'Capitol Records' is a major
United States-based
record label, owned by
EMI.
History
The Capitol Records company was founded by the songwriter
Johnny Mercer in
1942, with the financial help of movie producer
Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of
Glenn Wallichs, (1910-1971) (owner of Music City, at the time the biggest record store in
Los Angeles, California). Wallichs Music City record store opened in 1940 and was located in Hollywood on the corner of
Sunset and Vine. It was the premier music store in Southern Cal for decades but closed in 1978. Capitol Records opened in a storefront office in the Music City building.
Capitol was the first
West Coast label, competing with
RCA-Victor,
Columbia and
Decca, all based in
New York. In addition to its Los Angeles
recording studio Capitol had a second studio in
New York City, and on occasion sent mobile recording equipment to
New Orleans, Louisiana and other cities.
The earliest recording artists included
Paul Whiteman,
Martha Tilton, and
Ella Mae Morse. Capitol's first gold single was Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" in 1942. By 1946, Capitol had sold 42 million records and was established as one of the Big Six record labels. It was also that year that writer/producer
Alan W. Livingston created
Bozo the Clown for their new children's record library. Some notable
music appreciation albums for children by Capitol during that era included ''
Sparky's Magic Piano'' and ''
Rusty in Orchestraville''. The label's
1940s artists included
Les Baxter,
Bing Crosby,
Les Paul,
Peggy Lee,
Stan Kenton,
Les Brown, and
Nat King Cole.
Capitol released a few classical albums in the 1940s, some featuring a heavily embossed, leather-like cover. These appeared initially in the 78-rpm format, then on some of Capitol's early LPs (33-1/3 rpm) which first appeared in 1949. Among the recordings was a unique performance of the Brazilian composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos' ''Choros No. 10'' with a Los Angeles choral group and the Janssen Symphony Orchestra (1940-1952) conducted by
Werner Janssen, ''Symphony No. 3'' by Russian composer
Reinhold Moritzovich Glière, and
Cesar Franck's ''Symphony in D minor'' with
Willem Mengelberg and the
Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 1949, the Canadian branch was established and Capitol purchased the KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue next to the
Paramount Pictures Lot in
Hollywood, and by the mid-1950s, Capitol had become a huge company, concentrating on popular music.
1950s
The 1950s roster now included
Frank Sinatra,
Judy Garland,
The Andrews Sisters,
Jackie Gleason,
Ray Anthony,
Andy Griffith,
Shirley Bassey,
The Kingston Trio,
Dean Martin,
The Four Freshmen,
Al Martino, and
Nancy Wilson. The label also began recording rock and roll acts such as
The Jodimars and
Gene Vincent.
Many children became familiar with Capitol Records through the release of a number of
Bozo the Clown albums, which featured 78-rpm discs and full color booklets which the children could follow as they listened to the recorded stories. Although there were a series of Bozo the Clowns on various television stations, Capitol used the voice of
Pinto Colvig, who was also the voice for
Walt Disney's cartoon character
Goofy.
In
1955, the English record company
EMI acquired 96% of Capitol Records stock, for $8.5 million. Soon afterward, EMI built a new studio at Hollywood and Vine to match its state-of-the-art
Abbey Road Studios in
London — see the Capitol Tower below. EMI's
classical Angel Records label was merged into Capitol in
1957. Some classical recordings were issued in high fidelity and even stereophonic sound on the Capitol label by
William Steinberg and the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,
Leopold Stokowski with various orchestra (including the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and
Sir Thomas Beecham and the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as light classical albums by
Carmen Dragon and the
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and a series of albums of film music conducted by leading Hollywood composers such as
Alfred Newman. Eventually, most of the classical recordings were released exclusively on the Angel and Seraphim labels in the U.S. EMI reissued many of the historic Capitol classical recordings on CD.
