The Birchmount Records Story

    Birchmount Records is a music label that many record collectors in Canada have come across, whether knowingly or not. Though the story of this "budget label" behemoth has never been told, its roots lie at a crucial turning point in Canadian music history, and its output rivals some of the country's largest music labels. A fascinating mix of new and old, national and international, Birchmount Records is an unassuming gem. The label sports an interesting, albeit sparse, connection to some key Canadian songwriters and musicians/bands of the late 60’s. These include Greg and Fergus Hambelton, Jay Telfer, Barry Allen, Mary Saxton, Alan Thicke, Eugene Amaro, The Shays, etc. This article aims to shed some light on the forgotten label as well as highlight the awesome Canadian talent on display. The story of Birchmount Records begins in Toronto during the late 1960's. But first, some context is needed: 

    Birchmount Records was created by a Toronto-based company known as Quality Records. Quality at this time was Canada's largest music distributor. By providing Canadian distribution for international labels during the 1950's and early 1960's, Quality was able to set themselves apart from other Canadian labels by sheer size and "quality" of output. Alongside their international endeavors, Quality Records did a lot to distribute smaller Canadian labels as well as promote their own stable of Canadian talent. In addition to their massive dealings under the "Quality Records" name, the label also created over a DOZEN sublabel: Barry, Broadland, Celebration, REO, Ringside, etc.

 

The main idea for Birchmount Records came about in the summer of 1969. Then-current Quality Records bosses George Keane and George Struth hatched the idea to revive some old Quality and BARRY products from their delete bins (Earl Mitton, The Guess Who, Gerald Bailey, The Beau-Marks, Davey Bold, etc.). A deal was struck with Lyman Potts' Canadian Talent Library to distribute a few of their artists commercially through Birchmount. (Guido Basso, Dick McClish, The Metro-Gnomes, Al Baculis, Graham Teear, Eugene Amaro, etc.). In addition to this, another deal was struck with Don Grashey's Gaiety Records to put out a compilation of their artists (The Plague, Lyn McEachern, Tomorrows Keepsake, Duncan & Fife, Sandi Shore, and The Checkerlads) as well as a pair of albums by Jerry Palmer. 

 

The final piece of the puzzle, however, was releasing newer Canadian products from "current" Toronto artists with the help of a few scene-ingratiated tastemakers. This final decision helped breathe a little youth and ingenuity into the idea. But the truth of the matter is, there were no "current Toronto artists" on the labels radar. They actually planned to record a handful of Psych/Pop-oriented "shadow" records with faceless bands and pass them off as active performing artists, similar to how ARC Records of Toronto had been operating around this period. 

                                                                      

    Greg Hambleton was hired as the producer and project coordinator for some of the new Canadian "shadow" projects on Birchmount. At the time, Greg was developing quite the resume. After a few years performing and writing songs in Toronto’s Yorkville district, he grew interested in production and publishing in 1967. He began work as an independent recording engineer at Sound Canada and RCA Studios in Toronto, recording legendary singles by The Midnight Angels, The Boodly-Hoo, The Fringe, A Passing Fancy, The Humble Sponge, and The Eighth Day, among others. 

 

George Struth explained to Greg Hambleton the importance of these "shadow" albums being ready to ship with Birchmount's initial release line as a means of bolstering the early catalog. The key in his mind was for these albums to exude a psychedelic-pop energy. Greg knew this was the perfect opportunity to have these groups record some of his original songs, as well as those by his brother Fergus Hambleton and friend Jay Telfer. The albums had to contain at least 50% well-known covers but had no contracted artists featured and no stipulations regarding what made up the other 50% of the album's content.

   

    Greg Hambleton quickly hired his own stable of musicians to record backing tracks for the Birchmount "shadow" sessions. He brought in local psych-rockers “The Magic Cycle” (soon to be “The Cycle”) to record the bed tracks for drums (Kevin Barry, brother of Paul Clinch), guitar (Stan Theriault and Paul Clinch), piano/organ (Peter Goodale), and bass (Joey Rome). In addition to the band, Greg's brother Fergus Hambleton was brought in to record any auxiliary instruments. The "shadow" projects for which this band recorded music include Suzanne (BM-501), The Sultan Street Nine (BM-504), Tuesday's Children (BM-508), and Candy Rock Fountain (BM-517). Two of these sessions had vocalists (Suzanne and Sultan Street Nine); the other two (Tuesday's Children and Candy Rock Fountain) were wholly instrumental. Greg reused three instrumentals from Tuesday's Children as backing tracks for Suzanne's ("You Try" and "Traces") and Sultan Street Nine's ("I Believe In Sunshine") vocal versions. 

