De Wolfe Records

De Wolfe Music is without a doubt the most important independent production music label which was founded in 1909 by Dutch born Mayer De Wolfe, who provided scores for films such as American moving picture pioneer DW Griffith’s The Dishonoured Medal (1914), Kenean Buel’s She (1917), and Roy Boulting’s 1947 political drama Fame is the Spur (the first soundtrack written by R.A.F. bomber and original ‘Dambuster’ John Wooldridge). Their recordings, which soon enjoyed far reaching international distribution were originally recorded on 35mm open-track film, then later pressed on 78rpm discs, followed by 10” (c.1960), and finally 12” 33rpm pressings for their vast catalogue. De Wolfe LPs also contain some of the most experimental and intriguing cover designs, which were initially produced by Ralph Webster, then in the 1970s by award winning Canadian artist Nick Bantock.The De Wolfe library included themes and backgrounds covering every conceivable music style, and with fast growing popularity in the industry, the company soon expanded their catalogue, first in the mid 1930s when they acquired the Hudson library which leaned more towards avant garde sounds, as well as Sylvester (originally song sheet publishers) whose LPs were occasionally sub-licensed from French company Music Pour L’Image and contained a fine Jazz repertoire, not forgetting the Timings label (part of Paris based In Editions) whose musicians of note included Stephan Grappelli and Pierre Arvay, and ending with the Rouge imprint in 1973. Instantly Recognisable cues such as ‘The Gallery’ from cult 60s art programme Vision On, Dr. Who mood music, Sweeney dramatics, Monty Pythons Flying Circus (& The Holy Grail/Time Bandits/Meaning of Life/Jabberwocky), Emmanuelle, George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead and Van Der Valk are all part of the De Wolfe cannon of work. More obscure scores are lurking in thousands of kung fu movies (most of the Shaw Brothers 70s/early 80s catalogue/Joseph Lai’s cut n’ paste IFD masterpieces and Bruce Lee alike epics of trash such as Goodbye Bruce Lee – His Last Game of Death!), Tony Tenser’s Tigon Horror films (Witchfinder General/Haunted House of Horror/Curse of the Crimson Altar/Blood Beast Terror), and some of the finest British sex comedies - Zeta One, Eskimo Nell, Adventures of a Taxi Driver, the early Electric Blue videos and a plethora of Mary Millington soft-core classics