Custom Records

Custom Records was a budget record label owned by the Bihari Brothers.

Custom Records
Parent companyModern Records
Statusdefunct
GenreVarious
Country of originUnited States
LocationLos Angeles California

Background

The label was a subsidiary of Modern Records.[1] It was formed some time prior to March 1965 and according to an article in Billboard, it was a new label that already had 31 LPs in its catalogue. The records were to sell at $1.98 as opposed to the other budget LPs that retailed at 98 cents and 99 cents.[2] Saul Bihari recognized the value of the rack jobber for these types of records.[3]

Some of the records were re-releases of previous Crown releases and the covers often featured a female in some pose designed to attract attention.[4]

Covering artists

One artist that was covered by Custom was Hank Williams. The album Your Cheatin' Heart and other Hank Williams Favorites Custom CM 1023, CS 1023 featured a singer called Johnny Williams who was really Curley Williams.[5] Later the It's Happening album by The Dave Clark Five And The Playbacks was released on Custom CS 1098. The album only had 2 tracks by the Dave Clark Five with The Playbacks covering the remainder. It was also released on Crown CST 473 in 1964.[6][7] The Playbacks appear to be just studio musicians.[8]

Exploiting the Psychedelic trend

In 1967, the label released More Psychedellic Guitars CS-1096 (with 2 LLs), an album that featured the tracks "Another Trip", "Really Got It Bad", "Out Of Touch", The Letdown" "Psychedelic A-Go-Go" Flower Power", "Flower Power/Can You Dig It", "Sit- In", "Lost In Space", and "Psychedelic Venture".[1][9] This like the earlier release Psychedellic Guitars CM 2078,[10] appears to be reissues of earlier Jerry Cole albums with the titles changed. This music however wasn't quite Psychedelic.[11] One Exploito album that was a bit more in the psych mode was Are You Experienced by T. Swift & The Electric Bag.[12][13] This also featured Cole.[14]

Later years

In 1978, the company appeared to be still in operation with a large section of the page in the January 7 issue of Billboard magazine, offering congratulations to fellow Los Angeles label Laff Records for their ten-year anniversary.[15]

List of artists

References
  1. Both Sides Now Publications Custom Album Discography By David Edwards and Mike Callahan
  2. Billboard March 6, 1965 Page 30 Bihari Sees Trend to Better $1.98 Budget
  3. Billboard March 6, 1965 Page 38 Bihari Sees Trend to Better $1.98 Budget Continued from page 30
  4. Music By The Pound Crown Records, Custom Records
  5. Hank Williams Listings Budget Labels & Tribute Albums to Hank Williams
  6. Discogs The Dave Clark Five And The Playbacks – It's Happening
  7. Rate Your Music The Dave Clark Five and The Playbacks
  8. The British Music Invasion: Collectors Quick Reference Written and compiled by R. Duane Cozzen Page 38 The Dave Clark Five
  9. Collectors Frenzy MORE PSYCHEDELIC GUITARS - RARE Original CUSTOM US LP Archived 2016-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Discogs Jerry Cole – Psychedellic Guitars
  11. Discogs Jerry Cole – More Psychedellic Guitars
  12. Flea Market Funk October 14, 2009 T. Swift and the Electric Bag – Are You Experienced?
  13. Popsike T Swift & The Electric Bag Lp Psych Sealed Guitar Fuzz
  14. ACE Psychedelic Guitars, Jerry Cole By Mike Vernon
  15. Billboard January 7, 1978 Page 38 A Company Built On Laughter
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