Join me 2/12 at 3-5 PM PST for a special Over Under Sideways Down dedicated to the Hanna Barbera Records label ’65-’67 during LuxuriaMusic.com’s Sponsorship Drive. I will be giving away an original Five Americans “EVOL Not Love” 7″ record with picture sleeve during my show to a lucky sponsor! For two hours, tune in for a stack of fabulous Hanna Barbera 45s which I’ll be playing in chronological release order. Listen here or check the Over Under Sideways Down Podcast Page if you miss the live broadcast.
Hanna Barbera Records, a/k/a HBR was a short-lived division of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio active between 1964 and 1967. The label’s all-over-the-map roster included not only records based on their cartoon characters, but a healthy dose of garage rock, soul, psychedelia, country, folk, records licensed from England, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, and artists such as Les Baxter, Louis Prima and Scatman Courthers. Former Buena Vista Records (Disney) mailroom employee Danny Hutton was hired by suggestion of Kim Fowley to HBR’s head A&R person, Larry Goldberg to gauge what was hip with the kids and as a result, Hutton found himself with a career as a vocalist and eventually leader of Three Dog Night. Tom Ayers, who later convinced RCA to sign David Bowie also worked as an A&R person at HBR
Aside from a slew of cartoon oriented LPs and a small stack of LPs aimed at teens, Hanna Barbera Records released well over 70 45s by artists such as The Dimensions, Tidal Waves, The Guilloteens, Five Americans, Chocolate Watch Band (as The Hogs), The New Breed, The W. C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band, The 13th Floor Elevators, The Abbey Tavern Singers, Jean King, Simon Stokes, the afore mentioned Baxeter, Prima and Courthers, and many, many others.
If this sort of thing interests you I recommend you check out Yogi Bear’s Nuggets, a Hanna Barbera 45s Guide by Guy Laurence on the Spectropop website, and From Wall of Sound to Huckleberry Hound: The Vinyl Side of Hanna-Barbera on the WFMU website
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