45rpm Beatles single on Capitol
1960s
In the 1960s, Capitol signed or became American distributors of
Badfinger,
The Band,
The Beach Boys,
The Beatles (and solo projects by the band's members),
Joe Cocker,
Bobby Darin,
Grand Funk Railroad,
If,
Sandler and Young,
Steve Miller Band,
People,
Pink Floyd,
Linda Ronstadt,
The Human Beinz, and
Peter Tosh, among others.
1970s
In the
seventies, Capitol launched two alternative labels:
EMI America Records and
EMI Manhattan Records. New artists included
April Wine,
Blondie,
Burning Spear,
Buzzcocks,
David Bowie,
Kim Carnes,
Rosanne Cash,
Natalie Cole,
Sammy Hagar,
Heart,
John Hiatt,
The Knack,
Maze,
Bonnie Raitt,
The Raspberries,
Minnie Riperton,
Diana Ross,
Bob Seger,
The Specials,
Ten Wheel Drive,
The Stranglers,
Tavares,
George Thorogood, and
Wings. In 1979 Capitol was made part of the
EMI Music Worldwide division.
1980s
Capitol added artists in a variety of genres during the 1980s: popular music groups and singers like
Tina Turner,
George Clinton,
Crowded House,
Duran Duran (and spinoffs
Arcadia and
Power Station),
Glass Tiger,
Katrina & The Waves,
Grace Jones,
Lloyd Cole,
Pet Shop Boys,
Queen,
Roxette,
Brian Setzer,
The Smithereens,
Spandau Ballet, and
Paul Westerberg; punk/hard rock groups such as
Butthole Surfers,
Concrete Blonde,
Billy Idol, and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers; heavy metal bands like
Megadeth,
Iron Maiden and
Queensrÿche;
rap groups like the
Beastie Boys,
Mantronix,
Eazy-E,
N.W.A.; and individuals like
Robbie Robertson, jazz artist
Dave Koz, and soul singer
Freddie Jackson.
1990s
Nineties acts include
Selena,
Blind Melon,
Garth Brooks,
Meredith Brooks,
Coldplay,
The Dandy Warhols,
Dilated Peoples,
Doves,
Everclear,
Geri Halliwell,
Ice Cube,
Idlewild,
Jane's Addiction,
Jimmy Eat World,
Ras Kass,
Kottonmouth Kings,
Ben Lee,
Less Than Jake,
Luscious Jackson,
Tara MacLean,
Marcy Playground,
Mazzy Star,
MC Eiht,
MC Hammer,
MC Ren,
The Moffatts,
Moist,
Liz Phair,
Lisa Marie Presley,
Radiohead,
Snoop Dogg,
Spearhead,
Starsailor,
Supergrass,
Télépopmusik,
Television,
Richard Thompson, and
Robbie Williams.
2000s
In 2001, EMI merged Capitol Records label with the
Priority Records label. The combined label manages rap artists including
Cee-Lo,
Ice Cube,
Snoop Dogg, and
C-Murder,
Lil Romeo, and
Lil Zane. Other 2000s artists include J. Holiday,
Jiggolo,
LeToya (who had the first #1 album for the label since MC Hammer's 1990 ''Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em''),
Zay,
Red Cafe,
Aslyn,
Auf Der Maur,
Big Moe,
Borialis,
Chingy,
The Decemberists.
Dexter Freebish,
Ebony Eyez,
From First to Last,
The F-ups,
Faith Evans,
Faultline,
Fischerspooner,
Interpol,
Jonny Greenwood,
Ed Harcourt,
Houston,
Van Hunt,
Javier,
Matthew Jay,
Methrone,
Kylie Minogue,
Dave Navarro,
OK Go,
Relient K,
Roscoe,
RBD,
Saosin,
Squad Five-O,
The Star Spangles,
Steriogram,
Supervision,
Skye Sweetnam,
The Vines,
Yellowcard,
Young Bleed,
Young Life Don Yute,
Cherish,
Shout Out Louds,
Hurt,
Corinne Bailey Rae,
The Magic Numbers,
Hedley,
End of Fashion and
Morningwood.
