Category:
Date:
Location:
Ownership:
Manufacturer/distributor:
1966-67
Melbourne, Vic.
Dr Geoffrey Edelsten
Astor Electronics Pty Ltd
| MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 | Record Labels |
SCOPE RECORDS
| |
Category: |
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=