Anthony Adverse - Spin. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME22CD) One of the most consistently popular of all El artists, "Spin" sees Julia Gilbert teaming up with songwriter Daemion Barry. This is particularly appropriate for the ever visual El label, as Daemion is credited with a host of TV themes and much incidental music.

Cool Mikado (Various) - Original Soundtrack. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME34CD) To celebrate the reactivation of el Records, the label is pleased to be instigating a programme to re-release authentic, stylish, highly regarded and long deleted original film soundtracks from the sixties beginning with Michael Winner's 1962 Gilbert & Sullivan film parody 'The Cool Mikado'. 'The Cool Mikado' features original music by the John Barry Seven, songs performed in characteristic style by Frankie Howerd, dance routines by Lionel Blair and comic sketches involving Tommy Cooper, Mike & Bernie Winters, Pete Murray and Stubby Kaye. While the film is no cinematic masterpiece, it is an authentic Eastmancolor period piece full of historical interest. Frankie Howerd of course was hardly less than a comic institution in Britain through the sixties and seventies-his career peaking with the bawdy ancient Greek television romp 'Up Pompeii'. John Barry would go on to become Britain's foremost composer on the international film music scene with credits including the James Bond films, 'The Ipcress File' with Michael Caine and the highly popular 'Persuaders Theme' for the television programme which featured Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. 'The Cool Mikado' was also one of the first feature films of Michael Winner who later in the sixties would direct Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford in 'The Jokers' and Orson Welles with Reed again in 'I'll Never Forget What's 'Is Name'. The soundtrack, initially released on Parlophone, has been deleted almost four decades and is a highly prized collectors item with original copies (if they can be found at all) fetching in excess of £100. Therefore, this stylish re-issue of 'The Cool Mikado' is sure to be welcomed by film buffs el aficionados and (indeed) the record-buying public alike.

Dream Topping - El Retrospective - An Introduction To. CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 21 CD) El has come to be regarded and cited as an influence in the highest pop circles - Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Stereolab, St. Etienne. Now with Mike Alway's proposed new label IF Records there is great interest in its artists. New signings, Butterfingers, Pulling Jessica's Hair, and The Apples are featured on the album.

El - The Legendary B Sides - Various. Dble CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 20 CD) Vinyl copies of the El singles are becoming increasingly rare. This double CD includes all the B sides to every El single released. The King Of Luxembourg, Louis Philippe, Marden Hill, The Would-Be-Goods, Bad Dream Fancy Dress are just a selection of the artists that feature here.

El Christmas - The World In Winter - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME 30 CD) Compiled by Mike Alway, "The World In Winter" is the long overdue Christmas album from the influential and highly regarded El Records. It was to be released almost 12 years ago but was cancelled due to the demise of the label. The relesae has now been updated and includes Japanses pop megastar Hideki Kaji as well as El Stalwarts Marden Hill, Momus and the Would-Be-Goods.

Felt - Me And A Monkey On The Moon. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME24CD) Having laid down a whole catalogue of classics during the eighties on Cherry Red and then Creation, Felt came to El to assume something of the label's style. A surprisingly enigmatic record known only to the band's hard-core following, but indeed essential to any with a weakness for the inventive guitar pop propagated by this group.

Girl Talk - Various Females. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME20CD) Talented women proliferated in the house of El, from the Would-Be-Goods stunning literate songwriting to the light theatricality of Anthony Adverse. At a time when indie pop was dominated by lovesick boys in the Morrissey vein, the El girls carved a wining niche for themselves in contrast.

King of Luxembourg - Sir / Royal Bastard. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME 16 CD) The King of Luxembourg was El's Georgie Best to Louis Philippe's Bobby Charlton. Precocious, wild and perfectly described by Time Out as "Pop that can spell it's name backwards", the King devastated the Japanese audiences when showcasing these wonderful songs in 1987. This CD includes both "Sir" and "Royal Bastard".

London Pavilion - Vol's 1 & 2 - El in 1986 & 1987 - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME 10 CD) A great value round-up of the best of El Records, the eighties' most stylish label. These 22 tracks selected from ACME 7 and ACME 10, cover all of the legendary El artists at their very best, packaged in the trademark El artwork.

London Pavilion - Vol. 1 - El in 1986 - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME 25 CD) The very first El compilation is finally made available again on CD in its original form. An artistic round-up of the label in first bloom, the booklet also contains an epic poem in tribute to the performers.

London Pavilion - Vol. 2 - El in 1987 - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME 26 CD) The translation of the full, original vinyl release into CD format has restored the ultra rare El classics by Caprice and the Great Chefs Of Europe and re-established the majesty of the El label at the height of its creative powers.

London Pavilion - Vol. 3 - El in 1988 - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME21CD) The third and final volume in the series of annual El compilations. Featuring all the label's well known artists such as Louis Philippe and The Monochrome Set plus the more obscure performers Always and Hunky Dory. Long deleted on vinyl.

Louis Philippe - Appointment With Venus. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME05CD) In the great traditions of French bi-lingual balladeers, Louis Philippe's dreamy and fantastical first album evokes Debussy at his most turbulent and the vivid colours of Provence under a broiling Mediterranean sun. The most typical artist of the El style.