 

Across the four "shadow" albums, Greg Hambleton contributes TWELVE of his compositions ("Weather", "Shendah", "You Try", "Island", "I Believe In Sunshine", "She Left Me On Tuesday", "I'm Going Back To Montreal", "Kaleidoscope", "Nancy Brown", "Paintbrush", "I Don't Want To Live" and "Flower Generation"), two of his brother Fergus' ("Without You" and "All I See Is You"; the latter co-written by Eric Canning of Ginger Group), and one by friend and Yorkville legend Jay Telfer ("Relations With Rita"). 

   

    During September 1969, the announcement came down in RPM's weekly magazine and a few other music publications that Quality Records was launching their new label, "Birchmount Records.". All Canadian releases were stamped with the "Canadian Artists Collection" logo on the front and back covers. The announcement pointed out that the "day one" twenty-two-album release lineup was 90% Canadian content. At the time, this was an unheard of amount for a commercial Canadian label, as many of Canada's largest labels had a good portion of their function devoted to repressing and/or promoting already popular artists from abroad. 

 

Quality Records kicked things off by cobbling together an originally “for broadcast only” compilation of more pop-oriented artists on the label, appropriately titled “A Taste of Birchmount Pop,” which they distributed to radio stations and critics. The minor success of some of this material in certain radio demographics warranted a physical release by the end of 1969. 

 

A lot of gaps in information plague the Birchmount label. But as a budget line, this is to be expected; ARC, Paragon, and many other Canadian "budget" labels operated in a similar manner. An unfortunate consequence of this is that a number of the initial albums in the Birchmount “Canadian Artists Collection” have no production/musician credits anywhere. This leaves a lot of unanswered questions regarding artists and their releases on the label. 

   

   In addition to the "shadow" albums and reissued content, the early releases on Birchmount Records showcased a great spread of new Canadian talent. Toronto clarinetist/music teacher Pete Schofield appears with his band of high school/college players, recording two albums; Calgary singer-songwriter Cal Cavendish debuted with his first album; Moosejaw Jazz/Lounge singer Bette Graham debuted with her first solo album, an ode to Canada; Niagra Falls R&B band leader Beau Hannon debuted with his first album, with his "Mint Juleps" band; Edmonton Soul/R&B singer Mary Saxton debuted with her fantastic first album (at just 18 years old); Toronto husband/wife Folk duo  Merrick and Kathy Jarrett debuted with their "Folk Songs For Children" record; Edmonton singers Mary Saxton and Barry Allen front a Winnipeg Garage/Psych "shadow" band called "The Rising Sun, doing fantastic Garage-charged covers; Toronto Rock/Psych singer Wayne Versage (original singer of The Shays - replaced by David Clayton-Thomas) debuted with his fantastic lone studio album (backed by The Shays). 

 

During November of 1969, Birchmount Records launched their second batch of releases. Again, they released twenty-two albums, and again the majority was Canadian content (albeit closer to 75% rather than the previous 90%). Among this batch, the releases from the aforementioned deals with Canadian Talent Library and Gaiety Records are featured. In addition to these "deal" albums and the reissues, the series saw a pair of Guess Who compilations (one also featuring The Beau Marks and 49th Parallel) and solo releases by: Toronto R&B/Psych group Tom Milestone & The Jarvis Street Revue, Edmonton Country/Rock singer Jack Hennig, Scotland-to-Toronto Celtic Folk duo The Bonnie Scots, and Edmonton Country singer-songwriter Hank Smith. 

 

Greg Hambleton left Birchmount Records shortly after his involvement with the first batch of releases (September 1969). Most of the second batch (November 1969) featured a variety of producers (contracted or otherwise). With the Bonnie Scots record in particular, Birchmount began a brief working relationship with legendary producer and owner of Sound Canada Studios, Art Snider.  

    An interesting side note from this release period: Birchmount Records arranged a one-week residency for one of their non-Canadian recording artists, "Doc & Chikita Willams," at Toronto's legendary Horseshoe Tavern club (December 1st-December 6th, 1969 ~ RPM Weekly Magazine, December 20th, 1969). This was a means to promote their two recently released Birchmount albums, "Together" and "25th Anniversary Album.". 

