reissues of garage rock

Garage rock

Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

 and psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 bands from the 1960s. Through its WEA connections, Radar was able to rerelease recordings by The Shadows of Knight

Shadows of Knight

The Shadows of Knight are an American rock band from the Chicago suburbs, formed in the 1960s, who play a form of British blues mixed with influences from their native city. At the time they first started recording, the band's self-description was as follows: "The Stones, Animals and Yardbirds...

 (originally on the Atlantic

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

-distributed Dunwich Records) and The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes are an American rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s. Their song "Kyrie Eleison" was featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider...

 (originally on the Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

-distributed Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

). In addition, Radar licensed the International Artists

International Artists

International Artists was an independent record label based in Houston, Texas that originally existed from 1965 to 1970.During its existence IA released 12 albums and 39 singles and was owned by a group of businessmen in Houston. Among its staff were producer Lelan Rogers, brother of country...

 catalog, allowing them to reissue albums by The 13th Floor Elevators

13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...

 and The Red Crayola

Red Krayola

Red Krayola was a psychedelic, avant-garde rock band from Houston, Texas, formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas in 1966. The band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme and Steve Cunningham...

. Radar also released new recordings by The Red Crayola

Red Krayola

Red Krayola was a psychedelic, avant-garde rock band from Houston, Texas, formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas in 1966. The band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme and Steve Cunningham...

's late 1970s lineup.

The original Radar label put out its last release in 1981, but it was revived with a new roster between 1995 and 1998. Notable bands signed to the second version of Radar included Midget

Midget (band)

Midget are a guitar band from Stamford, Lincolnshire who formed in 1996. The trio released the mini-album "Alco-pop" and the albums Jukebox, Individual Inconsistent and The Milgram Experiment. Two of their singles made the UK Singles Chart in 1998...

, Prolapse

Prolapse (band)

Prolapse were a musical group formed in Leicester, England, UK active from c.1992 to c.2000. The group's sound was a mixture of punk rock, krautrock and shoegazing styles....

, Acacia

Acacia (band)

Acacia was a multi-cultural British experimental pop band active during the mid-1990s. The band is most notable for helping to launch the subsequent musical careers of several of its members, most notably keyboard player/producer Guy Sigsworth, singer Alexander "Blackmoth" Nilere and associate...

, Morning Glories

C. Gibbs

C. Gibbs is an American singer and songwriter originally from San Diego, California, now based in Brooklyn, NY...

, Heave and Pure Morning, a precursor of Clinic

Clinic (band)

Clinic are a Liverpool based post-punk revival band noted for their often fast-paced, eclectic sound. Their sound is often distinguished by the prominent use of vintage keyboards/organs, most notably the Philips Philicorda, and peculiar off-scale chord progressions.-Formation and early...

.

External links

• Discography (scroll down)