RCA RECORDS (AUSTRALIA)

Category: wholly-owned subsidary of RCA Records USA

Date: 1963 - 1985; renamed BMG in 1985; now Sony-BMG

Location: Sydney, NSW

Distributor for: Du Monde (1969-April 1970); Mushroom Productions (ca. 1977), Colgems (USA)


One of the first RCA Australia 45rpm releases,
 "Stomp Fever"
by The Denvermen (1963) featuring
the classic RCA "lightning bolt" logo.


An RCA Victor Australian release by Renee Geyer
(1977)  featuring the standard 1970s tan label. Note
the Mushroom Productions logo.

A 1970s RCA Camden album label
featuring the
modernised RCA logo, introduced in 1968.

History

RCA group history

RCA Records of Australia Pty Ltd was until 1985 (when it became BMG) a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the giant US-based broadcasting, recording and electronics company. The post-WWII structure of the RCA recording group was the outcome of a long and complicated series of mergers, takeovers and divestitures that stretched from the late 1800s to the late 1930s. RCA Records' two principal antecedents were the Radio Corporation of America, founded in 1919, and the Victor Talking Machine Comany, founded in 1901.

RCA was incorporated in 1919 to control US patents held by General Electric, AT&T, Westinghouse and United Fruit. Later that year it acquired British Marconi's controlling interest in American Marconi and the legendary David Sarnoff became the company's General Manager. In 1926 RCA, GE and Westinghouse jointly established the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which quickly rose to become the largest and most powerful radio broadcaster in America and, later expanded into television, becoming America's largest TV network. 

In 1920 the British-based Gramaphone Company (founded in 1898) was taken over by the US-based Victor Talking Machine Company. In 1922 the long-established Columbia Phonograph (USA) sold its UK subsidiary Columbia Graphophone, but then in 1925 Columbia Graphophone (UK) bought its former parent for US$2.5 million and in 1927 Columbia UK acquired a controlling interest in the German Parlophone label. In 1929 RCA moved into the record industry, purchasing the Victor Talking Machine Company and establishing the RCA and RCA Victor recording labels. In 1931 RCA merged The Gramophone Company and the Parlophone Company with the American Columbia Gramophone Company. The new Anglo-American group was incorporated as Electric & Music Industries Ltd (EMI).  In 1931, RCA merged its British affiliate The Gramophone Company with American Columbia and the Parlophone label to form Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI), and Victor's majority shareholding in The Gramophone Company gave RCA boss David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. RCA was the American distributor for EMI for the next twenty-five years.

Soon after its formation, EMI was forced to divest itself of the Columbia label because anti-trust concerns raised by its American competitors, and in 1934, both Columbia and the OKeh label were acquired by ARC-BRC (American Record Company-Brunswick Record Company). Then, in 1938 ARC-BRC was taken over by RCA's major rival CBS and the Columbia label thus became part of the CBS Records group. However, CBS only had the rights to use the Columbia name in the USA, Canada and Japan, and EMI retained the right to use the Columbia name in most other countries (including the British Empire/Commonwealth).

RCA established a range of labels to market different categories of recordings -- RCA Records released pop, rock and country music; RCA Victor covered blues, 'folk (world) music, jazz, musicals and other genres; RCA Red Seal and its reissue sub-label RCA Gold Seal dealt with classical music. Prior to its acquisition by RCA, the Victor company had purchased the American rights to the famous "Nipper" logo, created by British artist Francis Barraud and used in Commonwealth countries by the HMV label. Interestingly, contemporary photographs show that Nipper originally depicted listening to an Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph, but after the painting was purchased by The Gramophone Company they commissioned Barraud to paint over the Edison-Bell machine and replace it with one of their own disc gramophones.

RCA sold its stake in EMI in 1935 but retained the rights to the Nipper logo in America, where it became indelibly associated with RCA Victor. However RCA was unable to use the Nipper logo in Commonwealth countries (including Australia and New Zealand), where it was owned by EMI and used on their HMV label.

Other subsidaries included RCA Camden (which specialised in reissuing historic classical and popular recordings from the RCA catalog), RCA Victrola (a budget label introduced in the 1960s to reissue classical recordings from Red Seal catalogue) and RCA Custom. In the 1950s, RCA also had three subsidiary specialty labels, Groove, Vik and X. In 1954 RCA introduced the 'Gruve-Gard' system for its vinyl recordings, in which the center and edge of the disc was made thicker than the playing area, thus reducing scuff marks during handling and when used on a turntable with a record changer, and most of RCA's competitors quickly copied this innovation.

As well as its successful popular, country and classical repertoire, RCA released many notable albums of musicals, including the original Broadway cast recordings of Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, the Mary Martin Peter Pan, Damn Yankees, Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof and the original American Broadway cast album of Hair, as well as the film soundtrack albums of South Pacific, Exodus and The Sound of Music, which became one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time.

In 1955, RCA moved decisively into rock'n'roll by purchasing the recording contract of Elvis Presley from Sun Records for the then astronomical sum of $35,000. It proved a sound investment however -- Presley became RCA's biggest selling recording artist and one of the biggest-selling performers of all time. In 1957, RCA ended its long association with EMI and signed a UK distribution deal with Decca Records, prompting EMI to purchase Capitol Records and Capitol then became the main distributor for EMI recordings in North and South America. RCA distributed its recordings in the UK (through Decca) on the RCA and RCA Victor labels, but they were obliged to use the RCA "lightning bolt" logo in Britain instead of the well-known 'Nipper' logo (which it had long used in America) since that trademark was owned by EMI's HMV subsidary in most other countries.

