Capitol Records is a major American record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but as of 2011[update] operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of EMI.
The Capitol Records Company was founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of fellow songwriter and film 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.
Johnny Mercer first suggested the idea of starting a record company while he was golfing with Harold Arlen and Bobby Sherwood. He told them, "I’ve got this idea of starting a record company. I get so tired of listening to the way everyone treats music. I keep feeling they’re selling out. And I don’t like the way artists are treated either. Bing Crosby isn’t the only one who can make records. I don’t know, I think it would be fun." By 1941, Mercer was not only an experienced songwriter, but a singer with a number of records to his name. Mercer next suggested starting a record company to his friend Glenn Wallichs while Mercer was visiting Wallichs' record store. Wallichs responded, "Fine, you run the record company and find the artists,' and Mercer added, "and you run the business."
On February 2, 1942, they met with Buddy DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to ask if Paramount Pictures would invest in the new record company. On the Paramount deal DeSylva said no, but that he himself would, and he gave them a check for $15,000. On March 27 the three men got a statement notarized that they have applied to incorporate "Liberty Records" (later the name of a label which Capitol eventually acquired). In May they amended the application to change the name to Capitol Records. (citations for Feb. 2 to July 25, 1942, see individual day dates at #[1]
On April 6, 1942, Johnny Mercer supervised Capitol's first recording session, recording Martha Tilton singing 'Moon Dreams". On May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks, one with just the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse—"Cow-Cow Boogie', and one with Mercer—"Air–Minded Executive".
On June 4, Capitol Records opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On the same day, Wallichs presented the first free record to a Los Angeles disc jockey named Peter Potter. Potter was so pleased Wallichs decided to give free records to other DJs, becoming the first in the business to do so.
On June 5, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four sides for Capitol. On June 12, the orchestra recorded five more songs, including one side with Billie Holiday. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded "(I Got Spurs That) Jingle Jangle Jingle" and "Goodbye My Little Cherokee" at his first Capitol recording session. They would become record #110.
On July 1, Capitol Records released its first nine records:
- 101—"I Found a New Baby"/"The General Jumped at Dawn"—Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
- 102—"Cow-Cow Boogie" with Ella Mae Morse and Freddy Slack and His Orchestra/ "Here You Are"– Freddy Slack and His Orchestra
- 103—"Strip Polka"/"Air–Minded Executive"—both with vocals by Johnny Mercer
- 104—"Johnny Doughboy Found A Rose In Ireland"/ "Phil, The Fluters Ball" – both with vocals by Dennis Day
- 105—"The Angels Cried" – vocal Martha Tilton and The Mellowaires/I'll Remember April" – vocal Martha Tilton with Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
- 106—"He Wears A Pair Of Silver Wings" – vocal Connie Haines/"I’m Always Chasing Rainbows" – Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
- 107—"Elk's Parade"/"I Don't Know Why" – Bobby Sherwood and his Orchestra
- 108—"Serenade In Blue" – Martha Tilton with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra/"(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo" – The Mellowaires with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
- 109—"Windmill Under The Stars"/"Conchita Lopez" – Johnnie Johnston
By July 25, "Cow Cow Boogie" had gone to #1 on the hit parade. (see dates at #[2]
The earliest recording artists included co–owner Johnny Mercer, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, Paul Whiteman, Martha Tilton, Ella Mae Morse, the Pied Pipers, and Paul Weston and His Orchestra. Capitol's first gold single was Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" in 1942. Capitol's first record album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm record set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford, and the Pied Pipers, all with Paul Weston's Orchestra.
The label's other 1940s artists included Les Baxter, Les Paul, Peggy Lee, Stan Kenton, Les Brown, western swing artists Tex Williams, Merle Travis and Wesley Tuttle, Benny Goodman and Nat King Cole.
Capitol was the first major 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 (Nordskog, Sunset and Aamor preceded Capitol on the West Coast).
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.
Capitol also developed a noted jazz line, including the Capitol Jazz Men, and issued the Miles Davis–led sessions called "Birth of the Cool".
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 César 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. By the mid-1950s, Capitol had become a huge company, concentrating on popular music.
