Poppy Records

wooshiewooshie 490 Posts
edited June 2005 in Strut Central
first post!just wondering if anyone knows of some kind of discog online or otherwise for poppy records, i got a couple things on this label like barry miles, i know they didnt just put out jazz and they went broke early. If anyone can reccomend some other records from this label to check out. be much appreciated...btw is that leo sayer going 'ghey'?tehehe

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  • BeardedDBeardedD 770 Posts
    Check out Mandrake Memorial, Linda Cohen, and Amanda Trees. I actually posted an Amanda mp3 on ss earlier today. There is one by a guy with a name like Aaron Lightman, with a cool cover of a bird on a wire. It's NG as they say in the movie business.

    There's a Poppy discog somewhere, just google it. There were less than 20 releases.

    One of the really cool things about Poppy is that Milton Glaser was the designer of the label and all the the covers. Glaser is best known for the I Heart NY logo but you've literally seen hundreds of his works. He's the dude.

  • wooshiewooshie 490 Posts
    Thanks BearedD, really appreciate it, i did a google search and had no luck but i'll try again. i know milton glaser, i didn't realise he did the covers but i can see it now. i'll check out the mp3.


  • wooshiewooshie 490 Posts
    Thanks BearedD, really appreciate it, i did a google search and had no luck but i'll try again. i know milton glaser, i didn't realise he did the covers but i can see it now. i'll check out the mp3.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    just wondering if anyone knows of some kind of discog online or otherwise for poppy records

    Poppy discog right here

    i got a couple things on this label like barry miles, i know they didnt just put out jazz and they went broke early.

    Actually they had a pretty good run - 1967-74. Later, Poppy founder Kevin Eggers started Tomato Records, and they've been in business off and on since 1977, with an eclectic artist roster similar to Poppy. Select Poppy titles have been reissued on Tomato through the years.

    I write about music for different magazines, and was briefly on Tomato's mailing list some time back. Once I called for the promo man but he had left for the day, and I found myself talking to Mr. Eggers. Nice guy - I complimented him on the fact that Poppy put out some wild shit despite being bankrolled by two major labels (first MGM, then United Artists), and I recall him saying that it was a different era and he could afford to do that back then. The labels weren't as conservative during that time.

    If anyone can reccomend some other records from this label to check out. be much appreciated...

    I second the recommendation for the Mandrake Memorial. Both their self-titled album and PUZZLE are good. If you like bluegrass, try ELEMENTARY DOCTOR WATSON by Doc Watson, from '72. Two good blues albums on Poppy are Lightnin' Hopkins' LIGHTNIN'! and a various-artists comp called BLUES ROOTS. (Both the Lightnin' and the compilation were drawn from the vaults of the still-active Arhoolie label.) Comedian Dick Gregory did some interesting albums of political humor for Poppy; a little dated (lots of talk about protestors and the Nixon administration), but still okay in its' way.

  • wooshiewooshie 490 Posts
    you guys are too quick, thanks pickwick33. i got that Lightnin' Hopkins

    didn't know anything about tomato records, interesting. i'll keep an eye out for the other stuff, especially mandrake memorial

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    I have this one, and enjoy it quite a bit:



    Plus, I have a couple 45's by him on Poppy that are good as well.

  • DCarfagnaDCarfagna 983 Posts
    Aaron Lightman

    Good catch. Would be an incredible folk album had there not been light baroque string passages inserted between each track.

    Further Poppy marginalia: Guitarist Linda Cohen was married to Mandrake Memorial leader Craig Anderton. Anderton was a champion of DIY and made his name writing one of the first books on building a home studio. He also penned a how-to on crack electronic gizmos. Some of these gizmos can be heard on Cohen's LPs on Poppy. I don't think they're still married, and for what it's worth I have never seen a photo of Linda Cohen.

  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts
    I have this one, and enjoy it quite a bit:



    Plus, I have a couple 45's by him on Poppy that are good as well.

    His best stuff is def on Poppy

  • I remember reading an interview with some guy from Mandrake Memorial on Ptolemaic Terrascope mag and he said there was a unreleased fourth album recorded in England full of Moog and electronic effects but the tapes seems to be lost forever.


  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    About Mandrake Memorial: I wasn't feeling that album with the hamburger on the cover, were you? I think it's called MEDIUM. Otherwise, their other two elpees are some kind of alright.

  • Aaron Lightman

    and for what it's worth I have never seen a photo of Linda Cohen.

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