Sunset Records was a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

started in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

as the

budget album Budget albums (also known as unofficially by some collectors as either drugstore records or junk records) were low-priced vinyl LPs of popular and classical music released during the 1950s to 1970s consisting either of previously released material ...

subsidiary of

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States 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 revival ...

to reissue and issue material originally recorded for Liberty,

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

, Minit and other Liberty subsidiaries as well as leased material from other entities.

History

Sunset Records was started by Liberty Records in 1965 as a

budget line In economics, a budget constraint represents all the combinations of goods and services that a consumer may purchase given current prices within his or her given income. Consumer theory uses the concepts of a budget constraint and a preference ...

, with Ed Barsky at the helm. The label was named for the location of Liberty's corporate offices, and possibly a sly acknowledgement that the material was towards the end of its economic usefulness to Liberty. The Sunset label was introduced to the United Kingdom in February, 1968, which also included licensing from

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

. Later in 1968, Liberty was acquired by

Transamerica Corporation The Transamerica Corporation is an American holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms operating primarily in the United States, offering life and supplemental health insurance, investments, and retirement services. ...

, an insurance company who then merged Liberty with its United Artists Records subsidiary. Sunset was retained as the budget imprint for the combined operation, and United Artist's brands Tale Spinners, True Action and UnArt subsequently appeared as Sunset releases, all under the direction of Ed Barsky. The label was discontinued in early 1970 in the United States, but remained in operation in the United Kingdom until 1978. The Sunset Records catalog is currently owned by the

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

subsidiary of the

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Content

Material released on the Sunset label consisted primarily of tracks that had been previously included on other, full priced albums on labels under the control of Liberty. Sunset also released material leased from other companies, such as

Vee-Jay Records Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a h ...

. Rarely were any charting hits included, although songs appearing at the lower reaches of the charts might incorporated. Sunset albums generally consist of a wide diversity of a given artist's output, which could disappoint a buyer looking for the artist's current sound, but is of value to collectors because some of the material is otherwise very difficult to locate. Liberty owner

Simon Waronker Simon Waronker (March 4, 1915 – June 7, 2005) was an American violinist and record producer from Los Angeles, California, best known for co-founding Liberty Records. Biography Graduating from high school at 13 years old, he won a scholarship ...

considered it a "way to keep money flowing in" because there were no production costs associated with the releases, it was material already in the vaults. In keeping with industry practice regarding budget labels, Sunset albums lacked paper inner sleeves and were pressed on lower-quality material, usually polystyrene. However, the album covers were usually full cover portraits of the artist, and liner notes were included on the back.

Labels

Both United States pressings and United Kingdom pressings consisted of a black label with silver printing, and the Sunset logo on the left side. However, United States pressings are colored light blue on the far left side, while the United Kingdom product contains an orange area instead. The logo was a "modernistic" sun setting in rainbow-colored clouds, all depicted in undulating lines.

Artists

Notable artists whose material appears on Sunset include:

History

Content

Labels

Artists

References

See also