The 1950s roster now included Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Stan Kenton, Judy Garland, The Andrews Sisters, Jackie Gleason, Jane Froman, Wesley Tuttle, Ray Anthony, Andy Griffith, Shirley Bassey, Merle Travis, The Kingston Trio (who in 1960 would account for 20% of all record sales for Capitol), Dean Martin, The Four Freshmen, Al Martino, Dinah Shore and Nancy Wilson (actually signed in 1960 to Capitol). There were also some notable comedy recordings, including several by Stan Freberg and the Yiddish-dialect parodies of Mickey Katz. 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 British 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 orchestras (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 re-released exclusively on the Angel and Seraphim labels in the U.S. EMI reissued many of the historic Capitol classical recordings on CD.
In 1959, with the advent of stereo, Capitol changed its LP label design from a large "dome logo" with a gray background, to a smaller "dome logo" in a silver oval with a black background and a colorband around the edge. At first, the oval was on the left side of the label, with a tapering vertical line extending from the top and bottom. Classical labels replaced the vertical line with the words "INCOMPARABLE HIGH-FIDELITY" and added the round "FDS-Full Dimensional Sound" shield. In the early 1960s, the oval was moved to the top of the label, and the colorband was slightly narrower. This design is familiar to Beatles fans.
During the 1950s Capitol Records also introduced its series of "Hi-Q" production music LP's and tapes. Some television and film productions that made use of this extensive library included Gumby, Davey and Goliath, The Donna Reed Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and the earliest Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Capitol released a number of soundtrack recordings in the 1950s, including the film versions of three Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The King and I, as well as excerpts from Dimitri Tiomkin's music from Warner Bros.' Giant. All of these were later reissued on CD.
45rpm Beatles single on Capitol
As the British music scene was heating up in 1963, Capitol, being an EMI label had first rights of refusal on all EMI artists. After initial resistance to issuing records by The Beatles who were signed to sister EMI label Parlophone, Capitol exercised its option in November, 1963, and helped usher in Beatlemania in 1964. (The Beatles' earliest US issues had been on the independent Vee-Jay label and the key "She Loves You" single on the small Swan label.) Capitol's producers significantly altered the content of the Beatles albums (see "Record Altering", below) and, believing the Beatles' recordings were sonically unsuited to the US market, not only added equalization to brighten the sound, but also piped the recordings through the famous Capitol echo chamber, located underneath the parking lots outside the Capitol Tower.
As part of this "first rights of refusal", Capitol passed on such EMI acts as Dave Clark Five, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Hollies, and Manfred Mann (among others), all of which had their records issued on Canadian Capitol.
As Rock music's influence continued to grow in America, Capitol Records hired Artie Kornfeld, who later went on to co-create and produce the Woodstock Festival , as the vice president of Capitol Records in his early 20s, making him the youngest to hold the position and the first vice president of rock and roll ever.
Capitol also signed or became American distributors of albums by Badfinger, The Band, The Beach Boys, Grand Funk Railroad, If, Sandler and Young, Glen Campbell, Cathie Taylor, Steve Miller Band, People, Pink Floyd, Linda Ronstadt, The Human Beinz, Peter Tosh, and various solo albums by members of the Beatles.
The classic "swirl" 45 RPM label design, pictured to the right, first appeared in January, 1962. Originally yellow and orange, it had become yellow and red by the mid-1960s. It was brought back briefly 1979 to 1981 for use on 45s by the group The Knack. Before 1968, it also appeared on "Starline" label for reissues, albeit with light and dark green swirls replacing yellow and orange (or red) ones. (Several CD reissues, including an early-1990s version of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," used the "swirl" label.)
In 1968, EMI increased its stake in Capitol Records to 98%; However that same year, Capitol merged with Audio Devices, Inc. A manufacturer of computer tape and recording to form a new holding company called Capitol Industries, Inc., reducing EMI's stake of the company to 68%.