Louis Philippe - Claret (Best Of). CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 4 CD) The Jim Webb, Neil Young and Andy Williams, of El , "Claret" showcases to entertaining effect the art and craft of the popular songwriter. This "Best Of" collection demonstrates the full spectrum of Louis Philippe; obsessions, loss of innocence, voyeurism, solitude and hedonism.

Louis Philippe - Yuri Gagarin. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME23CD) The vocal "jazzier" phase of Louis' career finds beautiful expression on Yuri Gagarin. This album gains deserved attention for the sheer class of the man's beautiful voice. His last recording for El, it stands as a suitable tribute to a unique talent.

Momus - Circus Maximus. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME02CD) Classic, seminal first album by Momus, proving him to be perhaps the outstanding re-invented singer-songwriter of the Eighties. An album that improves with age, it is widely considered to be his finest work. Included alongside the original tracks are three songs from the "Nicky" 12" which was released to much acclaim in 1986.

Momus - Ultra-Conformist (Live Whilst Out Of Fashion). CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 3 CD) Experimental cabaret style album from Momus, who was recorded extensively for both El and Creation Records. Very Shirley Bassey, Brel, very Scott Walker. Exercises in the atmosphere of German Expressionism; beautifully understated black comedy.

Monochrome Set - Good Life. CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 8 CD) Live and incredible high points of the great Monochrome Set in concert on television and performing radio sessions throughout the world. Superb reinterpretations of all the standards from the band's long career. A must for all students of kitsch and pop psychedelia.

Monochrome Set - What A Whopper!. CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 2 CD) The long lost psychedelic album from the purveyors of the perfect baroque and exotic pop. Recorded in the mid-eighties, but only recently discovered it includes "Black Are The Flowers", "Ten Don'ts For Honeymooners" and "Goodbye Joe".

Psychedelic - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME32CD) Post-lounge, the resurgence of interest in pop art, flowerpower and acid culture is well underway in Japan and America especially where all psychedelia is currently the utmost cool. There always was a psychedelic element to El Records and this is impressively demonstrated here by the recordings involving the King of Luxembourg, Loveletter, Would-Be-Goods and Bad Dream Fancy Dress whose tracks from their weird girl masterpiece "Choirboys Gas" sound years ahead of their time in this context.

Ruling Class - Good Life - The Very Best Of El Records. Dble CD. (El/Richmond - ACME27CD) Very best, definitive and absolutely final word on El. Lavishly packaged with Mike Alway's written history complimented by the rarest of archive photos, the surprise is completed by a special bonus disc where Mike is joined by Creation Records' Alan McGee and Cherry Red's Iain McNay in a fascinating discussion about the history and influence of El.

Schooldisco - Various - Original Film Soundtrack. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME33CD) Blending material from highly individualistic El and RPM labels with classic Cherry Red Records catalogue, "Schooldisco" is the original soundtrack of a film written and directed by Alway himself. The soundtrack features Pulp with two tracks, one of which has never been on CD before, Momus, Tracey Thorn & The Marine Girls, Twinkle and The King Of Luxembourg.

Songs For The Jet Set - Supreme Edition - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME29CD) This compilation was originally released in 1997 to launch If... Records which carried on where El left off almost a decade before. Repackaged by El graphic, the supreme edition has six additonal tracks featuring - the schoolgirl psychedelic group Fantastic Everlasting Gobstopper, a superb pop boy called Loveletter played by the King of Luxembourg and the wonderfully understated Milky.

Sunshine Pop 99 - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME28CD) Simply the definitive alternative summer record, Sunshine Pop has been compiled and designed by Mike Alway. The genre that is Sunshine Pop is luxury without ostentation, a tastefully dressed world of imagination and escapism that is hardly less than a pop phenomenon in Japan whilst rising incredibly fast in America.

Valentine 2000 - The El Love Album - Various. CD. (El/Richmond - ACME31CD) "Valentine 2000" is the most original romantic celebration for St. Valentine's Day. Sixties numbers by Twinkle, Les Barrett, Harmony Grass and Tony Rivers & The Castaways sit well alongside the products of the Alway era involving Everything But The Girl, The King Of Luxembourg, Momus, Tracey Thorn, Would-Be-Goods, Marine Girls, Bad Dream Fancy Dress, Ben Watt, Marden Hill, Hunky Dory and Anthony Adverse.

World In Winter - El Christmas (Various). CD. (El/Richmond - ACME30CD) Compiled by Mike Alway, 'The World In Winter' is the long overdue Christmas album from the influential and highly regarded El Records. It was to be released almost 12 years ago but was cancelled due to the demise of the label. The release has now been updated and includes Japanese pop megastar Hideki Kaji as well as El stalwarts Marden Hill, Momus and the Would-Be-Goods.

Would-Be-Goods - Camera Loves Me. CD. (El/Richmond - MONDE 13 CD) Oxford graduate Jessica Griffin was found by El modelling children's clothing in the pages of Harpers and Queen magazine. The blend of Jessica's lyrics and The Monochrome Set's musical backing explain whi this LP was voted recently by "Monda" magazine of Tokyo to be one of the best indie albums to be made in the eighties.

© Delerium Music 2008. Web Site written and maintained by Matt Platts for Paragon Digital. Please see www.vatloophole.co.uk for information on why we closed down.