Pagan Records released some hugely successful local tunes (Game of Love, Sweet Lovers, Glad I'm not a Kennedy, What's the time Mr Wolf to name but a few) and many great records. This mix is aimed at highlighting some of the lesser known acts and songs in their catalog, digging into the forgotten corners. There's some great oddball leftfield pop, groovy electronica, even some poetry.
These notes include comments from Trevor Reekie taken from Simon Grigg's excellent summation of Pagan Records's singles 1986 to 2000.
Grigg notes that "Whilst Propeller and Ripper may have set the scene, and Flying Nun garnered the reputation (and released far more records), Pagan was far and away the most successful independent label, and had a massive influence. Its influence goes beyond its own catalogue.
"It was Pagan that discovered Bic Runga and passed her on to Sony. Indeed the list of Pagan signed acts is quite incredible as this list, of the singles on the labels up to 2000, is clear evidence. Think Shihad, The Warratahs, Hallelujah Picassos, Strawpeople, Shona Laing, Ardijah, Tadpole, Greg Johnson, Relaxomatic Project, Pluto, Eye TV and many others.
"Indeed it can reasonably be argued that Trevor Reekie has the best set of A&R ears since the golden NZ pop days of the sixties. Perhaps ever.
"Pagan existed from 1985 until the partners quietly shut up shop in 2005. It’s twenty year run is much longer than Flying Nun’s independent era (it was largely Murdoch-owned from the mid nineties) and this list is testament to one of New Zealand’s greatest record labels."
"It was Pagan that discovered Bic Runga and passed her on to Sony. Indeed the list of Pagan signed acts is quite incredible as this list, of the singles on the labels up to 2000, is clear evidence. Think Shihad, The Warratahs, Hallelujah Picassos, Strawpeople, Shona Laing, Ardijah, Tadpole, Greg Johnson, Relaxomatic Project, Pluto, Eye TV and many others.
"Indeed it can reasonably be argued that Trevor Reekie has the best set of A&R ears since the golden NZ pop days of the sixties. Perhaps ever.
"Pagan existed from 1985 until the partners quietly shut up shop in 2005. It’s twenty year run is much longer than Flying Nun’s independent era (it was largely Murdoch-owned from the mid nineties) and this list is testament to one of New Zealand’s greatest record labels."
Here's notes on some of the songs in this mix:
Jim an' Joe (single) - two gents from Hamilton, off a one-off single recorded in 1986. Recorded at Mandrill with Trevor Reekie producing and Dave Dobbyn adding some Emulator keys. Trevor says "Dobbyn was in Mandrill at the same time and came in and lent us his talents to it. Died without trace."
This Boy Rob (1987 EP) - recording debut for Greg Johnson, a duo featuring him and John Fraser. Recorded and engineered by Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney of Strawpeople before they were the Strawpeople.
The Holiday Makers - Serious (1988 - the b side to Waiting in the sunshine, their followup single to their chart topping hit Sweet Lovers). Trevor says : "How do you follow the biggest selling single of the year? This made number 6 but by then the band were in disarray. They came back from a tour of Japan and folded."
Chrome Safari - Bop to the drummer (1986 EP). Trevor says this was by "Simon Alexander, one time Grammar Boys [band] member and a hugely accomplished muso and engineer."
Obscure Desire - Obscure desire - extended UK mix (EP, 1986). Trevor says "Remixed in London by Liam Henshall. This record was kind of ahead of its time cos we didn’t have the technology to do what we really wanted to do."
Cheek Ta Cheek - Colonial Reggae instrumental (Single, 1987). From the movie soundtrack for NZ film 'Queen City Rocker.'
Cheek Ta Cheek - Colonial Reggae instrumental (Single, 1987). From the movie soundtrack for NZ film 'Queen City Rocker.'
Greg Johnson - Josephine (1990 single). Trevor says "I asked Airforce Studios which day the studio would never be able to book. Tim Foreman said Xmas day and Boxing Day. So I said we’ll give you $400 for both days and we’ll bring our own engineer (wee Terry). gregs parents bought in xmas dinner, girlfriends and mates were all around and it was one of the best xmas I ever had. The single flopped and it was truly a gem of a song ...! pop !"
Strawpeople - Sly, Full Power. Sly was on their debut album Hemisphere from 1991, and Full Power was on a great indie student radio compilation Pagan released called Children of the Generator, compiled by Casserly and Tierney. Other acts included the likes of Headless Chickens and Black Girls Machine. Full Power also got added to the CD version of Hemisphere. Sly features Trevor Reekie on guitar.
The Parker Project - Tears on my pillow (Single, 1991). I really wanted to find the b-side, which is a Jazzy Rap mix. Trevor says 'By this time Rhythm Cage folded and David [Parker] teamed up with Dan Barnes and John Cooper. A cover of the old Johnny Nash song with the right production and it took a few weeks to knock Push Push out of the number one slot but we did."
Ted Brown and the Italians - How is the air up there? (single, 1994) - I've added a remix DLT did based off this version, which got used as the music for the opening credits of NZ music TV show Frenzy in the mid 1990s.
Sam Hunt - Your body has no flaw (single, 2000) Trevor says "I actually recorded hours of Sam but he let us give his rendition of his poem to producer Jon Cooper and muso Ted Brown who re-constructed it. Every library should have a copy. Paul Casserly, Straw Person, made Sam a great clip."
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