E.M.I. Records (South East Asia) Limited

Singaporean subsidiary record company of Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI). Established in January 1967. Renamed to EMI (Singapore) Pte. Limited in 1971. Its recording studio and record press were shut down in 1984, and its cassette duplication operations were closed in 1985. Please also consider - E.M.I. Records (S. E. A.) Pte. Ltd. when it appears as a private Ltd. company on releases. Also appears: - E.M.I. Records (S.E.A.) Ltd. - E.M.I. Records (South East Asia) Ltd. - EMI Records (SEA) Ltd. (credit abbreviation seen on labels, please add this credit to notes) - EMI Records (S.E.A.) Limited (mostly on generic company sleeves) Releases by this company usually show the names of the other regional branches in Hong Kong and Malaysia which were also administered from the Singapore head office at this time. Later (1973-1976) the Bangkok office was also administered from Singapore, and releases during this period add EMI (Thailand) Ltd. to the list of branches. NOTE that this does NOT mean that all such releases were distributed in all these markets, so the Singapore, Malaysia & Hong Kong country option is NOT appropriate. To establish the correct country of release it is necessary to look at the EMI catalogue series as these series were allocated to releases from the different countries under the supervision of the Singapore office. Sometimes releases from one country were pressed in one or more of the other countries. But this does not mean that all releases were distributed in all three markets. Obviously most Singapore releases were also available in Malaysia (and most Malaysian releases were also available in Singapore) but it is definitely not the case that Malay releases were available in Hong Kong or Thailand even though these branches may be listed on the cover. Therefore, care needs to be taken when allocating the country of release and the following details are intended to provide some guidance in this area for those who are not familiar with the complex (and sometimes confusing) catalogue systems developed by EMI over many decades of world-wide activity. Every EMI label had format specific series for each territory, as follows: ANGEL AHZ-101 - AHZ-299 (1955-1969) - HONG KONG - began as a 78 rpm series but became a vinyl 45 rpm single series in 1961. TAE-101 - TAE-215 (1961-1971) - HONG KONG - EP series TAE-301 - TAE-307 (1971-1972) - SINGAPORE - EP series TAE-1001 - TAE-1002 (1972-1973) - SINGAPORE - EP series - Note that this series duplicates another Angel series produced by Indian EMI starting in 1958. 3AE-101 - 3AE-141 (1961-1966) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series 3AEX-301 - 3AEX-348 (1963-1970) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series 3AEX-401 - 3AEX-414 (1971-1978) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series 3AEX-1001 - 3AEX-1013 (1977-1980) - HONG KONG - LP series (some issues on the EMI label). COLUMBIA CHK-1001 - CHK-1052 (1963-1970) - HONG KONG - 45rpm single series CHK-1050 - CHK-1077 (1965-1972) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm single series CHK-1501 - (1971-) - HONG KONG - 45rpm single series Note that when the Singapore series began at CHK-1050 in 1965 the Hong Kong series was intended to only run up to CHK-1049 but it seems that years later this arrangement had been forgotten and so the Hong Kong series actually duplicates the first few numbers of the Singapore series (for example, Hong Kong CHK-1052 is by The Starlights while Singapore CHK-1052 is a totally different release by Julie Sudiro). When this mistake was discovered Hong Kong began a new CHK-1500 series. CKM-001 (1965) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm single series - There was only ever one issue. DO-4587/DO-4613/DO-4638/DO-4661 - DO-4665/DO-4728 - DO-4735 (1965-1967) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm singles. Note that these Singapore recordings were allocated numbers from the Australian Columbia 45rpm single series as the discs were pressed in Australia. These records were made for export to Singapore and were NOT available in Australia. ECHK-500 - ECHK-532 (1964-1970) - HONG KONG - EP series ECHK-550 - ECHK-668 (1965-1972) - SINGAPORE - EP series ECHK-1001 (1972) - MALAYSIA - EP series (only one issue) EEAC-1001 - EEAC-1041 (1968-1972) - SINGAPORE - EP series for imported recordings that were released in Singapore, but there was one local recording (by the October Cherries). SEGE-551 - SEGE-571 (1959-1960) - SINGAPORE - Malay EP series SEGO-70113 - SEGO-70115 (1967) - SINGAPORE - EP series Note that these Singapore recordings were allocated numbers from the Australian Columbia EP series as the discs were pressed in Australia. These records were made for export to Singapore and were NOT available in Australia. 33EIX-5001 - 33EIX-5002 (1961) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series 33ES-301 - 33ES-309 (1958-1959) - SINGAPORE - 10" LP series 33ESX-201 - 33ESX-234 (1963-1970) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series 33ESX-301 - 33ESX-303 (1958) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series 33ESX-601 - 33ESX-622 (1965-1970) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series 33OSX-7775 (1966) - SINGAPORE - this 12" LP by The Quests was pressed in Australia and allocated a number from the Australian Columbia LP series. It was made for export to Singapore and was NOT available in Australia. 