In one of the most controversial chapters in its history, RCA Victor decided to demolish its Camden NJ warehouse in the early 1960s. This four-level archive held catalog and vault masters (mostly wax and metal discs) and matrix ledgers, among which were thousands of unique test pressings and lacquer discs of containing alternate takes and rehearsal recordings of its artists, dating back to the 1920s. A few days before the demolition took place, staff from the French Vogue label were allowed to rescue some jazz material, and a group of collectors from the USA and Europe were allowed to go through the doomed warehouse and salvage whatever they could carry out with them for their personal collections. The building was then demolished by explosives with most of the archive still inside and the rubble was then bulldozed into the Delaware River and a pier was built on top of it. The destruction of masters and discs came back to haunt RCA, notably in 1973 when the company decided to release all of Rachmaninoff's recordings on LP to celebrate the centennial of the composer's birth, and was forced to seek the help of record collectors to obtain materials.

In 1965, RCA & Lear Jet Corp. teamed up to release the first stereo 8-track tape cartridges (Stereo-8) which were popular in the late 1960's and 1970's. In late 1968, RCA modernised its image with a futuristic new logo, using the letters RCA in modernised block outline form. The new logo replaced the old lightning bolt logo, and both the "Victor" and Nipper trademarks were gradually retired.

In 1970 RCA issued the first Quadraphonic 4-Channel 8-track tape cartridges (Quad-8, later called just Q8). followed by quadraphonic vinyl recordings (primarily of classical music) recorded in the CD-4 "Quadradisc" format, which required a special cartridge, a 4-channel amplifier and four separate speakers. It competed with the CBS "SQ" system (which was not compatible) but both systems flopped in the marketplace and were shelved within a few years. Although Quadraphonic sound failed at the time, it led to the eventual development of the hugely successful Surround Sound technology, which has boomed with the introduction of the DVD.

In the 1960s RCA began to expand and diversify its international operations, purchasing several major US businesses including Random House publishing (1965), Hertz Rent-a-Car (1967) and Ballantine Books (1973). RCA set up its Australian subsidiary in 1963 (see below) and established its own British distribution arm in 1971, ending its arrangement with Decca. Between 1968 and 1976 the RCA Victor label and its trademark "Nipper" logo were gradually retired.

In 1983, Arista Records (owned by the German Bertelsmann group) sold 50% of its shares to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA formed a joint venture called RCA-Ariola International. In 1985 General Electric purchased RCA for US$6.3 billion, primarily to acquire NBC. GE then sold its 50% stake in RCA-Ariola to its partner Bertelsmann and the company was renamed the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). BMG brought back the lightning bolt logo to make clear that RCA Records was no longer co-owned with the other RCA entities which GE sold or closed. BMG also revived the "RCA Victor" label for musical genres other than country, pop and rock. In 2004, Bertelsmann (currently one of the three largest media conglomerates in the world) and the Japanese Sony Coporation merged their music holdings into a joint venture called Sony BMG -- a move which, ironically, united the former RCA labels with those of their long-time competitor CBS, which had been acquired by Sony in the late 1980s.

RCA in Australia

Left: "Don't Book Me Officer" by Sydney folk group The Tolmen (1965)

The earliest known local pop releases by the Australian division of RCA appeared in 1963; it is probably no coincidence that this was the same year that its rival CBS established its own Australian subsidiary. There is very little information about RCA's recording activities in Australia, which is unfortunate, given the many significant Australian performers who recorded for the label over the years. It appears that the company had already been established for some years in Australia -- Mark Casson's book Hegemony of International Business 1945-1970 (Routledge, 1970) notes the growing influence of American-owned companies on the Australian music industry and specifically mentions the "long-established RCA Australia Pty Ltd".

The only major "in-house" reisssue of local recordings from RCA was the Glenn A. Baker-compiled 25 Recycled RCA Rock Relics LP (released in the 1980s). Little of RCA's Australian back-catalogue has been re-released on CD to date; the main exception is the popular surf-instrumental material by bands such as The Denvermen, which has been re-released under licence by local label Canetoad.

RCA released many titles sourced from its extensive American catalogue, so the catalogue numbers for its Australian recordings are not consecutive. However all RCA singles (whether Australian or overseas recordings) used a common six-digit catalogue number prefixed "101" (which turned over to "102" around 1972) and this system remained in use until at least 1975.

EPs were identified with a five-digit catalogue number; the earliest known Australian RCA EP (Namatjira by folk trio The Tolmen) was RCA 20312, released in 1963. Australian LPs were numbered as part of the same '101' series as the singles, but were distinguished with the addition of a "L" prefix. An exception to this sequence was the 1965 self-titled LP by Max Merritt & The Meteors, which (for unknown reasons) was catalogued RPL-3400.

Pioneering Kiwi rocker Johnny Devlin -- who had previously been behind John Collins' Teen label in the late 1950s -- was appointed as the RCA's house producer and A&R manager in late 1963, even though he was signed to Festival as a recording artist at the time. Devlin produced some of RCA's early recordings and penned numerous songs for RCA artists including The Denvermen (whom he also managed). In this period Devlin often used The Denvermen as the session band for RCA's roster of artists, which included Lee Sellers, Del Juliana and Tony Brady.

RCA recorded a wide range of Australian performers in the Sixties and early 1970s, beginning with a string of surf-intrumental sides by groups like The Denvermen -- whose classic HMV single"Surfside" was a #1 hit in Sydney in early 1963 -- The Renegades and The Midnighters (which included guitarist-composer Michael Wade, later a member of the house bands for Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.

It's often forgotten that 'surf' music was hugely popular with young Australan and New Zealand musicians; -- an entire generation of budding guitarists in the late 50s and early '60s cite The Shadows' Hank Marvin as their primary formative inlfuence. Surf culture in general was a major movement in and around Sydney at the time, a fact demonstrated by the National Stomping Championship held at Narrabeen in late 1963, which drew an astounding 45,000 fans.

