I tried to assemble a discography of Wickwire Records out of Long Beach, California. I quickly came up short until Bob pointed out that Cedwicke and Best were related labels.
Does anyone have scans of the Steve and the Emperors “The Breeze & I” on Best?
Best 101 The Pyramids – Pyramid’s Stomp / Paul (1962)
Best 102 The Pyramids – Penetration (Steve Leonard) / Here Comes Marsha (prod. John Hodge, Nov. 1963)
Best 103 Steve & The Emperors – The Breeze And I (Lecuona-Stillman) / Great Balls of Fire (1963)
Best 13001 The Pyramids – Pyramid’s Stomp (Alfred Mercier) / Paul (Feb. 1964, re-release of Best 101 with London distribution)
Best 13002 The Pyramids – Penetration / Here Comes Marsha (Feb. 1964, re-release of Best 102 with London distribution)
Wickwire 13003 The Emperors – A Fool For You I’ve Been / Searchin’ Around the World (both written by Bill Hughes for Dorothy Music, ASCAP)
Cedwicke 13004 Wee Willie & The Pals – We’re Gonna Dance (Powell-Greek) / Teardrop Strawberry Soda
Cedwicke 13005 The Pyramids – Midnight Run (Usher-Berns-Christian) / Custom Caravan (April 1964)
Cedwicke 13006 The Pyramids – Pressure (Hodge-Wilson) / Contact (Steve Leonard) (June 1964)
Wickwire 13007 The Emperors – Blue Day / Laughin’ Linda (written by Cameron-Watts, arranged by William F. Williams) (with picture sleeve)
Wickwire 13008 Dave Myers and His Surftones – Gear! / Let the Good Times Roll (arranged by Rodney Barken, pub. by Number One Music, BMI)
Wickwire 13009 The Montclairs – It’s Gonna Work Out Fine / If You Need Me
Wickwire 13010 The Lady Birds – To Know Him Is to Love Him / A Girl without a Boy
John Hodge & Larry Wilson produced most of these.
The Pyramids also had an LP The Pyramids Play The Original Penetration! on Best (LPM-1001, reissued with London distribution as BR-16501, BRS-36501).
The Cedwicke 45s also had distribution by London Records.
See the Emperors page for more info on their records.
I’ve seen two pressings of Wickwire 13008 by Dave Myers and His Surftones – most have Gary Usher as songwriter of “Gear!” but some have Hodge-Wilson listed as songwriter for that song.
Wickwire may have had a publishing connection to the Mod label which had a release by the Menn, “Things To Come” / “What Ever Happened To” (Mod 1013, pub. by Wickwire Music BMI). The Menn had a previous 45 on the Two + Two label, as did the Emperors (see the Whigs for a little more info).
Thanks to Bob and Max Myndblown for their help with this discography and to Wangdangdula.com for info on the Pyramids releases.
No wonder you can’t find other releases on the same label as Wickwire belongs to a “multi-labels” 13.000 series. Best and Cedwicke are the two others labels.
Other releases in the same series are :
Best 13001 The Pyramids : Pyramid’s Stomp / Paul
Best 13002 The Pyramids : Penetration / Here Comes Marsha
Cedwicke 13004 Wee Willie & The Pals : We’re Gonna Dance/Teardrop Strawberry Soda
Cedwicke 13005 The Pyramids : Midnight Run/Custom Caravan
Cedwicke 13006 The Pyramids : Pressure/Contact
#13009 is one number that I can’t find.
There was also an album by the Pyramids on the Best label…
My band “The Ladybirds “recorded on this label
I would love to chat with you about your band
Was “The Breeze & I ” by Steve & The Emperors on Wickwire?
Thanks for pointing that out Bob, I’ll include these in the list above.
An ad in Billboard magazine (12/28/1963) for BEST 13002 would seem to indicate a release date prior to Feb. 1964.
http://books.google.com/books?id=SwsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&dq=pyramids+13002&hl=en&ei=b_rwTcXeNYPq0gGfpKnMBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=pyramids%2013002&f=false
“The Breeze and I” by Steve and the Emperors is on Best 103. I don’t know the release date.
I do not have a copy of the record, but I do have a two-track reel to reel of The Breeze and I and also a 1963 reel to reel of us (The Emperors) from The Airport Club. I am currently having both of these professionally transferred to digital format. Regarding “arranged by william F. williams,” he was a DJ on a local San Bernardino Station who did a live interview with us on his station and also accompanied us when we played in Lake Arrowhead in approx. 1963. Gypsy Boots was also on the bill and I recall him giving us a gallon or so of his carrot juice. I cannot recall the radio station’s call letters, but will follow-up later with info and the website address. thjanks, Mike Elam