SCOPE RECORDS

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Australian-owned independent label

1966-67

Melbourne, Vic.

Dr Geoffrey Edelsten

Astor Electronics Pty Ltd

History

The Scope!! label was a small independent Melbourne label, established by controversial doctor and sometime pop entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten; the label manufactured and distributed by Astor. The Australian Scope label has no connection to the '60s American label of the same name.

Scope had a small output; so far we've identified only nine singles and one LP. Interestingly, the label's first single, by The Last Straws, was also issued with a red and black label and with an asterisk logo, pictured at right. This may have been a custom pressing, and the provenance of the "LS-007" catalogue number is not yet known.

Little is known about the imprint's history, and it appears to have been relatively shortlived, with only nine singles and one LP issued during 1966-1967. The label was established and owned by Dr Edelsten, who dabbled in pop music promotion and record production in the late 1960s, while he was a medical student. He was involved in the early days of Cam-pact, founded Scope, and was the nominal producer of two 1968 Australian hit singles, "Everlasting Love" by The Town Criers, and "Love Machine" by the anonymous studio group Pastoral Symphony

Edelsten managed The Last Straws and was given a co-writing credit on their debut single "I Can't Stop Loving You Baby". The red-label issue identifies it as "A Geoffrey Edelsten Production" but this credit does not appear on the purple-label issue. The Last Straws' singles were the first two Scope releases, and the next two singles (1967) were solo releases by Last Straws members Philip Quirk and Steve Morrice. No Scope EPs have yet been identified, and the label issued just one LP, Scope Hitmakers (1967), consisting of the A and B sides of the first six singles.

Discography

Singles

SP-001 1966 The Last Straws "I Can't Stop Loving You, Baby"
"A Woman Of Gradual Decline"
SP-002 1966 The Last Straws "One Fine Day"
"Why Not Tonight"
SP-003 1967 Phillip Quirk "Hey, Mister Martian!"
"The Only Sound"
SP-004 1967 Steve Morrice "Good Friends"
"Dreaming"
SP-005 1967 Thee Caper "Dialogue Of A Man"
Too Much, Too Much
SP-006 1967 The Explosive Mind "The Kids Are All Right"
"Let It Be Me"
SP-007 1967 The Final Four "Grand Central Station"
"Hold On To Your Life"
SP-008 1967 Thee Caper "Sunday In The Sunshine"
"Think About Nothing"
SP-009 1967 Sharades "What Is The Reason"
"Love Minus Zero"

Albums

Cat. # Date Artist Title
SC-2001
1967 various Scope Hitmakers

References / Links

Globaldog Productions
Scope singles discography
http://www.globaldogproductions.info/scope-oz.html

Geoffrey Edelsten website
http://geoffedelsten.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=20&Itemid=41

Ugly Things: "Searchin For Shakes" garage-psych database
http://comps.ugly-things.com/compsproject/comptitle2.php?&scompid=1545&lifilter=4&lispeed=