The Bronze Collection - Various Artists

Bronze Records was an independent English record label set up in 1971 by record producer Gerry Bron, and based in Chalk Farm, London.

Bron had been producing Uriah Heep for Vertigo Records near the end of that label's lifetime and he set up this new label for future Uriah Heep releases, along with Juicy Lucy, Richard Barnes and Colosseum. Other subsequent acts included Osibisa, Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Who were not included on this compilation for contractual reasons), The Real Kids, Sally Oldfield, Motörhead, The Damned, Girlschool Hawkwind and " [Bronz] " The Band amoung others.

Original manufacturing and distribution was through Island Records, moving to EMI in 1977 and then onto Polydor Records in 1980. The label folded in financial difficulty in the mid 1980s with the catalogue being sold to Ray Richards' Legacy Records.

The name Gerry Bron might not be familiar, but he's the man responsible for launching some of the biggest rock acts of the 70s and 80s through his record label Bronze Records.

Over the years, he's worked with the likes of heavy metallers Motorhead and Uriah Heep, rockers Manfred Mann and punk band The Damned.

After folding in the mid 80s, the label returned a few years ago with a new roster of artists, including up and coming musician Paddy Milner and James Bond theme writer Monty Norman.


The following is an extract from an interview that can be found here

Gerry bron Interview

Tell us more about Bronze Records and how you've relaunched it?
Well what happened in 1972-73 was that I was producing records for Philips, who I had a deal with, where I signed artists, produced records and they released them on the Philips label. And it went terribly sour, they had distribution problems, and I suddenly realised we had a number of successful artists who had nowhere to go. So I approached Island Records, who were in a similar situation to ours but much much bigger, and said would you like to form a label with us. And they said yes because they knew who we were and what we were doing, and we had a problem thinking of a name for the label. And someone said, 'well, it's a metal label, why don't you call it Bronze?' And we thought it was absolutely brilliant. So that's where we started, and although we became known as a sort of heavy metal label we actually had lots of success outside that genre. But the metal guitar name sort of stuck really. The label started around 72 and ran until 1986, when I sold the catalogue and decided to do other things, but in recent years I've gotten so fed up with Pop Idol and the rubbish that's been turned out. So I thought I'd bring it back and see what I could find.

Disc 1 of 2

1. Mississippi Woman - Juicy Lucy
2. Gypsy - Uriah Heep
3. Take To The Mountains - Richard Barnes
4. Walking In The Park -  Colosseum
5. Loudwater House - Tony Hazzard
6. Moses In The Bullrushes - Dick Heckstall-Smith
7. Get One Together - Paladin
8. Easy Livin' - Uriah Heep
9. Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf - Ken Hensley
10. Bye Bye Baby - McGuinness Flint
11. Stargazer - Tempest
12. Unifinished Symphony - Mike Gibbs
13. Steamin' Along - David Byron
14. Dark Side Of The Moog - Colosseum II
15. Don't Kill It Carol - Heron
Link Disc 1

Disc 2 of 2

1. Sunshine Day - Osibisa
2. Hope They Come Back - Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat
3. Mirrors - Sally Oldfield
4. How Many More Times - Goldie
5. Overkill  - Motörhead
6. Angel Witch  -Angel Witch
7. Ace of Spades - Motörhead
8. Shot Down In The Night - Hawkwind
9. Please Don't Touch - MotorHeadGirlSchool
10. Don't Do That - Young & Moody

11. Small Ads - Small Ads
12. Not Fade Away - Vic Maile
13. Stand By Your Man - Lemmy/Wendy O. Williams
14. Lovely Money - The Damned
15. Papa-Oo-Mow-Mow - Big Den Hegarty
16. C'mon Let's Go - Girlschool
17. Heartline - Robin George
18. Send Down An Angel - Bronz
19. Show Some Emotion - Alaska
20. Go For Soda - Kim Mitchell
 
Link Disc 2