In the summer of 1969, Capitol decided to modernize its logo and replaced its "dome logo" with a "C" logo incorporating a 45 rpm record design. The new logo would be on a light-green label on albums and a red & orange concentric-circle label on 45's. These became known as the "target" label. The target label for LP's had a red background for most albums released during or after May, 1971 until November, 1972, when both albums and 45's would have an orange label with the word "Capitol" printed at the bottom. (In 1971, Grand Funk Railroad became the first Capitol act to be given custom label designs for all its releases, beginning with the "E Pluribus Funk" album.) Budget albums had the same logos but with a yellow backdrop. (The "dome logo" did not disappear entirely: on many labels of this era it can be seen in the small print at the edge.) In 1978[citation needed], the "dome" design was brought back, with purple backgrounds for rock and pop releases, and red backgrounds for soul and disco. Budget albums had the same logo but a blue or green label. Between 1964 and 1970, Tower Records was a subsidiary label. Other short-lived subsidiary labels included Uptown, Crazy Horse and Sidewalk.
In 1972, company changed its name to Capitol Industries-EMI, Inc. after EMI increased its holdings to 70.84%. By 1976, EMI purchased the remaining shares of the company. Throughout the seventies, Capitol launched two alternative labels: EMI America Records and EMI Manhattan Records. New artists included Helen Reddy, Anne Murray, Skylark (Canadian band), April Wine, Blondie, Burning Spear, Buzzcocks, David Bowie, Kim Carnes, Rosanne Cash, Max Webster, Natalie Cole, The Goose Creek Symphony, Sammy Hagar, John Hiatt, The Knack, Maze, Raspberries, Minnie Riperton, Diana Ross, Bob Seger, Sweet, The Specials, The Sylvers, Ten Wheel Drive, The Stranglers, Tavares, George Thorogood, Wings and The Persuasions. In 1977, EMI merged with THORN Electrical Industries to form Thorn EMI PLC. In 1979, Capitol was merged into the newly formed EMI Music Worldwide division[citation needed].
Capitol added artists in a variety of genres during the 1980s: popular music groups and singers like Richard Marx, The Motels, Tina Turner, George Clinton, Crowded House, Peter Blakeley, Duran Duran (and spinoffs Arcadia and Power Station), Heart (band), 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; thrash metal bands like Megadeth, Exodus and Rigor Mortis, heavy metal bands like Helix, W.A.S.P., Poison, Iron Maiden and Queensrÿche; rap groups like the Beastie Boys, King Tee, Mantronix; individuals like Mellow Man Ace, Robbie Robertson, Smooth Jazz artist Dave Koz, and Soul singer Freddie Jackson; and duo's like BeBe & CeCe Winans, and even a selective industrial/electronic artists such as Skinny Puppy. In 1983, the Beatles-era "colorband" label design was brought back, with white print, for both albums and 45's. The last label Capitol used on records was a return to the old purple design with the "dome logo"; after that, compact discs became the dominant format for recorded music. Since the advent of CD's, labels on the discs have varied greatly.
Nineties acts include Selena, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Blind Melon, Garth Brooks, Meredith Brooks, Coldplay, The Dandy Warhols, Dilated Peoples, Doves, Everclear, Foo Fighters, Geri Halliwell, Ice Cube, Idlewild, Jane's Addiction, The Jesus Lizard, 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, Bonnie Raitt, Snoop Dogg, Spearhead, Starsailor, STIR, Supergrass, Télépopmusik, Television, Richard Thompson, Butthole Surfers and Robbie Williams. The Ultra-Lounge series of compilation CDs appeared in 1996.
In 2001, EMI merged the Capitol Records label with the Priority Records label. Capitol lost the deal to Viacom and it was no longer a subsidiary. The combined label manages rap artists including Cee-Lo, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and C-Murder, Lil Romeo, and Lil Zane. Other first decade of the 21st century artists include Katy Perry (whose album, Teenage Dream is the most successful among others as it produced 6 #1 singles), 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, From First to Last, The F-Ups, Faith Evans, Faultline, Fischerspooner, Interpol, Jonny Greenwood, Kudai, Ed Harcourt, Houston, Van Hunt, Javier, Mae, Matthew Jay, Methrone, Kylie Minogue, Dave Navarro, OK Go, Lisa Marie Presley, Relient K, Roscoe, RBD, Saosin, Squad Five-O, Otep, 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, Mims, Keith Urban and Morningwood.
In 2001, Robbie Williams released his smash jazz cover album Swing When You're Winning on the Capitol label (rather than his native Chrysalis Records) in tribute to his hero Frank Sinatra.