Capitol is also the home for the labels
Hoo-Bangin' Records and
The Black Wall Street Records.
In February 2007,
EMI announced a merger of
Virgin Records and Capitol Records into the
Capitol Music Group, as part of this restructuring, hundreds of staff from multiple divisions were laid off and many artists were cut from the roster.
[1] With the sale of the Capitol Tower, EMI is planning to close Capitol's operations in Los Angeles and concentrate its work force in
New York City.
Broadway and Films
Capitol Records also released some of the most notable
original cast albums and motion picture
soundtrack albums ever made. Between
1955 and
1956, they released the soundtrack albums of three now-classic film versions of
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, ''
Oklahoma!'', ''
Carousel'', and ''
The King and I''. The first two of these albums starred
Gordon MacRae, who was already under contract to Capitol. The three albums were released only in
mono at first, but because all three films had been made with then state-of-the-art
stereophonic sound, Capitol was able to release stereo versions of all three soundtracks in 1958. There were important differences, however, between the mono and stereo versions. Because stereo grooves on
LPs took up more space at the time than mono grooves, the stereo versions of the soundtracks were always somewhat shorter than the mono versions. This was not much of a problem with ''Oklahoma!'', because the album itself as then printed was relatively short, so all that was missing from the stereo version was a few seconds of the
overture. With ''Carousel'', however, half of the ''Carousel Waltz'' had to be lopped off from the stereo version, and with ''The King and I'', the instrumental bridge from the song ''
Getting to Know You'' was completely removed from the stereo version. These soundtrack albums (especially ''Oklahoma!'') were
bestsellers for Capitol for many years, until, in the 1990s, the rights to them were bought by
Angel Records. Angel Records not only restored the portions which had been omitted from the stereo LP's and original
CD issues, but, in
2001, issued new expanded editions which included all music which had been omitted from every previous edition of these soundtracks, bringing the playing time of each to well over an hour. All three albums continue to be best sellers to this day.
In
1957, Capitol Records issued the original cast album of ''
The Music Man'', starring
Robert Preston, an album which became one of the biggest cast album sellers of all time, even after the highly successful film version of the show was released in
1962. Capitol was also responsible for the original cast and movie soundtrack albums of
Cole Porter's ''
Can-Can'' and the original cast album of
Steven Sondheim's ''
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. In
1962, Capitol issued a studio
cast recording of the songs from
Lionel Bart's ''
Oliver!'', in anticipation of its U.S. tour prior to its opening on
Broadway.
In
1966, Capitol released the soundtrack album of the documentary tribute, '', a film made by the
United States Information Agency, and originally not intended for general viewing. However, the quality of the film was considered so high that the public was eventually allowed to see it. The film featured the voice of
Gregory Peck as narrator, with narration written and music composed by
Bruce Herschensohn. The album was virtually a condensed version of the film — it included the narration as well as the music.
One
spoken word album which was immensely successful for Capitol was that of the soundtrack of
Franco Zeffirelli's smash film version of
Shakespeare's ''
Romeo and Juliet'', which became the highest grossing Shakespeare film for years. The album featured not only
Nino Rota's score, but large chunks of Shakespeare's dialogue. The success of this album in that pre-
VHS era spurred Capitol to issue two other ''Romeo and Juliet'' albums — one a three-
disk album containing the entire soundtrack of the film (dialogue and music), and another album containing only Nino Rota's score.
However, as Capitol was to be later accused of doing with Beatles albums, there was some tampering with the ''Years of Lightning'' and ''Romeo and Juliet'' albums. Extra music was added to some scenes which, in the actual film, contained little or no music, such as the duel between Romeo and
Tybalt. Presumably this was done to show off the score — and at the end of both the abridged and complete versions of the ''Romeo'' albums, the
end credits music was omitted, especially unfortunate since virtually all of the film's credits were saved for the end of the picture.
Capitol tried to strike gold again with another spoken word album, one made from the 1970 film ''
Cromwell'', starring
Richard Harris and
Alec Guinness, but in this case, both film and album were not successful.
