Birchmount Records

Birchmount Records — Canada’s Budget Label with Hidden Gems
For decades, Canadian record collectors have stumbled across albums on Birchmount Records in thrift bins, yard sales, or dollar-store racks—often not realizing they were holding pieces of a fascinating chapter in Canadian music history. What looked like a budget label churned out by a major distributor was, in fact, an ambitious experiment that mixed reissues, compilations, and a surprising amount of original Canadian content. Behind the cheap price tags lay a catalogue that captured everything from garage rock and psych-pop to jazz, funk, and country, including contributions from artists who would later leave a permanent mark on Canadian music.

Origins at Quality Records
Birchmount was created in 1969 by Quality Records, Canada’s largest distributor at the time. Quality already handled a vast network of international labels and had its own successful imprints (Barry, Broadland, Celebration, REO, Ringside, among others). Executives George Keane and George Struth saw an opportunity to build a budget line that would recycle older Quality titles, strike deals with other Canadian independents, and release new material under a uniform brand. They named it Birchmount Records, after the street running near Quality’s Toronto headquarters.

The Big Launch
The launch was unusually bold. In September 1969, Quality announced a 22-album first wave, nearly 90% of it Canadian content—something unheard of at the time. Releases included reissues of acts like The Guess Who and The Beau-Marks, licensed material from Lyman Potts’ Canadian Talent Library (featuring Guido Basso, Eugene Amaro, Al Baculis, and others), and a compilation deal with Don Grashey’s Gaiety Records, which brought obscure groups such as The Plague and The Checkerlads into the fold.

To bolster the catalogue, Quality also created a series of “shadow albums”: records by faceless studio bands with no touring existence, padded with 50% cover versions and 50% new songs. Producer Greg Hambleton—then cutting his teeth at Sound Canada Studios—was hired to oversee these projects. He brought in his brother Fergus Hambleton, songwriter Jay Telfer, and Yorkville psych-rockers The Magic Cycle to record bed tracks. Out of these sessions came albums by “Suzanne,” “Sultan Street Nine,” “Tuesday’s Children,” and “Candy Rock Fountain.” While marketed as genuine artists, they were really vehicles for Hambleton originals and clever studio work.

Early Canadian Highlights
Birchmount’s early catalogue offered an eclectic spread of talent:

Mary Saxton, an Edmonton soul singer barely out of her teens, released her debut album.

Beau Hannon and the Mint Juleps captured the Niagara R&B scene.

Cal Cavendish and Bette Graham offered folk and lounge stylings.

Pete Schofield and the Canadians documented Toronto’s high-school jazz scene.

Wayne Versage, original vocalist of The Shays before David Clayton-Thomas, cut his only solo LP.

Folk duo Merrick and Kathy Jarrett recorded Folk Songs for Children.

This unusual diversity made Birchmount stand apart from ARC or Paragon, other Canadian “budget” lines of the day.

Second and Third Waves
A second wave of 22 albums appeared in November 1969, again heavy on Canadian content (about 75%). By early 1970, the third wave ballooned to 32 albums, though the Canadian share slipped to under half. Still, this batch produced some of the label’s most coveted titles:

*Wayne McGhie’s In the Sunshine—a soul-reggae-funk LP whose drum breaks later became legendary with hip-hop producers.

Alan Thicke’s debut LP, featuring quirky originals and one track sampled decades later.

Friday Afternoon’s Johnny Cash Hits, a strange hybrid of country covers and psych-tinged originals.

Betty Vidal’s mostly original country-rock album.

The Everlovin’ Singers, a slice of Canadian sunshine pop.

Sadly, a fire at Quality’s warehouse in 1970 destroyed much of the stock from these releases, instantly making them some of the rarest LPs in the Birchmount catalogue. Today, originals often sell for hundreds of dollars.

Decline of Canadian Content
By 1972, the focus shifted toward repackaging American stars like Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and the Isley Brothers. Canadian content, which had been 90% at the launch, dwindled to less than 25% by the late 1970s. There were exceptions: country artists such as Diane Leigh and Hank Smith appeared, and in 1978 Birchmount struck a deal with the Canadian Talent Library to issue a dozen LPs by Peter Appleyard, Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass, Jackie Mittoo, Eugene Amaro, the Laurie Bower Singers, and others.

The End of the Line
Birchmount carried on into 1980, ultimately releasing more than 400 albums. Of these, roughly 90 were Canadian recordings. Most were sold cheaply in department stores and bargain bins, which kept the label profitable but limited its prestige. Still, for collectors, Birchmount is now recognized as a treasure trove: a mix of hidden gems, psychedelic curios, and early works by artists who later made names for themselves.

Legacy
What began as a budget imprint became an unintentional archive of Canadian talent at a crucial moment in the country’s recording history. Birchmount gave debuts to singers like Mary Saxton, preserved rare psych-pop experiments, and inadvertently documented Canada’s cultural mosaic in the late sixties and seventies. Today, its records—once dismissed as cut-rate—are sought after worldwide, proving that even a bargain-bin label can leave behind a priceless legacy.
-Robert Williston

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