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<DIV>Hands Up for Capitol, the Record Label That Broke the Rules and Changed
Music Forever</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>by Jim Carroll</DIV>
<DIV>Irish Times, January 19, 2017</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It’s hard to think of a modern-day record label whose exploits will
eventually require a 6.2kg photo book to cover in full. Then again, you don’t
get labels like Capitol any more. A music enterprise set up in 1942 by three
dudes in a movie town, Capitol survived and thrived almost in spite of itself.
It’s still in business today, and like all those labels with a rich history,
it’s a very different beast to the one whose releases soundtracked previous
decades.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The way Barney Hoskyns tells it in a series of essays in the lavish new
Taschen book 75 Years of Capitol Records, the label was set up largely to make a
point. Singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer was unhappy with the distribution of his
records, so Music City record shop owner Glenn Wallichs suggested he set up a
label and then offered Hollywood producer BG DeSylva a piece of the
action.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The trio met at Hollywood restaurant Luceys, DeSylva ponied up $10,000 for
a 30 per cent cut and Liberty Records was born. The entrepreneurs discovered
that name was taken, and Mercer’s wife came up with the alternative name Capitol
Records.</DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It was a success, more or less, right out the gate, scoring hits such as
Freddie Slack Orchestra’s Cow Cow Boogie, Paul Whiteman’s Travellin’ Light (with
Billie Holiday on backing vocals) and Johnny Mercer’s Strip Poker. It signed
acts such as Bozo the Clown (former whiskey salesman and professional clown
Pinto Colvig), Peggy Lee, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole and
the awesome Yma Sumac, and made merry with recordings from Broadway
musicals.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In 1952, Frank Sinatra arrived at Capitol. A series of disasters in his
personal and professional life meant the post-war bobbysox heart-throb was now
perceived as a has-been. Capitol took him and transformed him into a singer of
wounded, scarred, dark bar-room ballads and packaged him as a swinging alpha
male.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Albums such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Lovers and Only the Lonely
were masterpieces and clicked with millions. There are photos throughout 75
Years of Capitol Records of Ol’ Blue Eyes in those glory days, including a great
one where he’s having his dinner surrounded by well wishers and hangers-on with
names like Toots. Sadly, you don’t get that many guys called Toots in the music
business any more.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1955 was a important year for the label. For a start, it opened a landmark
office in Los Angeles -- the Capitol Tower was the world’s first circular office
building and was built to resemble a stack of records on a turntable. Despite
the fact the sales topped $20 million, the bulk of the company was sold to EMI
for a bargain $8.5m.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That hook-up came in handy in the 1960s when EMI had The Beatles, who were
seeking a US home. That decade also saw Capitol score huge success with The
Beach Boys, The Band, Merle Haggard and Steve Miller. In the 1970s and 1980s, it
was the likes of Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Tina Turner and Duran Duran who kept the
money rolling in.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>These days, thanks to the major-label musical chairs of recent years,
Capitol is in the Universal tent. It survived the tortuous years, when clueless
venture capital firm Terra Firma ran the label thanks to “the three Cs” of
country, Christian and catalogue.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The 75-year-old Capitol now oversees such subsidiaries as Blue Note,
Harvest and Motown, and is home to such stars as Sam Smith, Katy Perry and Lady
Antebellum.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> In common with most labels in the 21st century, it’s a far cry from
the glorious freewheeling days of old. Still and all, the three lads who set
things up in 1942 wouldn’t recognise the place. 30</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000"><BR><BR>Bob
Ringwald piano, Solo, Duo, Trio, Quartet, Quintet <BR>Fulton Street Jazz Band
(Dixieland/Swing)<BR>916/ 806-9551<BR>Amateur (ham) Radio Station
K6YBV<BR><BR>Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting
on what to have for dinner. --James Bovard, Civil Libertarian
(1994)<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>