Janus Records: Baby Take Me In Your Arms

It has been a hectic day for me, and so this post is extremely late. It’s the fourth week of November and this month I have Janus Records as our featured label for this week. Named after the Roman god of beginnings, Janus Records was founded in 1969 as a joint effort of GRT Records in the US and Pye Records of the UK.

At the time, Pye had no outlet in the US – so they often had to contract with American labels in order to get recordings released stateside. It was a perfect arrangement, as Pye officially had an American voice. By 1971, GRT Records assumed total control of Janus and ran the label until it folded in 1979.

This week should prove interesting as I’ve already featured many of the better known songs released on Janus, so we are going deep into their catalog – some of which were originally released on Pye in the UK.

One of the better known singles on Janus was a release by Pye recording artist Geoff Turton – who recorded under the name of Jefferson. His third single, and his first on Janus, was released in November 1969. “Baby Take Me in your Arms” was not only successful for Jefferson, it was the first Top 40 hit on the Janus label. Although it failed to chart in his native land, it peaked on Billboard’s Hot 100 at #23.