A.T.A. RECORDS

Category: Australian independent record label / production company Date: 1966 - ? Location: Glebe, Sydney  Registered offices: 96 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. N.S.W. 2037 (1996) Owners: Col Joye & Kevin Jacobsen Distributed by: Festival Records
ABOVE LEFT - Col Joye's 1971 single "Girl on the Billboard" (ATAK 4347) showing the ATA label design used in the early 1970s,  ABOVE RIGHT - Andy Gibb's 1978 single "Shadow Dancing" (ATA K 7091) showing the design used in the late '70s.

History

Although not as well-known as other pop-oriented imprints like Go!! and Spin, Sydney-based ATA Records stands out in one very important respect -- it was one of the longest-lived Australian independent labels, and was still in business in the 1990s, more than two decades after most of its contemporaries had vanished.

ATA was established by pioneering Australian singer Col Joye (Colin Jacobsen) and his brother Phil. Col had enjoyed great success as one of the top Australian rock'n'roll stars in the late 1950s and early 1960s with Festival, but as the new generation of beat bands took centre stage in the mid-1960s and Col's career slowed down, he and Phil began to broaden their business base, establishing their own publishing company, a record label, a recording studio and their renowned promotions company, which became one of the major concert promoters of the last 30 years.

ATA Records was launched in May 1966 with Col Joye's single "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" and it continued through the late '60s and '70s into the Eighties and beyond. Not surprisingly, ATA's catalogue featured by recordings from the members of the so-called "Bandstand Family" -- Col Joye, Brian Henderson, The Joy Boys, Judy Stone, Little Patti and Sandy Scott. Although Col was not the first (or last) Australian artist to launch his own label, he was probably the most successful.

ATA released over 200 singles between 1966 and 1981, averaging about 14 releases per year, although the label's output dropped sharply after 1977. Although much of the repertoire tended towards a "middle of the road" style, ATA's catalogue covered a very wide range of material. The label's first two single releases were catalogued ATA 001 and ATA 002, but the second single (by Bandstand host Brian Henderson) was simultaneously issued with a new "ATAK" prefix and a four-digit catalogue number, presumably to fit in with the cataloguing requirements of their distributor, Festival (Festival's own singles were prefixed "FK" and singles from its subsidiary Infinity were prefixed "INK"). As a result, subsequent ATA releases did not run follow a strict numerical sequence. The ATAK prefix remained in use until 1973, and the last single with this prefix was Col's single "Heaven is my woman's love". With the next single -- Pattie Amphlett's "What's Your Mama's Name" (Aug. 1973) -- the numbering followed Festival's new "K" series, which took place aronud the time that Festival's signed its distribution deal with the newly-established Mushroom label.

There were only a few "rock" releases, but the 1972 single by Friends released on ATA, "B.B. Boogie" / Freedom Train" is widely acknowledged as a landmark Australian progressive rock. ATA also released country, 'folk' and jazz recordings, including early singles by noted singer-songwriters Mike McClellan and Kevin Johnson, two country singles and two LPs by former 60s pop star Laurie Allen (Bobby & Laurie), and singles and albums by The Webb Brothers. There were also instrumental and jazz singles by renowned pianist Warren Carr, Bob Barnard's Jazz Band and the Ray Price Quintet, and even a one-off single by pioneering Kiwi rockers Johnny Devlin & The Devils. There were also 'novelty' singles by 2SM DJs John Torv and Ian MacRae, actress-singer-TV personality Hazel Phillips, actor-singer Ted Hamilton (of Division 4 fame), religious personality Rev. Roger Bush, and even a brief return to recording by former '60s popster and DJ Donnie Sutherland, who was then the host of the popular music video show Sounds.

Laurie Allen and Kevin Johnson were significant to the label both as recording artists and writers. Both artists released singles on ATA -- inlcuding Laurie's remake of the Bobby & Laurie classic "I Belong With You" -- and Col Joye recorded a number of their songs over the years. It was Col himself who recorded ATA's most successful local release, the national #1 hit "Heaven Is My Woman's Love" (1973), which took him back to the top of the pop charts for the first time since the early 1960s won the Country Music Association of Australia's award for "Top Selling Record" in 1974. One of ATA's discoveries in the country genre was "Cowboy" Bob Purtell, who released several singles on the label,  collaborated with Col, Laurie and Jim Cooper on the LP Truck Stop (1976) and won the CMAA "New Talent of the Year" award in 1976 for his 1975 ATA single "Motivatin' Day", and the song also won its writer Laurie Allen a 'Golden Guitar' at the Tamworth Conutry Music Festival.

ATA continued to release around a dozen singles each year until 1978, after which its singles output dropped sharply. From that point on it released only a handful of singles each year -- so far we have identified only four in 1978, three in 1979, five in 1980 and three in 1981 and one in 1982. At present we have no information on ATA releases after 1982; documents on the ARIA website indicate that the company was still operating in 1996, but it is thought to have been wound up sometime in the last ten years.

ATA and Andy Gibb

ATA played an important part in launching the career of Andy Gibb. The connection with the Gibb family went back many years, and Col and Phil had played a significant role in helping the young Bee Gees establish their career in Australia in the early 1960s. Andy, the youngest Gibb brother, had spent most of his youth in the UK, but on the advice of oldest brother Barry, he returned to Australia in 1974 to launch his own music career. He began writing his own songs, put together a backing band (Melody Fayre), began performing, and signed with the Joye Music publishing company. 