In 2006, the label signed a deal to distribute Fat Joe and his Terror Squad Entertainment. Around the same time, Capitol was able to sign New York phenom Mims. In this deal they also agreed to distribute his American King Music label. Around this time they were also able to add J. Holiday, the main artist for Music Line Group to the label as they have all become frequent collaborators. Now it seems that Capitol has gained ground on some of the more popular labels such as Def Jam, and Interscope Records with these signings. In 2007, they were able to strike up a distribution deal with The Game's The Black Wall Street Records and have signed former Bad Boy Records star Faith Evans. Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def Recordings label were briefly signed on to the label as a result of the Virgin Records merger. Dupri was the head of urban music for the label.
In February 2007, EMI announced the merger of Virgin Records and Capitol Records into the Capitol Music Group, and as part of this restructuring, hundreds of staff from multiple divisions were laid off and many artists were cut from the roster.[citation needed] In September 2006, EMI announced that it had sold the tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures. Capitol continues to use the building as its West Coast office.
Capitol Records has proceeded to sue Vimeo an online Video sharing website for audio copyright infringement. Capitol filed the claim after users were visibly lip-synching to some of their tracks. The full court filing is available here: http://newteevee.com/2009/12/15/vimeo-sued-over-lip-dubs
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 Rodgers and Hammerstein films, Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The King and I. All three films were respectively based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein smash hit stage musicals of the same name. The mono versions of the albums were all released the same year that the films were released. But the films had been made in then state-of-the-art stereophonic sound, and so, Capitol was able to release stereo albums of the three respective soundtracks after stereo LP's became a reality. However, the mono and stereo versions did not contain always identical material. Because stereo grooves took up more space at the time than mono grooves, the stereo versions of the soundtracks were always somewhat shorter than the mono ones. 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 for the stereo LP, and with The King and I, the instrumental bridge from the song Getting to Know You was completely removed from the stereo version of the album. 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 LPs 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 film soundtrack albums of Cole Porter's Can-Can and the original cast album of Stephen 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, John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums, 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 Romeo and Juliet, based on Shakespeare's play. The film became the highest grossing Shakespeare film for years, and the album was also a tremendous hit. It featured not only Nino Rota's score, but large chunks of Shakespeare's dialog. 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 (dialog 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 dialog 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.
Capitol has been criticised many times for the heavy modification of albums being released in other countries before being released in the USA by Capitol. Possibly most infamous is the company'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 favor of both sides of the band's first American hit single, which consisted of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There." 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 the right channel, boosted treble on the left channel and add a split-second delay between channels 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.[1]
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 was thanks to a renegotiation of the Beatles' complicated management and recording contracts. Tired of the way Capitol in the US and other companies around the world were issuing their work in almost unrecognizable pieces, beginning in 1967, they had full approval of all album titles and cover art, track listing and running order, worldwide. Their first order of business was to stop the issuing of 45 RPM singles featuring tracks taken from their albums. Instead they would issue non-album tracks as singles in between album releases. This policy changed in late 1969 when a severe cash crunch hit the Beatles company, Apple Corps., and the band was forced (at the urgent behest of new manager Allen B. Klein) to issue a single immediately in conjunction with the Abbey Road album ("Something"/"Come Together") in order to pay bills. Four months later Apple allowed Capitol Records to issue the singles compilation Hey Jude (aka The Beatles Again) to keep cash flowing to the company.
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 favor of their first hit single "See Emily Play". This was criticized 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 authorized, 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 rumor 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 3:47 EST 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 is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Hollywood. 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,[2] 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 construction of the building was ordered by British company EMI soon after its 1955 acquisition of Capitol Records, and was completed in April 1956. The building is located just north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine and is the center of the consolidated West Coast operations of Capitol Records—and was nicknamed "The House That Nat Built" to recognize the enormous financial contributions of Capitol star Nat "King" Cole. The rectangular ground floor is a separate structure, joined to the tower after it was completed.
In mid-2008, a controversy erupted over a plan to build a condominium complex next door, igniting fears that the building's legendary acoustic properties (specifically its renowned underground echo chambers) would be compromised.
