THE iconic music label Pye Records has been relaunched by a former BBC broadcaster on a tiny Scottish island with its albums being pressed by the country’s only record factory.
Established in 1955, Pye Records quickly became one of the top labels in the UK and was a dominant force in the music industry during the 1960s and 1970s.
The label was famous for producing albums for legendary artists like The Kinks, The Searchers and The John Shroeder Orchestra.
The music firm then changed its name to PRT Records in 1980 because of trademark renewal issues with the name Pye and the label completely disappeared by 1989 with its back catalogue being sold to BMG.
Now the iconic record label is back and is releasing its first two new albums in more than 40 years this week thanks to the former BBC Scotland broadcaster Tony Currie.
“It was the label that all of the records I bought as a kid were on,” Currie said.
He added: “It seemed to me that it would be really nice to bring back a label that had such a wonderful history.”
Currie (below) has done just that.
He has bought the trademark rights for the business name of Pye Records along with the iconic record logo and the unmistakable pink that goes along with it – which took him 10 months and a “fist full of money” to do so.
The only change for Pye Record four decades on is under the label each record will now say “made in Scotland” as Currie is based at the Isle of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, just a short distance away from Oban.
With more than 60 years working in broadcasting Currie has experience of running a record label as he ran four smaller operations during his time at BBC Radio 6.
Bringing Pye back is a passion project for him as he was looking for something to focus his time on after his wife died last year.
“I didn't want to just end up sitting, pissed out my skull every night, watching talking pictures and eating pot noodles,” he jokingly said.
The label was famous for producing records by pop orchestras and it is a tradition Currie hopes to continue as the genre is also a personal favourite of his, so much so he has recorded his own album.
His debut album The Tony Currie Orchestra, Race The Sun, will be released on Friday, September 6 and was recorded with a 36-piece orchestra in London.
It also features composers Tony Hatch, Brian Fahey and Johnny Scott and even includes a guitar solo from Richard Niles.
London-based singer-songwriter Andrea Black will also have her latest album, Harvest Gold, released on the record label celebrating Pye's return to the industry.
Both albums will be pressed at Scotland’s only record factory, Sea Bass Vinyl, based in Tranent, East Lothian.
Established last year, the record factory is wind-powered and aims to be the most sustainable vinyl pressing plant in the world, without compromising sound quality.
Rooting the label in Scotland is an important part to the relaunch of Pye for Currie as he said: “We've got a digital distribution in Glasgow.
“The sleeve design was done in Glasgow, and so you know, as much as possible is Scottish.
“It is a Scottish company, and the one thing is, we're using the same iconic pink label that pie always had.
“That was the one with the black, the black line, the black strip at the top with pie in the middle, and it looks exactly the same.
“But when you look very, very closely at it, the words at the bottom that used to say, ‘made in England’.
“Now it says, ‘Made in Scotland’.”
Currie has his eyes set on the future with more artists set to join the label and already has plans for some limited edition Record Store Day releases.
However, he understands it will take time to establish the great name of Pye Records once again within the UK music landscape as he said: “Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Pye.”
Both album releases, Race The Sun and Harvest Gold, can be found on all big streaming platforms with physical copies of the LPs found in local record shops across the country.