RCA Australia's original label design (pictured above) was a black label with silver lettering, featuring the famous RCA "lightning bolt' logo. The earliest single by an Australian pop artist listed in Ross Laird's "First Wave" discography of Australian pop recordings is "Over The Rainbow" (RCA 101530), recorded by Digger Revell & The Denvermen and released in 1963. RCA's first local hit was "Kahuna" by Cronulla surf group The Renegades, produced by Devlin and recorded at AWA's 3-track studio in central Sydney. It reached #8 in Sydney in January 1964.

Other 'pop' acts who recorded for RCA in this period included Johnny Devlin, The Changing Times, The Flies (with Ronnie Burns), Max Merritt & The Meteors, The Charades, The Cicadas, Colin Buckley, The Cardinals (a vocal trio that included AWA panel operator and future EMI house producer David Mackay), The Feelgoods, The Grape Escape, Jon Blanchfield, John Francis (who became better known in the '70s as John J. Francis), The Chosen Few, Bobby & Laurie, Freshwater, Alison MacCallum, Headband, Fraternity, Bev Harrell, Glenys Hewett (sister of Colleen), The Beachcombers, Digby Richards, Brenda Kristian.

RCA released a number of singles that are of interest to Bee Gees aficionados. Although the Bee Gees themslves were contracted to the Leedon label, Barry Gibb was emerging as a talented and very productive writer during 1963-64, and among the many songs he composed were several that were recorded by RCA performers. Tony Brady's 1964 single "Let's Stomp, Australia Way" was a collaboration between Barry and Johnny Devlin, and it marked Gibb's first ever co-writing credit; the B-side ("Lucky Me") was a Gibb solo composition. Barry also wrote Del Juliana's "Never Like This" (1964) and wrote both sides of Lori Balmer's 1966 single "Who's been writing on the wall again" / "InÊyour world" on which the young singer -- then only ten years old -- was backed by The Bee Gees.

Some of the Australian acts who recorded for RCA in the Sixties and early Seventies are yet to be identified, since most of the available discographical information on Australian labels of this period only covers recordings classified as "pop" or "rock". One of these acts was Sydney folk group The Tolmen, whose recordings featured uncredited session guitar and banjo by noted American-born musician Dave Guard, a former member of the renowned folk group The Kingston Trio.

RCA introduced its new logo in 1968 in the USA, but the black label and lightning-bolt logo evidently remained in use in Australia for some time afterwards, e.g. the 1969 'comeback' single by Bobby & Laurie, "The Carroll County Accident" was released on the older-style black label.

Notable Australian acts signed by RCA in the early 1970s including Perth-based progressive rock band Bakery and all-star Melbourne band King Harvest, which was fronted by the renowned Leo De Castro. RCA's most successful Australian artist of the 1970s was Renee Geyer. Her first recordings were released and distributed by RCA, but after her debut LP she signed an independent production deal with Mushroom -- her manager at the time was Ray Evans, one of the directors of Mushroom). The single pictured at left shows Renee's 1977 single "Tender Hooks", which carries the Mushroom Productions logo. 

RCA had released the album by her first band, the jazz-rock group Sun, and RCA then signed Renee to a solo contract in 1973 and released her debut album, on which she was backed (at her insistence) by her then band Mother Earth. Her follow up album It's A Man's Man's World (produced by Tweed Harris) was released in 1974 and became her first charting record. The title track, her classic rendition of the James Brown hit from 1965, was her first hit single. She then formed her own band, Sanctuary, to promote the album. By this time Renee had become disenchanted with RCA's refusal to let her record more original material. She was prepared to sit out her contract if necessary, but Mushroom Records was able to strike a deal with RCA, whereby they would produce her recordings, which were then leased to RCA, who would release and distribute the albums and singles with the Mushroom Productions logo stamped on the label.

One of the most interesting and culturally significant singles on RCA was the 1971 single "The Gurindji Blues" b/w "The Tribal Land" (pictured at right), recorded by Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari and Yolngnu man Galarrwuy Yunupingu. Lingiari had been one of the leaders of the legendary Gurindji strike at Wave Hill station in 1966. The A-side, "The Gurindji Blues" was co-written by folk singer Ted Egan with Vincent Lingiari and was reportedly penned in reaction to disparaging comments about Wave Hill dispute made by then Interior Minister, Peter Nixon. It is also notable as one of the first known Australian RCA singles to be released in a picture sleeve. 

Among its extensive international catalogue, RCA's greatest and most enduring success in Australia was with its flagship artist, Elvis Presely, whose sales and popularity have continued to grow in the decades since his death. RCA also enjoyed great pop chart and sales success in the mid-60s with The Monkees, who scored several major hits here, and they also released one of the leading psychedelic rock groups of the period, Jefferson Airplane. Other notable American pop/rock acts in the RCA catalogue from this period included Duane Eddy, Sam Cooke, The Mamas & The Papas, The Archies, The Guess Who, The Youngbloods, Zager & Evans, Jose Feliciano, Joan Baez, Nilsson,  John Denver and, from 1971 onwards, The Kinks. 