45-POPCE-1 - 45-POPCE-2 (1962-1963) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm singles - This series was pressed in India for the Singapore market. Note: There were a couple of exceptions to the above allocation of series. For example, there are two Singapore recordings (CHK-1008 by The Sundowners & CHK-1009 by The Quests) which were released in the Hong Kong series before the separate Singapore series began in 1965. HARVEST HAR-8001 - HAR-8006 (1971-1973) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm single series HIS MASTER'S VOICE EDLP-301 - EDLP-322 (1958-1959) - SINGAPORE - Malay 10" LP series EDLP-1001 - EDLP-1011 (late 1950s) - SINGAPORE - Chinese opera 10" LP series 7EGE-551 - 7EGE-563 (1959-1960) - SINGAPORE - Malay 45rpm single series ODEON EPOH-101 - EPOH-102 (1965) - HONG KONG - EP series MOCE-301 - MOCE-323 (1963-1965) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series MODE-101 - MODE-111 (1963-1966) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series ORANGE ORANGE-1 - ORANGE-2 (1971) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm extended single series PARLOPHONE DPE-8001 - DPE-8224 (1956-1971) - SINGAPORE - began as a 78rpm series but became a 45rpm single series in 1959 with the addition of a "45" prefix (the "45" prefix was dropped after DPE-8197). EGEP-551 - EGEP-807 (1959-1976) - SINGAPORE - EP series EGEP-1001 - EGEP-1033 (1972-1977) - MALAYSIA - EP series PMDE-300 - PMDE-316 (1958-1964) - SINGAPORE - 10" LP series PATHE CPA-100 - CPA-178 (1956-1964) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series CPAX-301 - CPAX-391 (1959-1976) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series EPH-3001 - EPH-3074 (1965-1970) - HONG KONG - EP series LPHX-501 - LPHX-515 (1965-1970) - HONG KONG - Chinese opera 12" LP series MPA-1 - MPA-8 (1958-1959) - SINGAPORE - Malay 10" LP series PHK-1001 - PHK-1048 (1964-1969) - HONG KONG - 45rpm single series 7EPA-101 - 7EPA-241 (1956-1976) - HONG KONG - EP series 7EPA-551 - 7EPA-552 (1959) - SINGAPORE - Malay EP series 45-36239 - 45-36415 (1959-1969) - HONG KONG - 45rpm series which was a continuation of a long-running 78rpm series which began in the early 1930s. PHOENIX CFRC-101 - CFRC-114 (1960s) - SINGAPORE - Chinese opera 10" LP series EOHK-1001 - EOHK-1008 (1965-1966) - HONG KONG - EP series - Some issues have a Phoenix Odeon (or Odeon "Phoenix Series") label. LOHK-101 - LOHK-110 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series LOHKX-301 - LOHKX-302 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series (reissues from Angel). PX-1001 - PX-1004 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 12" LP Series (reissues from Angel). REGAL ERH-600 - ERH-627 (1964-1968) - HONG KONG - EP series ERH-701 - ERH-704 (1969) - SINGAPORE - EP series LPHX-501 - LPHX-514 (1965-1968) - HONG KONG - Chinese opera 12" LP series LRH-701 - LRH-702 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series LRHX-801 - LRHX-899 (1966-1973) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series LRHX-901 - LRHX-965 (1973-1982) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series (later issues are on the EMI label). LRHX-1001 - LRHX-1042 (1973-1983) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series (later issues are on the EMI label). LRHX-2001 - LRHX-2038 (1976-1983) - HONG KONG 12" LP series (most issues are on the EMI label). RHK-501 - RHK-504 (1966-1967) - HONG KONG - 45rpm singles series SREG-9501 - SREG-9559 (1962-1970's) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series SREG-9601 - SREG-9626 (1969-1976) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series SREG-9801 - SREG-9853 (1973-1978) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series SREG-10001 - SREG-10019 (1974-1982) - MALAYSIA - 12" LP series In 1975 EMI began reorganising the long-standing stable of labels listed above, and all were eventually discontinued or phased-out. Instead a generic EMI label was introduced for all LPs, and during 1976/1977 the few remaining EP series were also discontinued. However the same policy of allocating various alpha-numeric series to different countries continued, as follows: EMI (all LPs) EMCS-8001 - EMCS-8002 (1979-1981) - SINGAPORE EMES-3501 (1976) - MALAYSIA EMGS-5001 - EMGS-5090 (1975-1984) - SINGAPORE EMGS-5501 - EMGS-5663 (1976-1986) - MALAYSIA EMGS-6001 - EMGS-6146 (1976-1986) - HONG KONG EMGS-7001 - (1976-) - THAILAND A few previous releases on some labels (Angel, Regal, etc.) which remained in the catalogue were repressed on the EMI label. The final regional EMI series was: FH-30001 - FH-30108 (1986-1992) - MALAYSIA - this was actually a cassette series but all issues had limited pressings as vinyl LPs for radio use only. The above listing details the main series used by EMI for marketing local recordings in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It does not include many other series and labels which were used purely for local releases of imported Western recordings. It also does not include series used in other Asian markets such as India.