Spectator Records

Spectator Records was a Danish record label that existed from 1969 to 1972. For counterfits/bootlegs using the label logo please use Spectator Records (3) It was founded in 1969 by journalist Jørgen Bornefelt in cooperation with jazz musician Carsten Meinert and located in a villa in Hasseris, a residential suburb of Aalborg, Denmark, that also housed the related Spectator Studio. The music on Spectator Records’ releases range from children’s music and educational records to beat music, blues rock, hippie free style and avant-garde jazz. In all, at least 23 LP's and 9 singles were released before the label's headquarter burned to the ground on 6 August 1972. The label also distributed records for other labels. The majority of the records were released in very few copies (300-500) and the quality of the vinyl wasn't always the finest, which was evident on a lot of the records. Covers and center labels were primitive and made from cheap material. Still, a wide range of the records have become cult amongst record collectors across the world, and a perfect copy of, for example Furekåben’s 1970 release Prinsesseværelset – where all front covers where uniquely hand-decorated by the band members – sells for a small fortune. Later Danish hit group Gasolin' released their first ever single – Silky Sally – on the label, although it was hardly a success with only 155 sold copies. Today, the single is almost impossible to find and is one of the most sought after Gasolin’ records. Reputedly, all the master tapes and unsold copies of the records where lost in the 1972 fire. Thus, later unofficial reissues of the label’s records have been mastered from the copies of the original records and not the master tapes. A few recordings which hadn't yet been released were also lost, e.g. the material for two LP's by the Copenhagen–based group Line’s Lyst as well as the material for an LP by the group Cinderella (6). The latter somehow mysteriously resurfaced in 1990 and was released as Danish Progressive Rock 1970. As many of the labels releases are collectors items, bootlegs are frequent. Some releases on labels pretending to be mistaken for the real label, including Spectacular Records (2) and Spectators Records.