RCA also released popular "mainstream" artists such as Paul Anka, Harry Belafonte, Jack Jones, Peter Nero, Henry Mancini, Hugo Montenegro and exotica king Esquivel, country artists including Chet Atkins, Charlie Pride, Floyd Cramer, Jim Reeves and Willie Nelson, and jazz artists such as Paul Desmond, Sonny Rollins and Duke Ellington. RCA's classical roster included its flagship artist, renowned pianist Arthur Rubenstein (who toured Australia at the same time as The Beatles), Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Astor Piazolla, and The National Philharmonic Orchestra

New international signings continued RCA's critical and commercial success in the 1970s, spearheaded by David Bowie, who recorded for RCA during his most creatively successful period, from the Hunky Dory album in 1971 to Scary Monsters in 1979, although the company subsequently lost the rights to Bowie's back catalogue ca. 1990, when it was acquired by EMI.  Bowie's friend and musical hero Lou Reed also enjoyed his greatest commercial success in that period, recording a string of classic albums for RCA in the early 70s. His biggest commercial successes was the Bowie/Ronson-produced Transformer (1972) and its hit single "Walk on the Wild Side"; RCA also did well with Reed's groundbreaking live album Rock'n'Roll Animal (1973), as well as the critically acclaimed LPs Berlin and Sally Can't Dance. Reed's stint with RCA ended in spectacular fashion with his infamous double album of industrial noise, Metal Machine Music (1974), which outraged and/or bemused most Reed fans, and was returned to the company in unprecedented quantities, forcing RCA to terminate Reed's contract.

RCA also had considerable success with British glam-rock band The Sweet, but by far its biggest success in Australasia was Swedish mega-group ABBA. Thanks largely to Countdown, Australia was one of the first countries in which ABBA scored hits, and Australasia became one of ABBA's biggest territories. The group toured here in 1976 to scenes of fan frenzy reminiscent of the heyday of Beatlemania.

Propelled by the rising importance of music video, RCA had another major run of success in the Eighties with UK acts Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) and solo singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. The ABC's Double Jay/Triple J was probably the first station in Australia to play Armatrading, who became one of the most popular solo artists of the late 70s and early 80s. Countdown was very important in breaking these performers in Australia -- it had already given exposure to Eurythmics' predecessor The Tourists (whose version of "I Only Want To Be With You" became a minor hit here, due almost entirely to the support of Countdown) and like many other acts, the Australian success of acts like Eurythmics (supported by the nationwide promotional power of Countdown) helped to the group to break into the all-important US market, where the concurrent advent of MTV proved crucial to their success.

Discography

Australian recordings 1963-1975

NOTE: like its major competitors CBS, EMI and Festival, the Australian RCA label signed and recorded a wide range of local artists whose work falls outside the "pop-rock" category. This includes folk, country, jazz and "middle of the road" popular vocal and instrumental recordings, as well as titles sourced from RCA's extensive classical catalogue. Because the 45rpm discographies used as sources for this listing concentrate on the pop-rock genre, this discography list is not complete, and we expect that many more locally-recorded titles will be identified in the future. 

This listing only covers Australian RCA recordings. The RCA listing on the Rockzirkus forum, from which many of these releases were identified, also includes a listing of New Zealand RCA releases.

