The albums were recorded at the Bruce Adderley Studios that were located in West Melbourne. The studios were established in 1974 before moving to Kialla in north east Victoria in 1986. The studios still exist in this location.

Hammards first releases included compilations. HAM 001 is Pop Goes Australia, a compilation of ’20 Original Hits’, that include Bobby and Laurie – Carroll County Accident, Brian Cadd – Alvin Purple theme, and Johnny Chester – Midnight Bus. All the songs look as though they were licensed from Fable/Bootleg.

HAM 003 is titled Hits of the 70s and is a series of mainly covers by Brian May and the ABC Melbourne Show Band. HAM 004 is titled Rock and Roll Classics and covers songs such as Satisfaction and Rock and the Clock.

We are yet to trace the manufacturers of the products, there are no MX numbers on the lead out track for example. Unfortunately Hammard releases were often poorly mastered and relatively low quality. Hammard seems to have folded in the mid to late 1980s when a major reorganisation of the media landscape took place with the introduction of commercial FM radio.

For space (and sanity) reasons we don’t actively collect Hammard at this time, but will add details if they come across our desk.

Please note: this is work in progress.