Imperial (2)

German / Dutch label. Label Code: LC 1763 / LC 01763. In Germany established 1953 by Electrola Gesellschaft m.b.H. and operated until the early 1960s. It was then revived with a new logo (crown above Imperial) by EMI Electrola GmbH in 1980, first for cassette releases and later for CDs. Somewhere between 1957 and 1958 the Dutch N.V. Bovema struck a deal which allowed them to press German "Imperial" recordings and sell them in the Netherlands. At the time Bovema also planned to add Dutch and American repetoire to the label. It was subsequently owned by EMI-Bovema Holland (1971 - 1979), EMI Records Holland B.V. (1979 - 1983), and Emi-Bovema B.V. (1983 - 1987). A new logo (a stylized i in a circle) was adopted 1971. Some vinyl releases may include licensed materials from the US label Imperial (usually identifiable by a cat# starting with AI) but the labels have nothing in common. The roots of the label date back to 1928, when Imperial was first established and operated by Deutsche Crystalate GmbH (1928 - 1933), and then Kristall-Schallplatten G.m.b.H. (1933-1934) - see Imperial (3)). It was revived again between 1936 and 1951 (owned by Kristall-Schallplatten G.m.b.H. until 1937 and then by Carl Lindström A.-G. between August 1937 and 1951).