News: Esoteric to reissue Manticore albums

From Vicky Powell:

"Cherry Red Records and their imprint Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the exclusive licensing acquisition of the entire MANTICORE RECORDS catalogue. This legendary imprint was established by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER and their management in 1973 to handle not only future albums by ELP, but also to actively sign and promote music by artists admired by the band. In the three years of the label's active existence the Manticore imprint released four albums by Italian Progressive Rock maestros PFM, two albums by singer songwriter KEITH CHRISTMAS, two by heavy rockers STRAY DOG, US group THE IMAGE, and individual albums by King Crimson and ELP lyricist PETE SINFIELD, HANSON and the Italian band BANCO. The licensing arrangement sees all of Manticore's non-ELP related material handled by Cherry Red's imprint Esoteric Recordings. Esoteric label manager Mark Powell commented; "It is a very special thing to be given the opportunity to reissue and remaster these wonderful albums from the original master tapes and to resurrect the legendary Manticore imprint under the Cherry Red umbrella. For many fans of Progressive Rock, the Manticore catalogue is legendary. With access to the Manticore tape vaults we will also be looking at adding previously unreleased bonus material to our reissues".


The Manticore series of releases will begin in November 2009 with the release of a deluxe various artists compilation which details the history of the Manticore label and will include tracks by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, GREG LAKE & KEITH EMERSON, along with selections from the catalogue by PFM, KEITH CHRISTMAS, STRAY DOG, THEE IMAGE, PETE SINFIELD, HANSON and BANCO. Also gaining a newly remastered release in November is the album "STILL" by PETE SINFIELD, which features contributions from GREG LAKE, JOHN WETTON, IAN WALLIS and MEL COLLINS. The remainder of the Manticore catalogue will appear throughout 2010. Further announcements will follow."