The blinking light atop the tower spells out the phrase "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 status as the first record label with a base on the west coast. The switch activating the light was thrown by Leila Morse, Samuel Morse's granddaughter.[2] 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[citation needed], 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.[3] Coordinates: 34°06′11″N 118°19′34″W / 34.103085°N 118.326189°W / 34.103085; -118.326189
Capitol's recording studios were designed by guitarist and sound expert Les Paul[citation needed] to minimize noise and vibration, a newly important goal in the high-fidelity sound era.
The studios feature 10-inch-thick (250 mm) concrete exterior walls, surrounding a one-inch air gap, surrounding an inner wall that floats on layers of rubber and cork — all in an effort to provide complete sound isolation.[4]
The facility also features echo chambers: subterranean concrete bunkers allowing engineers to add real physical reverberation during the recording process. The eight chambers are located 30 feet underground, and are trapezoidal-shaped with 10-inch concrete walls and 12-inch-thick (300 mm) concrete ceilings. The chambers feature speakers on one side and microphones on the other, permitting an echo effect lasting up to five seconds.
Studios A and B can be combined for the recording of orchestral music and symphonic film soundtracks. The first album recorded in the tower was Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color
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. The company was renamed back to Capitol Records of Canada Ltd in 1958 after Miller's rights to the name expired. In 1959, Capitol of Canada picked up distribution rights for sister EMI labels Angel Records, Pathe Records, Odeon Records and Parlophone Records.[5] In 1957, Paul White joined Capitol of Canada and in 1960 established an A&R department independent of the American company to promote talent for the Canadian market.[6] 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 catalog numbers for LPs and 72000 series catalog numbers for singles. Capitol Canada issues of American Capitol recordings bore the same catalog numbers as their American counterparts. 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. By 1967, they were also distributing non-EMI labels such as Disneyland Records, Buena Vista Records, 20th Century Fox Records and Pickwick Records.[7] The company was renamed Capitol Records-EMI of Canada in 1974 then adopted its present name, EMI Music Canada, in 1993.[8][9][10]
In 1982, Capitol Records-EMI of Canada developed the "SDR", or Super Dynamic Range, process of duplicating their cassette releases, which resulted in higher-quality audio. SDR was later adopted by Capitol's American operations that same year and renamed "XDR" (eXtended Dynamic Range). SDR/XDR cassette releases are most noted for the short burst of tones ascending in frequency at the beginning and end of the cassette before and after the program material, the tones being a part of the process.
The current headquarters for EMI Music Canada, which operates the Capitol label, are located in Toronto, 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".
EMI Latin / EMI Televisa Music artists are distributed in The United States under Capitol Latin, a Capitol Records division.
Capitol Music Taiwan was established in 2006. It is home to several artists who are megastars in the Chinese music industry. They include Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿), Zhang Hui Mei (張惠妹), Stanley Huang (黄立行) and Show Luo (羅志祥). Even though artistes are signed on with this label, the albums are still released under EMI Music Taiwan. The label is the label with the highest sales among all labels in Taiwan between 2006 and 2008.
In 2008, EMI Music Taiwan is acquired by Paco Wong's Gold Label Records and reformed as Gold Typhoon Entertainment Limited (金牌大風). The name is in reference to Jolin's Love Exercise album released after the acquisition.[citation needed] However the label of "Capitol Music" is not part of Gold Typhoon.
- ^ Capitol Albums Finally Coming Out on CD
- ^ a b ""Exploring L.A. with Huell" (Howser) clip". http://kcet.org/explore-ca/huells/pop.php?ID=CAPITOL+RECORDS&Res=High. Retrieved January 23, 2007. from an 1988 interview of the then vice president of public relations and communications, Sue Satriano.
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-capitol29sep29,0,5886755.story?coll=la-home-headlines
- ^ "Plan to build next to Capitol Records studios sounds just awful to music biz," Los Angeles Times, June 17, 2008
- ^ Billboard Jul 6, 1959
- ^ Billboard Sep 16, 1967
- ^ Billboard Sep 16, 1967
- ^ Capitol Records – EMI of Canada Limited/Disques Capitol – EMI du Canada Limitée – The Canadian Encyclopedia
- ^ The Capitol 6000 website – The Corporate History of Capitol Records of Canada
- ^ Butcher cover, Canadian – Paul White Letter
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