The influence of the ''Romeo and Juliet'' album spread to other record companies for a brief while.
Columbia Records issued an album of dialogue and music excerpts from the successful 1970
Dustin Hoffman film, ''
Little Big Man'', and
20th Century Fox Records included
George C. Scott's opening and closing speeches, as well as
Jerry Goldsmith's score, in their soundtrack album made from the film ''
Patton''.
Record altering
Capitol has been criticised many times for the heavy modification of albums being sold by Capitol in the USA which had been released in other countries beforehand. Possibly most infamous is Capitol's creation of "new" albums by
The Beatles. This began with Capitol's release of ''
Meet the Beatles!'', the first album by the group to be released by Capitol in the USA. It was quite literally the British album ''
With the Beatles'', with five tracks ("Money", "You've Really Got A Hold On Me", "Devil In Her Heart", "Please Mister Postman", and "Roll Over Beethoven") removed in favour of the band's first American hit single, which consisted of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There". On the album, these songs comprised two tracks, one for each respective song. They also added on the British version of the single's B-Side, "This Boy". Also notable is the issuing of "
duophonic" stereo releases of some recordings where the original master was monophonic. Capitol engineers split the single master
monaural track into two, boosted the bass on one track, boosted treble on the other track and combined them slightly out of phase to produce a "fake stereo" release. This duophonic process meant that the Beatles' American fans would often hear a slightly different song from that heard by the rest of the world.
[2]
When ''
With the Beatles'' was initially released in
Brazil by EMI-Odeon, as well as in
Canada, the title was at first modified to ''
Beatlemania''.
This trend continued through the Beatles' American discography, until the albums had little relation to their original British counterparts. The Beatles' albums were finally released unmodified starting with ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''.
This continued with other bands:
★
Pink Floyd's first album, ''
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' (on the
Tower label), had several tracks removed in favour of their first hit single "See Emily Play". This was criticised because the removed tracks combined ("Flaming", "Bike", and "Astronomy Domine") were much longer than "Emily", making the removal of the three completely unnecessary for reasons of running time.
★
Iron Maiden's first two albums, ''
Iron Maiden'' and ''
Killers'', had additional tracks as opposed to their UK counterparts. Iron Maiden's 1980 self-titled debut was released in the US a few months after its UK release with the track "Sanctuary" added on. Its follow-up, 1981's ''Killers'', was also released a few months after later in the US after its initial UK release with the track "Twilight Zone" added to the album.
★
Megadeth's "Risk" album was littered with samples and guitar pieces which
Dave Mustaine never authorised, causing him to release one final album on Capitol,
Capitol Punishment, and then move on to a new label
Sanctuary Records. As of right now, Megadeth's future with Capitol seems very bright, as they have released all their Remastered discs and their most recent Greatest Hits albums with Capitol. After leaving
Sanctuary Records, it was rumoured that Megadeth would return to Capitol, but the rumour turned out to be untrue as Megadeth have recently signed with
Roadrunner Records.
The company has also had a history of making mistakes with album releases; the American release of
Klaatu's debut album '' had several spelling errors on the track list, and later Capitol pressings of CD versions of Klaatu's albums suffered severe quality problems. The poor sound quality of Duran Duran's May 1982 release ''
Rio'' (on Capitol subsidiary
Harvest), contributed to the lag in initial sales, until a remixed version of the album was released in November.
The Capitol Records Tower
The Capitol Records Tower is one of the most distinctive
landmarks in
Hollywood,
California. The 13-story
earthquake resistant tower, designed by
Welton Becket, was the world's first circular office building, and is home to several
recording studios. Although not originally specifically designed as such,
[3] the wide curved awnings over windows on each story and the tall spike emerging from the top of the building combine to give it the appearance of a stack of
vinyl 45s on a
turntable. The rectangular ground floor is a separate structure, joined to the tower after it was completed. It was completed in April of
1956, just north of the intersection of
Hollywood and Vine as the consolidated West Coast operations of Capitol Records; it houses the operations of Capitol Records and Capitol Studios, a recording facility which includes an echo chamber engineered by guitarist
Les Paul. It would also be known as "The House That Nat Built" due to the vast amounts of records and merchandise
Nat "King" Cole sold for the company.
