Indigo Album DiscographyIndigo Records was a California record label that was formed in 1960. The address of the company
was 3330 Barham Boulevard, Hollywood, California. The A&R Director was Jim Lee. The Indigo label
was short lived, as it went out of business in 1962, but during that time managed to issue almost 50
singles and five LPs.
By far the most prolific of the Indigo artists were the Innocents, who appeared on almost a third of the
Indigo singles. The Innocents were Al Candelaria, guitarist Darron Stankey, and Jim West. They had a
recognizable and unusual (slightly off-key?) sound based on three voices almost harmonizing, backed
by a reverb-drenched guitar playing arpeggios and clutch chords. They had been recording as a quartet
for Keen/Andex as the Echoes, but when Keen folded in 1960, one of the members quit and the
remaining three renamed themselves for their car club. In looking around the Los Angeles/Hollywood
area for a new label, they happened upon Gary Paxton and Kim Fowley, who had just set up shop.
Paxton and Fowley liked their odd ballad "Honest I Do" and signed them, recorded them, then sold the
masters to Indigo.
"Honest I Do" became a legitimate national top-30 record, and Jim Lee took the group on tour of gigs in
the area. After one of their performances, a 15-year-old girl approached them with her mother in tow.
The girl, Kathy Young, wanted to sing. An appointment was set up for the next week, where Kathy sang
an old Rivileers number, "A Thousand Stars." The recording sounded sparse until Jim Lee revised it with
Kathy doing lead vocal with the Innocents' inimitable sound in the background. The song rocketed to #3,
starting a dual career for the group as both Kathy Young's backers and with their own releases. Young
had two more chart records, "Happy Birthday Blues" and "Magic Is The Night" for Indigo, backed by the
Innocents. After Indigo folded, Kathy teamed up with Chris Montez for a minor hit "All You Had To Do
(Was Tell Me)" on the Monogram label in 1964, and eventually married a member of the Walker
Brothers. After many years out of the music industry, she returned in the 1990s.
About the same time as "A Thousand Stars" was on the charts, the Innocents' second offering, "Gee
Whiz" was also charting, giving the group their chance for two records on the top-30 simultaneously. (If
the opening line of the record sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because the line was immortalized by
Dickie Goodman in his novelty cut-in "The Touchables," where after Mugs Moron's boys were gunned
down, all he could say was, "gee whiz...") The Innocents signed with Warner Bros./Reprise after Indigo
went under, but although they were stars in L.A., it didn't translate into further chart hits, and they
disbanded in 1964.
The only other minor chart brush for Indigo was the 1961 purchased master of "Pick Me Up On Your
Way Down" by Pat Zill, which made #92 nationally. The most collectable Indigo records are the two
Innocents-related albums, both with and without Kathy Young. The Kathy Young material has been
bootlegged on CD. The Innocents album has been legitimately reissued on CD, along with much studio
chatter, by Ace (UK). Just the studio talk on "Honest I Do" is worth the price of the CD, as one gets a
sense of what it was like back in the days of Paxton and Fowley trying to record while people were
opening doors and making noise, and while the singers were attempting to remain on-key through
several false starts.
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The Indigo album label (far left) was black with silver print, with "indigo" in purple and "records" in blue above the center hole. The first singles label (near left) had "INDIGO" in light blue letters amid pink lens shapes, making the label name difficult to read. |
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The promotional copies of the first label (near left) were white with black print, with the lens shapes in grey. Shortly after "A Thousand Stars" hit, Indigo changed to the second label (near left), which closely resembled the album label. |
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Number - Title - Artist - [Release Date] Contents |
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500 Series:
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IND-LP-501 - Puro Mariachi - Los Camperos [1961] Available in monaural only. El
Tren/Noche Y Tu/Lo Que Paso Volo/El Jabali/Viejo Copa/Mira Prieta/El Que Agarro, Agarro/El
Maracumbe/Todavia Te Quiero/La Culebra/Mas Amor/El Lucero
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IND-LP-502 - Just for You - Manny Lopez [1961] Available in
monaural (and possibly rechanneled stereo). Me Voy Pal Pueblo/Caleta Tropical/Esta Es Mi
Guajira/Clavelitos/Yo Te Sabre Hacer Feliz/Triana//Hawaiian Eye/Adventures In Paradise/Where Was
I/Mr. Lucky/Theme From Hong Kong/Theme From The Apartment
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IND-LP-503 - Innocently Yours - Innocents [1961] Available in monaural only. Honest I
Do/Chiquita/Walking Along/Once In A While/Please Mr. Sun/Girl Of My Dreams//Gee Whiz/Hog For
You/It Was A Tear/Donna/My Baby Hully Gullys/I Believe In You
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IND-LP-504 - The Sound of Kathy Young - Kathy Young with the Innocents [1961]
Available in monaural only. A Thousand Stars/Angel On My Shoulder/Please Love Me Forever/Lonely
Blue Nights/Baby Oh Baby/Eddie My Darling//Happy Birthday Blues/Sparkle And Shine/Gee Whiz (Look
At His Eyes)/Will You Love Me Tomorrow/Angel Baby/Someone To Love
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1500 Series: | |
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GBM-1501/GBST-1501 - All That and This Too - Bob Rogers [1962] This
Too/Bluesy/Shadow Waltz/Minute Before I Go/Mood Indigo/Room With A View/Coffee Kate/Midnight
Lace/Alone Together
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GBM-1502/GBST-1502 - Selections from "Wildcat" - Cy Coleman [1961] Available in
monaural and stereo. Hey Look Me Over/Give A Little Whistle/What Takes My Fancy/Tall Hopes/One
Day We Dance/You're A Liar/You've Come Home/Corduroy Road/Danie/Andelina/Tippy Toes
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RELATED COMPACT DISC | |
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ACE (UK) CDCHD 374 - The Complete Indigo Recordings - Innocents [1992] Tapes are a little noisy at times, probably due to recording technique. Also, the lead vocalist tends to put audible clicks on tape as he is preparing to sing, so that particular idiosyncracy is not the engineer's fault. The sound is generally good. Gee Whiz (M)/Please Mr. Sun (M)/Walking Along (M)/Once In A While (M)/Pain In My Heart (M)/Chiquita (M)/Girl In My Dreams (M)/Because I Love You (M)/Sleeping Beauty (M, with countoff)/Donna (M)/Kathy (M)/My Baby Hully Gullys (M)/Honest I Do (M, with false starts)/Beware (M)/I'm A Hog For You (M)/When I Become A Man (M)/Two Young Hearts (M)/Dee Dee Di Oh (M)/I Believe In You (M)/It Was A Tear (M)/You Got Me Going (S, with studio talk and countoff)/Little Blue Star (S, with studio talk and countoff)/I Know A Valley (M)/Time Makes You Change (M)/In The Beginning (M, with studio talk) |
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