Singles

CAT. # DATE ARTIST TITLE
101530 1963 Digger Revell & The Denvermen "Over The Rainbow"
"I'm Gonna Make You"
101533 1963 The Denvermen "Sun Seeker" (Devlin)
"Stomp Fever" (Devlin)
101535 1963 The Midnighters "Maroubra" (Michael Wade)
"Goofy Foot" (Michael Wade)
101536 1963 Rod Dunbar "Big Brother" (Dunbar)
"You Got What I LIke" (E. Greenwich)
101539 1963 The Renegades "Kahuna"
"Hot Sands"
101540 1963 The Denvermen "Mystery Wave"
"Spanish Sands"
101541 1963 Kathie MacCormack A: "Vaya Con Dios" (Larry Russell)
B: "Wishing Star" (Kersten-Melrose)
101542 1964 Tony Brady & The Coronets A: "Let's Stomp Australia Way (R. Gibb-J.Devlin)"
B: "Lucky Me" (B. Gibb)
101543 1964 Tony Weston with The Denvermen "Hootenany Stomp"
"Forever Mine"
101544 1964 Digger Revell & The Denvermen A: "My Little Rocker's Turned Surfie" (Johnny Devlin)
B: "Tip of my tongue" (Lennon-McCartney)
101546 1964 Tony Brady & The Coronets A: "Dining And Dancing" (Bobby Sharp)
B: "Surf Ridin'" (Kaufman-Anthony)
101547 Feb. 1964 The Tolmen A: "Don't book me, officer" (Johnny Devlin)
B: "Moonie"
101548 1964 Pam Oakley & The Viscounts A: "I want to be a surfer girl"
B: "Teenage Prayer"
101550 1964 The Midnighters "Shark chase" (Midnighters)
"Ridin' High" (Michael Wade)
101552 1964 The Cicadas "That's What I Want"
"Hey Wha D'ya Say"
101554 1964 The Denvermen "The Rebel"
"Vaquero"
101555 1964 The Charades "The Lonely Beach" (Johnny Devlin)
"The Big Dipper" (Paul Baker)
101557 1964 Digger Revell & The Denvermen "Just call on me" (Williams-Conde)
"Mr Moon, Mr Cupid and I" (Gene Pitney)
101558 1964 Del Juliana "You're Driving Me Crazy" (H.B.Barnum)
"I Was A Fool For Leaving" (Deleston-Otis)
101559 1964 Kathie McCormack "Afraid"
"Memories are made of this"
101560 1964 The Midnighters "Moon Shot"
"First love"
101561 1964 The Cicadas "I Need You"
"I'll Prove It"
101562 1964 Lorrae Desmond "Everybody's got a home but me"
"Cannibal Mardi Gras"
101563 1964 Del Juliana "Never Like This" (B.Gibb)
"What'd I Say" (R.Charles)
101565 1964 Barry Stanton "A tribute to the King" (Johnny Devlin)
"That's right, all right" (Rod Stanton)
101566 1964 Digger Revell & The Denvermen "Don't you know" (Digger Revell)
"C'mon let's go" (Wiseman-Deane)
101568 1964 The Cicadas "Always On My Mind"
"Let's Try Again"
101569 1964 Lee Sellers "If you try to steal my baby" (Joy Byers)
"Tell him I'm not home" (Jeff Barry)
101570 1964 The Denvermen "Surfers Blues"
"Proud Ones"
101571 1964 The Charades "Whisper By Whisper"
"New Orleans"
101574 1964 The Viscounts A: "Do the dog" (Rufus Thomas)
B: "All for you" (Fed Lawrence)
101576 1964 Digger Revell & The Denvermen "Jenny. Jenny" (Johnson-Penniman)
"I love the way you love me" (Digger Revell)
101577 1964 The Denvermen "She's Gone" (Marvin-Harris)
"Route No. 1"
101578 1965 The Fugitives "I'm Gonna Give My Love To You"
"Really Gonna Shake"
101579 1965 Lorrae Desmond "Never before"
"Between goodbye and hello"
101582 1965 Brian Withers "All time loser" (June Sparks)
"What was that" (Peter Hitchcock)
101583 1965 The Cicadas "Is It Love?"
"I Am"
101584 1964 The Chantinos "Since I Fell In Love With You"
"Don't say nothin' (if you can't say anything nice)"
101586 1964 The Flies "I'll Be In Love With You"
"Tell Her That"
101588 1964 Digger Revell & The Denvermen "A shot of rhythm and blues" (Thompson)
"Take your time" (Petty-Holly)
101589 1965 The Charades "Northwest Of Broken Hill"
"When Someone Cares"
101590 1965 Brian Withers "The cling's the thing" (Williams-Conde)
"Do the cling" (Williams-Conde)
101591 1965 Johnny Devlin & The Devils "You Won't Be My Baby" (Devlin)
"Walk Your Cat" (Devlin)
101592 1965 Ray Hoff & The Offbeats "Little Queenie"
"What Do You Want Me To Do"
101596 1965 Marlene Atcheson A: "That's not for me"
B: "You are the one boy for me"
101598 1965 The Changing Times A: "I'm Going Away"
B: "Mary Lou"
101599 1965 The Denvermen "Bird Dog"
"Without You"
101600 1964 Digger Revell & The Denvermen "High School Confidential" (Hargrave-Lewis)
"My prayer" (Kennedy-Boulanger)
101601 Apr. 1965 Max Merritt & The Meteors "So Long Babe"
"You're Treating Me Bad"
101602 1965 Pam Oakley with orchestra dir. by Milton Saunders "Keep your hands off my baby" (Goffin-King)
"If it wasn't for you" (Pam Oakley)
101603 1965 The Midnighters "Betty Lou"
"Hootchy kootchy man"
101611 1965 Athol McCoy and the Rhythm Ramblers "Scobie's hangover" (Doug Young)
"Things are really changing" (Nicholls-McCoy)
101618 1965 The Flies "Doin' The Mod"
"Ain't That Just Like Me"
101621 1965 Marlene Atcheson "The colour of love"
"Happy"
101624 1965 The Charades "I Only Dream Of You" (Paul Baker)
"Don't Try"
101626 1965 Barry Stanton "My little Emmy"
"Dancing partner"
101628 1965 Jamie Mahar "Look at you"
"Walk into the dawn"
101629 1965 Johnny Devlin & The Devils "When I Have To Go Away" (Devlin)
"Stagger Lee"
101631 1965 The Changing Times "Wonderful Wonderful"
"It Ain't So"
101633 1965 The Flies "Can't You Feel"
"I'll Pass On By"
101634 1965 Wendy Sullivan "Will you want me tomorrow" (Williams-Conde)
"The right road to heartache" (Williams-Conde)
101635 1965 Digger Revell with orchestra dir. by Tommy Tyhco "I'm gonna send you back to Georgia" (Matthews-Hammond)
"Twilight time" (Ram -Lewis-Nevins-Dunn)
101637 1965 The Chantinos "Dominique" / "Breaking Point"
101639 1965 Colin Buckley "When I Fall In Love" (Heyman-Young)
"Hand Jive" (Johnny Otis)
101642 1965 Johnny Devlin & The Devils "I Lost Your Love" (Devlin)
"Donna" (Devlin)
101652 1965 The Cardinals with The Devils "Softly As I Leave You"
"20 And In"
101666 1965 Digger Revell w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tyhco "As long as she needs me" (Lionel Bart)
"You'd better move on" (Alexander)
101667 1965 Marlene Atcheson A: "He's the boy I love"