The first album recorded in the tower was ''
Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color''.
The blinking light atop the tower spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code, and has done so since the building's opening in 1956. This was an idea of Capitol's then president,
Alan Livingston, who wanted to subtly advertise Capitol's being the first record label with a base on the west coast. The switch activating the light was thrown by Lyla Morse,
Samuel Morse's granddaughter.
[3] In 1992 it was changed to read "Capitol 50" in honor of the label's fiftieth anniversary. It has since returned to spelling "Hollywood".
In the 1974 disaster blockbuster film ''
Earthquake'', the tower was shown collapsing during a massive tremor. Thirty years later, in an homage to ''Earthquake'', the tower was again depicted as being destroyed, this time by a massive tornado, in ''
The Day After Tomorrow''.
In September 2006, owner
EMI announced that it had sold the tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer
Argent Ventures.
[5]
International operations
Canada
Capitol Records of Canada was established in 1949 by independent businessman W. Lockwood Miller. Capitol Records broke with Miller's company and formed Capitol Record Distributors of Canada Limited in 1954. EMI acquired this company when it acquired Capitol Records. In 1957, Paul White established an A&R department independent of the American company to promote talent for the Canadian market. They include home grown Canadian talent (of which
Anne Murray is one of the more famous examples) as well as EMI artists from other countries. Canada only issues bore 6000 series catalogue numbers for LPs and 72000 series catalogue numbers for singles. Capitol Canada issues of American Capitol recordings bore the same catalogue numbers as their American counterparts. The company was renamed back to Capitol Records of Canada Ltd in 1958 after Miller's rights to the name expired. Beginning in 1962, Capitol of Canada issued albums by British artists such as
Cliff Richard,
Helen Shapiro and
Frank Ifield. They said yes to The Beatles from day one, even though the American company turned them down during most of 1963. The company was renamed Capitol Records-EMI of Canada in 1974 then adopted its present name, EMI Music Canada, in the early 1990s.
[1][2][3]
The current headquarters for EMI Music Canada, which operates the Capitol label, are located in
Mississauga, Ontario.
The Canadian branch of Capitol won two
Juno Awards in 1971, the leading music awards in that country. One Juno was for "Top Record Company" and the other was for "Top Promotional Company".
Taiwan
Capitol Records of Taiwan was established in 2006. It is home to several artistes who are megastars in the Chinese Music Industry. They include
Jolin Tsai (蔡依林),
Stefanie Sun (孙燕姿),
Zhang Hui Mei (张惠妹),
Stanley Huang (黄立行) and
Show Luo (罗志祥). Even though artistes are signed on with this label, the albums are still released under EMI Music Taiwan.
See also
★
List of record labels
★
Capitol Music Group
★
List of Capitol Records artists
References
1. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/158305/capital_records_drops_artists_merger.html
2. http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/spizeressay.html
3. "Exploring L.A. with Huell" (Howser) clip from an 1988 interview of the then vice president of public relations and communications, Sue Satriano.
4. "Exploring L.A. with Huell" (Howser) clip from an 1988 interview of the then vice president of public relations and communications, Sue Satriano.
5. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-capitol29sep29,0,5886755.story?coll=la-home-headlines
External links
★
Capitol Records
★
Andy Slater, President and CEO of Capitol Records
★
Capitol of Canada official site
★
A history of Capitol Records
★
3D model of the Capitol Tower for use in Google Earth
★
The Judy Garland Online Discography "Capitol Records" pages.
★
★
Capitol Records Myspace page.
★
Capitol of Canada 72000 series singles discography
★
Capitol of Canada 6000 series LP discography
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