• Fried Egg Records
• Wavelength Records
• Heartbeat Records
• Sarah Records
• Riot City Records
• The Subway Organisation
• Cup of Tea Records
• Recreational Records
• Circus Records
• Shoc Wave Records
• COR Records
• Manic Ears Records
• All The Madmen Records

Recreational RECORDS

Recreational Records was a British record label set up in 1981 by the Bristol record shop and distributor Revolver Records. Originally formed as an independent record label with its’ own distribution as part of the Cartel.

Revolver Records and the Cartel

Revolver Records (not to be confused with Revolver Music) was a long established record store based at The Triangle, Clifton, Bristol, and in the 1970’s was a hangout of Mark Stewart, Nick Sheppard, and other local musicians. It also had a distribution arm, which allowed it to distribute its’ own records (under the Recreational label) and those of other Indie labels via its’ participation in the Cartel.

The Cartel was a co-operative record distribution organisation in the United Kingdom, set up by a number of small independent record labels to handle their distribution to record shops. By pooling their resources it allowed them to compete with the larger distribution operations of the major record labels, and also to gain access to the larger shop chains. The association of regional distributors included some of the most notable labels of the 1980s UK post-punk and indie scene: Backs (Norwich), Fast Forward (Edinburgh), Native (Sheffield), Nine Mile (Leamington Spa), Probe (Liverpool), Revolver (Bristol), Red Rhino (York) and Rough Trade (London).

Artists

Amongst the artists were, Talisman a multi-racial Reggae Band who provided the labels very first single and UK Indie Chart hit (#17).[5] Dole Age also became Single of the Week and the Record Sleeve of the Year in the NME.[6] In 1982 as well as playing the Glastonbury Festival, they were the opening act for The Rolling Stones concert at Ashton Gate, Bristol.

Initially Electric Guitars had a single out on Fried Egg Records and tracks on the Bristol Recorder, before their Recreational single. They later went on to join Stiff Records and release a further two singles.
Animal Magic were, “a brassy Bristol sextet led by vocalist Howard Purse, they swiftly developed from a punk to a hardcore dancefloor sensibility.”

The X-Certs started off as a Punk Band in 1978 and recorded several tracks for Heartbeat Records, had two tracks on Bristol Recorder 2, and were including reggae by the time of their 1981 Recreational single. This was to be their last recording as they split up in early 1981.

Releases

The Recreational catalogue listed singles with the Sport prefix, apart from The X-Certs single Together/Untogether, which is listed as Play 1.

Singles

From an original article by Colin Allen on Wikipedia

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