B: " Spinning Around"
101668 1965 Brian Withers "Crazy talk" (Tills-Walker)
"Let's kiss" (Warren Williams-Franz Conde)
101669 1965 Ernie Sigley "Think about me" (Colin Kirby)
" Mona Lisa" (Livingstone-Evans)
101672 1966 Johnny Veen with The Shindigs "He"
"So mystifying" (Ray Davies)
101675 1966 The Devils "Don't Do It" (Devlin)
"Way Down Yonder In New Orleans"
101677 1966 Lori (Balmer) w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho "Banjo Boy"
"The dickey bird song"
101678 1966 Lori (Balmer) w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho "Pink shoe laces"
"Side by side"
101681 1966 Ernie Sigley, w/ musical direction by John Crossing "Hey! Girl" (Neilson-Crossing)
"It's almost tomorrow" (Adkinson)
101684 1966 Colin Buckley A: "Little Egypt" (Liber-Stoller)
B: "Got My Eyes On You" (Dave Burgess)
101688 1966 The Twiliters "Dismal Currency"
"Creamsleeves"
101690 1966 Jamie Mahar w/ orchestra cond. by Tommy Tycho "Come home baby"
"Angela Jones"
101692 1966 Digger Revell "Worried Man" (Guard-Glazer)
"You got what it takes" (Gordy-Davis-Gordy)
101694 1966 Colin Buckley & The In Crowd "Thirteen Women" (Thompson)
"Blood From A Stone" (Batchelor-Stephens)
101697 1966 The Top Cats "Please don't touch" (B.F.Wood)
"Diana" (Anka)
101700 1966 Tina Date "A Single Girl"
"Spinning Wheel"
101701 1966 Lori (Balmer) with The Charades "Poor little black sheep"
"If I knew you were coming (I'd have baked a cake)"
101706 1966 Wendy Sullivan w/ orch. conducted by Tommy Tycho "So proud of you" (Maras-Calco-Nilsson)
"Some other girl" (Mills)
101708 1966 The Cardinals "All My World Was You"
"You Know" (David Mackay)
101718 1966 Johnny Veen with The Charades "You Know He Did" (Ransford)
"When I Fall In Love" (Heyman-Young)
101721 1967 The Top Cats "Dream lover" (Bobby Darin)
"Lost John" (Lonnie Donegan)
101722 1967 Colin Buckley "Itty Bitty Love"
"Take These Chains From My Heart"
101723 1966 Digger Revell w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho
Digger Revell
"My mammy" (Young-Lewis-Donaldson)
"You won't find that kind in me" (Gentry-Cordell)
101727 1965 The Feelgoods "Till You Find Out"
"A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square"
101728 1965 The Feelgoods "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"
"What Will It Be Like?"
101729 1966 Digger Revell "Our love is slipping away" (Carter-Lewis)
"It's so easy" (Holly-Petty)
101730 1966 Brian Withers w/ Don Whittaker & His Orchestra For no one (Lennon-McCartney)
"Here, there and everywhere" (Lennon-McCartney)
101733 1966 The Reno Brothers "Close to my heart"
"Come to me"
101741 1966 Phil Lanham "When I dance with you"
"Remember me"
101743 1966 Barry Newman "Find out what's happening" (Crutchfield)
"I'll forgive you but I won't forget" (Pomus-Shuman)
101744 1967 Lori (Lori Balmer) "Who's been writing on the wall" (B.Gibb)
"In your world" (B.Gibb)
101746 1967 The Grape Escape "Easy Life" (Chris Bonnett)
"Night Plane" (Chris Bonnett)
101747 1967 Ernie Sigley, w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho "A boy without a girl" (Bricusse)
"True Love" (Frankie Davidson)
101752 1967 Phil Lanham w/ orchestra cond. by Tommy Tycho "Lost in the stars" (Anderson-Weill)
"You're gonna hear from me" (Previn)
101754 1967 The Grape Escape "Is Your Soul Drip Dry?"
"Happier the day"
101758 1967 Lori (Balmer) with The Marksmen "Wear a yellow raincoat" (Clive Clayton-John Egginton)
"Silly Billy Blunder"
101760 1967 The Reno Brothers "The Marionettes" (Christophe)
"Melodie d'amour" (john-salvador)
101761 1967 The Feelgoods "Le Soliel"
"Antoinette"
101764 1967 Gita Rivera w/ orchestra drir. by Tommy Tycho "The streets are not deserted now" (Toni & Royce)
"Just once more" (Al Western)
101775 1967 Kenny Dee with orchestra
ararnged and conducted by John Charter
"Someone Like You" (Dee)
"What is love" (Dee)
101779 1967 Gita Rivera w/ orchestra drir. by Tommy Tycho "Letters"
"My heart just died"
101780 1967 John Meillon w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho "Hot pie and tomato sauce"
"We're a weird mob"
101782 1967 Digger Revell w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho "Sunshine on my shoulder" (Michael Morris)
"All for the love of a girl" (Johnny Horton)
101794 1967 Jon Blanchfield A: "You've Got A Lot Of Livin' " (Ross-Cadd) 
B: "Time" (Ross-Cadd)
101795 1967 The John Francis Collexion "You Tell Me" (Francis)
"I Talk To Trees" (Francis)
101796 1967 The Syssys "The singer not the song" (Jagger-Richards)
"Baby, don't do it" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
101802 1967 Digger Revell w/ orchestra dir. by Tommy Tycho "Funny how time slips away" (Nelson)
"Who cares" (John Shaw)
101803 1967 The Creatures "Ugly Thing" (Matcham-Lawrie)
"Your one and only man"
101804 1967 The New Edition "A look at you"
"About You Girl"
101811 1968 Jon Blanchfield "Lavender Girl" (G.Henman)
"Look What I've Got" (Fischoff-Bayer)
101819 1968 Jon Blanchfield w/ orchestra dir. by Johnny Hawker "Pray For Love" (Sedaka-Atkins)
"Somebody To Love" (Darby Slick)
101828 1968 Geoff Brown "Jindivick"
"There's A Mountain To Climb"
101835 1968 The Hendry Sisters "Bimbo" (Ros Morris)
"It's such a pretty world" (Dale Noe)
101836 1968 Norma Stoneman "Do"
"Don't change"
101843 1969 Jon Blanchfield "Baby, Get In The Groove" (Peter Williams)
B: "Reach For The Sun" (Ross-Cadd)
101844 1968 Robert Gennari w/ orchestra directed by Rocky Thomas "When will the sun shine again?"
"She wears my ring"
101846 1969 Andy King "I don't care" (King)
"I play the cheating game" (King)
unknown 1969 The Limit "I'll see you there" (King)
"Happy life" (King)
101850 1968 The Limit "I'll see you there"
"Happy life"
101853 1969 Kevin McCann w/ orchestra dir. by Rocky Thomas "What a scene" (McCann)