 

The early months of 1970 saw Birchmount Records doing late-release promos for some of their second batch of Canadian artists (Hank Smith, Jack Hennig, and Merrick Jarrett) in RPM Magazine, as well as adding interesting additions to the "Canadian Artists Collection" subseries of Birchmount. Quality Records appropriated it for the Canadian arm of their Ringside label. Which featured albums by band leader Pat Riccio, The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band, Robert Service/J. Frank Willis, Joe Venuti, and legendary Toronto Psych-Rockers Cargo with their rare sophomore album "Simple Things" (through Merv Buchanan's TREND Records). 

    The third batch of Birchmount releases dropped in early spring of 1970. Something of a double-edged sword, this batch had an extra ten albums (reaching thirty-two in one batch) but unfortunately much less Canadian content (roughly 45%, as opposed to the previous 75% in batch two). On the other hand, a few of these sparse releases represent some of the best and most sought after Canadian albums in the entire Birchmount catalogue; Alan Thicke's debut album with a dearth of originals and a "Hip-Hop acknowledged" drum break, Wayne McGhie's debut album with it's tantalizing mix of Funk, Soul and Reggae songs, featuring three "Hip-Hop acknowledged" drum breaks; Friday Afternoon's Country-meets-Garage/Psych rock debut album, oddly titled Johnny Cash Hits (thought it had originals by the band as well as covers by other artists), through Merv Buchanan/TREND Records; The Everlovin' Singers' with their lone album of Sunshine Pop goodness; A CTL session for Six People - Cliff Jones & Good Company, which was a precursor project for many founding members of Dr. Music; Betty Vidal's great mostly original Country-Rock debut. 

 

While the bulk of Birchmount's third batch were American releases and Canadian Country (plus two more Guess Who compilations), the aforementioned six albums are something special. That makes it all the more painful to share with you the story of "The Quality Records Warehouse Fire." Sometime during 1970, a fire broke out in the section of the warehouse that housed the stock for these six releases; it's even rumored that the master tapes for some of them were damaged or destroyed. This means that in addition to being among the more musically intriguing offerings of the bath, they were also the rarest, stock number-wise. Most of these releases now sell secondhand for over $100 (with only Friday Afternoon and Wayne McGhie ever being reissued). It's not known if any other third batch releases were affected in the fires.

From 1972 onward, the Canadian releases got less and less frequent. They were being replaced more often by budget reissues of content from popular US acts like The Isley Brothers, Johnny Cash, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Hank Williams, etc. What started as a label releasing 90% Canadian content in its initial 22-album run dropped slightly to roughly 60 of the first 80 albums released, and ultimately, by the end of production in 1980, had less than 1/4th (around 90) of its roughly 420 total releases be Canadian content.

After the first three batches (1969-1970), Birchmount released yearly batches of releases until 1980. 1972 onwards saw a very steep decline in Canadian content. Artists such as Diane Leigh, Stu Davis, Jack Kingston, Sean Broderick, The Carlton Showband, and more managed to slip through the crack occasionally, but they were few and far between. But in 1978, a twelve-album deal was brokered with the Canadian Talent Library. Amongst the featured artists were: The Climax Jazz Band, Jackie Mittoo, Peter Appleyard, Vic Franklyn, Eugene Amaro, Keath Barrie, Laurie Bower Singers, Jerry Toth, Marilyn Jones, and Rob McConnell's Boss Brass.

The fate that ultimately befell Birchmount Records is one that many other Canadian labels suffered from: having sky-high dreams but not enough money, positive reception from the public, or meaningful promotion to make it happen. Obviously, by its very definition, a budget label really wouldn’t garner any real success, but in the case of Birchmount, it's unfortunate not to have been an exception to that rule. The quality of the Canadian content on the label cannot be understated. It’s truly a treasure trove for fans of Canadian music history or quality music of any kind (more specifically rock music and its variations). The unshakeable interest in this label, which a small few feel is due to the feeling of unearthing a hidden gem. In the case of this label, the musical diversity and quality of releases in that first 80-album run were something to be admired. Lots of great, unique Canadian rock, country, psych-pop, vocal pop, jazz, and even some funk and reggae releases graced the label.