Although we don't usually list singles discographies, this label was an important part of Chicago rock music in the 1960s and had so few albums that much of the story is lost without looking at the singles.

The Shadows of Knight was the first and most successful group for the label. They started in Arlington Heights, Illinois, as the Shadows (named after the English band), but soon added their school mascot to their name and became the Shadows of Knight. They signed in 1965 with Dunwich, and included lead singer Jim Sohns, lead guitarist Warren Rogers, bassist Joe Kelley, rhythm guitarist Norm Gotsch, and drummer Tom Schiffour. By the time they first stepped into a studio a month or so later, Jerry McGeorge had replaced Gotsch.

The Shadows of Knight had a nasty personal reputation as a group, which of course added to their drawing power. By the time their second album was recorded, in the Fall of 1966, Rogers had nearly worked his way out of the group, yielding his lead guitar role to the more accomplished Kelley and taking over on bass. By the end of the year, he had been replaced by Hawk Wolinski, who had done some session work on keyboards for the Back Door Men album. Jim Sohns finally gave up and disbanded the group in July, 1967, only to resurrect it the next year with a new cast as part of the Kasanetz-Katz bubble gum empire.

George Edwards was a Chicago-based folk singer, who in 1966 was doing solo work as well as background vocals on such Shadows of Knight Dunwich hits as "Gloria" and "Oh Yeah." George Edwards, keyboardist David Michaels, lead guitarist Tony Cavallari, drummer Michael Tegza, and bassist Tom Skidmore formally formed H.P. Lovecraft in the Spring of 1967. George Badonsky and Bill Traut placed their recordings with Mercury from the start, and Mercury released them on the more rock-oriented Philips label. Over the life of the band, ex-Shadows of Knight musicians Jerry McGeorge and Joe Kelley both made appearances with the group.

Dunwich's only all-girl group was the Luv'd Ones. Unlike other "girl groups" of the time, the Luv'd Ones played their own instruments and rocked out every bit as much as their counterpart bands of the time, fuzz guitars and all. They never hit the charts, even locally in Chicago, but Sundazed has released a 20-track CD including all of their Dunwich recordings (see CD discography below).

Of all the Dunwich artists, the Rovin' Kind sounded the most polished. This was no accident, since the members had been in other bands for years. Guitarist Kal David and drummer Fred Pappalardo, for example, were verterans of the Exceptions, a group which also included musicians who would later form the group Chicago. Paul Cotton would later become a member of Poco. Other members Mike Anthony and Frank Bortoli rounded out the quintet. The Rovin' Kind not only kept up a hectic club schedule, but found time to do studio work for other groups, including being the studio band for H.P. Lovecraft's first single and backing WCFL deejay Barney Pip's zany single of "You Turn Me On." They released several singles for almost as many labels (the two for Dunwich was a high number!), then moved to Los Angeles in 1968, where they were "discovered" by James William Guercio who signed them to Columbia as the Illinois Speed Press. They made two albums for Columbia before disbanding.

The Del-Vettes were one of the few Dunwich groups to place records on the charts, albeit the charts were in hometown Chicago. Surprisingly, they did this under two different names. They hit with "Last Time Around" as the Del-Vetts, then changed their name to Pride and Joy for a movie deal, and hit again with the Dennis Dahlquist-penned "Girl," which was supposed to have been featured in the movie, which never came out. They also were involved with an STP oil treatment promotion with a single called "I Call My Baby STP."




Dunwich also signed a Cicero band calling themselves Gary and the Knight Lites. The Knight Lites were immensely popular in clubs playing a kind of pop version of the soul hits of the day. Traut recorded them for one single on Dunwich as the Nite Lites, after which he got them a contract with Acta Records as the American Breed. It was as the American Breed that they racked up several hits, making them the most commercially successful act produced by Dunwich.

Other artists on the label included Chicago-based Ken Nordine (a spoken word star), Amanda Ambrose (who had the only other LP on Dunwich besides the Shadows of Knight), and the Mauds. The Mauds were basically a white suburban band who did soul material very well. They commanded top dollar at their appearances. Their first single was a rock-steeped version of Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'", which started a controversy at the radio stations. WCFL, who was in a competition-to-the-death with longtime radio powerhouse WLS, jumped right on the record. WLS, however, had reservations about the lyrics. They asked for, and got, a "cleaned up" version where the Mauds sang, "Hold on, don't you worry, hold on, please" instead of the original "Hold on, I'm comin', hold on, I'm comin'." Today this "cleaned up" version only exists on a Mercury deejay single.

When the Shadows of Knight disbanded in July, 1967, it was about over for Dunwich as a record company, anyway. Dunwich 162, the Windy City Group's "Music to Think By," was heard often on the radio, but only because it was part of a commercial. It didn't sell well at all. Traut, et al. made one last half-hearted attempt with an early-August offering of old Shadows tracks, but nothing was happening. They quietly folded the record label and continued as a production company (see Dunwich LP discography).












Above are some of the pressings and label variations of the label's first single, "Gloria" by the Shadows of Knight The first label (above, left) was very plain, with no graphics. The doubled lettering was on the very first pressings. Later pressings (above, right) were yellow, then gold, had block letters and stated Atco was the distributor. The more familiar pink and yellow label, was used still later, as was the all pink label. The first label is rarest, as only a few thousand copies were pressed with this label. The yellow label was used for probabably over 50,000 copies, and the gold label somewhat less, after which the rest of the 1,000,000+ copies had the regular pink and yellow Dunwich label (see below), with the exception of a few printed on the all-pink label.












The majority of the Dunwich issues used variations of the labels above. The label was pink with the Dunwich logo on the left (a woman in a flowing dress with a lute on her lap, and a yellow cartoon speech balloon above her head with "IT'S DUNWICH MAN" inside). Several of the 45s were issued with picture sleeves, including the Del-Vetts single "I Call My Baby STP," which was released in conjunction with STP motor treatment ("Scientifically Treated Petroleum"), who helped with the picture sleeve costs and included a free decal inside the sleeve. Now, if I called my baby "Scientifically Treated Petroleum," I don't think I'd make too many points, but the '60s were a strange time...

Most labels were pink with a yellow bottom, but for a few issues around 142-146, and reissues of 116 done around that time, the label was all pink (146 is known to exist using both labels)..

Deejay copies were white with black print, with the same graphics as the yellow-bottom commercial issues. Deejay copies usually said "PLUG SIDE" on the side that Dunwich was pushing.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Atlantic Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2002 by Mike Callahan.