"Sunny and me"
101854 1969 Kevin McCann w/ orchestra dir. by Rocky Thomas "I've got you on my mind"
"The skeleton on the roundabout" (J.Lynne)
101858 1969 Jon Blanchfield A: "She's My Baby" (Finch-Turnbull-Moffatt)
B: "I Get So Excited" (Gordon Grant)
101860 1969 John Vincent & The In-Sect A: "Madge's Charity Badges" (Vincent)
B: "Choko Brandy" (Vincent)
101864 1969 Oakapple Day plus The Deadly Pair "Moon Shot" (Bannerman-Stokes)
"Let's do it on the moon" (Bannerman-Stokes)
101867 1969 Travis Wellingotn Hedge "Hey Bulldog" (Lennon-McCartney)
"I put a spell on you" (Hawkins)
101868 1969 Ernie Sigley, w/ orchestra and chorus dir. by Tommy Tycho "Mary's boy child" (Hairston)
"Brush those tears from your eyes" (Halderman-Trace-Lee)
101870 1969 Bobby & Laurie "The Carroll County Accident" (Bob Ferguson)
"Hole In The Ground" (Laurie Allen)
101871 1969 Phil McLean w/ orchestra dir. by Frank Smith "Savage Shadows" (Bria Reason-Frank Smith)
"And the rain came down" (Geoffrey Fry-Frank Smith)
101872 1969 Ed Devereaux with orchestra dir. by Rocky Thomas "Under the water - under the sea" (Rene Devereaux)
"Champagne"
101874 1969 Jon Blanchfield "Son Of A Simple Man" (Cadd-Mudie)
"Waltzing Matilda" (Paterson-Cowan)
101875 1969 Max Merritt & The Meteors "Hey Western Union Man"
"Home is where the heart is"
101878 1969 Ron Barry "Keep One Foot In The Door" (Produced by Paul Anka)
?
101879 1969 A: The In People Present Tony Gaha
(prod. Paul Anka, arr. Jimmy Webb)
B: The In People's Ron Barry
"Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" (Anka)
"Keep one foot in the door" (Anka)
101885 1969 John Vincent
John Vincent's Innamincka Show Band
A: "Ow ya goin' Santa Claus" (Vincent)
B: "We're both sorry now" (Vincent)
101886 1969 Barry Ion, Peter Plus w/ The Coachmen & The Carousels Minus 1 "Little Boys"
"Giddyup (Ding Dong)"
101894 1969 Bobby & Laurie "Through The Eyes Of Love"
"Trouble On The Turnpike"
RCA Custom
ZHLM-0371
1970 Normie Rowe "Rockhampton Happening"
"Rockhampton Happening"
101908 Feb. 1971 Max Merritt & The Meteors "Good Feeling"
"I Can't Wait "
101911 1971 King Harvest "Witchita Lineman"
"Summer In The City"
101916 July 1971 Bakery "Bloodsucker"
"Leave Scruffy Alone"
unknown 1971 Bullett "Leaving"
?
unknown 1971 Bullett "Leave That Girl Alone"
?
101919 1971 Bruce Woodley "Friends"
"Rattler"
101922 1971 King Harvest "Jumpin' Jack Flash, Part 1"
"Jumpin' Jack Flash, Part 2"
101927 May 1971 Max Merritt & The Meteors "Hello L.A., Goodbye Birmingham"
"Live Levis" (Aulton)
101937 1971 Galarrwuy Yunupingu & Vincent Lingiari "The Gurindji Blues" (Lingiari-Egan)
"The Tribal Land"
101939 1971 Bruce Woodley "Flying New Mexico"
"Anything you might say"
101940 1971 Digby Richards "A Little Piece Of Peace"
"Show Me The Way"
101941 1971 Whistler's Mother "Steamboat Willie"
"Mr. Big"
101944 1971 Freshwater feat. Alison MacCallum "Hello Sunshine"
"I Ain't Got The Time"
101967 1971 Digby Richards "Just Lovin' You"
"One Voice In A Million"
101969 1971 Ernie Sigley "City of the Angels"
?
101985 1971 Digger Revell "Mary Jane"
"Satisfied Man"
101992 1971 Sunshine "Luke McCoy"
"Sweet Little Mama"
unknown 1971 The Beachcombers "Sing My Song"
?
102001 1971 Jon Blanchfield "Lucy's Place"
"Is it true"
102019 1972 Alison MacCallum "Superman" (Vanda-Young)
"Take Me Back"
102034 1972 Fraternity "Welfare Boogie"
"Getting Off"
102038 1972 Fraternity "Welfare Boogie"
"Annabelle"
102040 1972 Digby Richards "People Call Me Country"
"The Dancer"
102058 1972 Jon Blanchfield "Let The Good Times Roll"
"Shenandoah"
102087 1972 Digger Revell "Take A Look"
"Road To Nowhere"
unknown 1972 Caboose "Ballad Of Frank A. Lane"
?
102113 1972 Digby Richards "Dirty River"
"Ashton Country Park"
102146 1972 Headband "Land Of Supercars"
"How Much I Miss The Country"
102162 1972 Ray Columbus "Come-Back-A-Rocker-Tracker"
"When The Sun Shines Thru"
102260 1973 Bev Harrell "It Was Easy"
"The Right Thing To Do"
? 1973 The Graduate "Riverboat Queen"
?
102314 1973 Glenys Hewett "C'est La Vie"
?
102345 1973 Renee Geyer "Space Captain"
"If Only You Believe"
102373 1973 Digby Richards "If I Could Write A Love Song"
"Sweetwater Valley"
102380 1973 Bev Harrell "Carole By Candlelight"
"You've Got To Save Me"
102396 1973 Digby Richards "New York City (Send My Baby Home)"
"Dawning Of The Morning"
102408 1973 Brenda Kristen (aka Brenda Glover) "Touch the Wind (Eres Tu)"
"Put a Little Love Away"
102416 1973 Digby Richards "Time To Go To Bed"
"All Things Bright And Beautiful"
unknown 1973 Renee Geyer "Oh Boy"
"No Such Thing As Love"
unknown 1974 Renee Geyer "It's Been A Long Time"
"Take Me Where You Took Me Last Night"
102439 1974 Digby Richards "Do The Spunky Monkey"
"Daddy Was A Dance Man"
102478 1974 Renee Geyer "What Do I Do On A Sunday Morning?"
"Scarlet Ribbons"
102486 1974 Digby Richards "Be My Day"
"Be My Guitar"
102505 1974 The Beachcombers "Song For Happy"
?
102510 1974 Bev Harrell "Mon Pere"
"I Believe In Music"
102538 1974 Renee Geyer "It's A Man's Man's Man's World"
"Once In A Lifetime Thing"
102547 1975 Digby Richards "Old Mr. Hard Times"
"Love Bee"
102563 1975 Johnny Ashcroft "Darwin Lives On"
"Darwin Lives On" (Instrumental)
102575 1975 John Torv "Too Much Funky Business" (Chuck Berry)
"Danny's Song"
102595 1975 Digby Richards "Little Suzuki"
"Girl Like You"
102603 1975 Kush "I'm your football"
"Out of my tree"
102622 1975 Johnny Ashcroft "Holy Joe The Salvo"
"A Song For Danny"
102633 1975 Cloud Nine "Hi There"
?
unknown 1975 The Beachcombers "Cruisin' "
?
102641 1975 Digby Richards "Raincoat In The River"
"Havin' It Straight"
102672 1975 Renee Geyer "(I Give You) Sweet Love"
"Love's Got A Hold"
unknown 197? John Hayton "Fat Albert"
?
102679 1976? Johnny Ashcroft "Darlin’ Biddy"
"Dorrigo Tiptoe"