His first recording, "To A Girl" was taped at ATA studios probably in September 1974, apparently while the Bee Gees were touring Australia, since it featured Andy brother Maurice on organ, and Maurice and John Alderson contributed to the song. Andy made his TV debut soon around this time, performing the song on The Ernie Sigley Show, and Sigley announced that it was from Andy's forthcoming album, but the track was never released as a single (possibly because it was over six minutes long). He also recorded six demo tracks at ATA sometime in late 1974 (possibly November) including the first version of his song "Flowing Rivers", which became the title track of his debut album in 1976. 

At some stage during mid-1975 Andy recorded thirteen songs --  enough for an LP -- produced by Col Joye at ATA Studios; all were originals by Andy, except a cover of Don McLean's "Winter Has Me In Its Grip". His debut single "Words and Music" / "Westfield Mansions" was issued in Australia on ATA in August 1975, and a planned second single "To a Girl" / "Walking Along" was assigned a catalogue number, but it was never released. Another recording from these sessions ("Turn Me On") was played once on radio, but the album (which would have appeared early in 1976) was never released.

Andy’s backing band by this stage was Zenta (Rick Alford, guitar; Paddy Lelliot, bass; Trevor Norton, drums; Glen Greenhalgh, vocals). However, the musicians on Andy's 1975 recordings were all seasoned Aussie session players. The lineup is thought to have included members of renowned Sydney jazz-rock band Crossfire (Mick Kenny, Jim Kelly, Tony Buchanan, Phil Scorgie, Ian Bloxom, and Steve Hopes) and certainly Kelly and Buchanan were among the busiest session players in Sydney at that time. 

Andy relocated to America in 1976;  linking up with his brothers, Andy recorded his first LP (co-produced by Barry and Alby Galuhten) around October that year. With the help and support of The Bee Gees -- by then on the cusp of their greatest fame and success thanks to Saturday Night Fever and other projects -- Andy signed with RSO Records and shot to fame in America in 1977-78, scoring three consecutive US hits -- "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" (US#1, written and produced by Barry), "Shadow Dancing" (US #1, co-written by Barry and Andy) and " An Everlasting Love" (US Top 5). These also charted and sold extremely well in Australia, and his 1980 single "Desire" was a Top 10 hit in the UK. ATA (through Festival) issued all of Andy's singles in Australia, up to his final single release, "Me (Without You)" (1981). In New Zealand these singles were released on the Interfusion label (distributed by EMI). 

Andy was a major star by 1980 -- in addition to his success as a recording artist, he briefly co-hosted TV pop show Solid Gold and also won the lead in a Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. But within a short time his career began to fall apart in spectacular fashion. He was fired from both Solid Gold and Dreamcoat after repeatedly missing shows, and the press had a field day with the revelations that Andy was in the grip of drug and alcohol addiction and in serious financial trouble, as well as his highly publicised romance with actress Victoria Principal. 

Andy eventually began to rehabilitate himself and sort out his financial problems, and with Barry's help he was tipped to sign a new contract with Island Records. However he apparently relapsed into heavy drinking soon after arriving in the UK in early 1988 and he was hospitalised on his 30th birthday. Sadly, his years of wild living had seriously weakened his system and a few days later, on 10 March 1988, Andy died suddenly from an acute viral heart infection.

ATA Studios

For many years the label's offices and recording studio were located at 96 Glebe Pt Rd in Glebe, in Sydney's inner west, which was one of the longest-running independent recording studios in Sydney. Originally known as ATA studios and then Studio 96, and finally Glebe Studios. It is known that leading engineer Bruce Brown worked there for some time and in 1970 he and Ron Patton did the final mixing and editing at ATA for the debut album Song To Raymondo by Sydney pop-rock band Autumn. 

The Glebe studio evolved over a long period of time. According to a recent ABC interview with Col, ATA built its own 4-track, 8-track and later 16-track facilities. Engineer and studio historian Colin Abrahams records that the original studio had a special reverb chamber built under the control room with a speaker and microphone mounted on tracks to adjust the delay. They built their own mixing console and also built Australia's first 16-track recorder out of an old Univac computer deck. The tape had to be wound with the oxide facing out to work with this machine, and an assistant had to stand next to the machine and help turn the spools when it got close to the end of the reel! Many hit records were recorded on this machine, including Kevin Johnston's much-covered "Rock and Roll (I Gave You The Best Years of My Life)".

By 1990 the studio was fitted with an MCI 24-track recorder, plus 8-track and 16-track Tascam recorders. As well as enabling the studio to run up to 48 tracks, the 8-track and 16-track machines allowed the studio to accept tapes from other studios in virtually any format.

ATA Studios closed in 1993 and the property is now a liquor outlet.

Discography

Singles

EPs

Albums

References / Links

Hank B. Facer
ATA label discography
Discography No. 23, November 1981 (Museum of Indigenous Recording Labels, Auburn NSW)

Ian McFarlane
Encylopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (Allen & Unwin, 1999)

Colin Abrahams
Studio Connections website
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~tabbler/PicBk/GlePicM.html

The Webb Brothers
http://www.webbbrothers.com.au

Joseph Brennan
Gibb Songs - 1974
http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/74.html

Bonnie's Laurie Allen Tribute Site
http://www.laurieallen.net/discography

Country Music Association of Australia
http://www.country.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1132

Special thanks to Andy from globaldog productions for additional discographical information.

Please email webmaster@milesago.com if you have more information or corrections, or to report any broken links.