Marble Arch Records was a subsidiary of

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

that released budget records from 1964 to around 1980. Compact discs were also released from the late 1980s to around 1994.

Background

Pye Records created this subsidiary label with in a type of a mini-album format, with a shorter run than the average LP album, to cater to a certain area of the buying public who would not buy regular albums because of the expense. The name came about because of a famous London location of the same name. A number of

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

LPs were released on the Marble Arch label, usually having one track per side less than the original recording. Chess artists covered included

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

( ''Muddy Waters sings Big Bill''),

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

, and

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

References

External links

Forbidden Eye Marble Arch Discography

"Pye in Budget LP Market," Billboard magazine, 10 October 1964
{{Authority control Pye Records British record labels Record labels disestablished in 1980