EPs

CAT. # DATE ARTIST TITLE TRACKS
20312 Aug. 1964 The Tolmen Namatjira "Namatjira" / "Puttin’ on the Style"
"The Endeavor" / "Eureka Stockade"
20313 1964 The Denvermen Stomp Fever "Stomp Fever" / "Ho Dad" /
20321 1964 The Tolmen Pieces of Folk ?
20416 1964 Digger Revell You Belong To Me "You belong to me" /
20453 1965? The Twiliters The Twiliters "Waltzing Mathilda" / "The Albury Ram"
"The Reedy Lagoon" / "Lazy Harry's"
20467 1965 The Flies The Flies Featuring Ronnie Burns "I'll be in love with you" / "Tell her that 
? / ?
20499 196? The Twiliters Good Grief...it's The Twiliters "Windy" / "Shades of grey"
"That's your way", "Big big city"
20507 1969 Ernie Sigley w/ musical direction by John Crossing True Love "A clown am I" (W. Atwell) / "A million years ago" (Tree) 
"A boy without a girl" / "True Love"
6603C 1966? The Henchmen Music from the M.U.A.S.C.'s
1966 Architects Revue Film
?

Albums

CAT. # DATE ARTIST TITLE
L-101537 1963 The Denvermen Let's Go Surfside
L 101627 1965 Digger Revell My Prayer
SL-101676 1965 Tina Date A Single Girl
Produced by Ron Wills
RPL-3400 1965 Max Merritt & The Meteors Max Merritt's Meteors
Camden CAMS-127 1966 The Twiliters Great Day with The Twiliters
SL-101891 1969 Max Merritt & The Meteors Max Merritt & The Meteors
Camden CAM-169 1970 Jon Blanchfield Jon Blanchfield
SL-101897 1970 Bob Young (composer) Adam's Woman - original soundtrack
RCA Custom ZHLM 0371 1970 Normie Rowe Rockhampton Happening
SL-101906 1971 Max Merritt & The Meteors Stray Cats
Victor SL-101910 1972 Bruce Woodley Just Good Friends
SL-102035 1972 Digby Richards Harlequin
SL-102036 1972 Alison MacCallum Freshwater
SL-102038 1972 Fraternity Flaming Galah
SL-102164 Oct. 1972 Sun (featuring Renee Geyer) Sun 1972
MSL-102305 1973 Renee Geyer Renee Geyer
VCLI-0009 1974 Alison MacCallum Any Way You Want Me
(re-release of Freshwater with new title and cover)
MVPLI-0017 1974 Bev Harrell I Believe In Music
MVLPI-0024-G 1974 Renee Geyer It's A Man's Man's World
VPLI-0071 1975 Kush Nah Tellus What Kush Means Ya Great Sausage
VPLI-0075 1975 Cloud Nine We're Good Friends So Rock On
VPLI-0800 1975 The Beachcombers The Beachcombers
VPLI-0105 1975 Renee Geyer Ready To Deal
VPLI 0119-G 1975 Bobby Bright Bobby Bright
MVPCLI-0001 1975 Digby Richards Digby Richards
unknown 1975 The Fugitives The Fugitives
unknown 1975 John Hayton Rabbitt's Run

References / Links

Thanks to Bill Casey for additional discographical information

Ross Laird

The Sixties: Australian Rock & Pop Recordings 1964-69 (Screensound) - PDF document
http://www.nfsa.afc.gov.au/docs/collectionguide_thesixties1964-1969.pdf

Wikipedia: RCA Records
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_Records

Earth Tube Music Chaser
http://www.earthtube.com/music/disco/disc81.html

RCA Australia/New Zealand releases
http://www.rockzirkus.de/forum/showthread.php?t=5558

Johnny Ashcroft official website
http://www.johnnyashcroft.com.au/JA_Discography.htm

Casson, Mark
Hegemony of International Business 1945-1970
Google Book Search

Further reading:

Jim Dawson and Steve Propes
45 RPM: The History, Heroes & Villains of a Pop Music Revolution (Backbeat Books, San Francisco 2003).