[2] During their original run, él received much interest from the press, but not a huge number of sales, except in Japan, where the label became an enormous influence on J-pop acts like Cornelius and Pizzicato Five.
Alway then misguidedly (by his own subsequent admission) formed the Warner Bros. Records-backed Blanco Y Negro with Geoff Travis of Rough Trade, taking several Cherry Red artists with him, notably Monochrome Set and Everything But The Girl.
The relationship with Warner Bros. did not gel, however, leading to a return to the Cherry Red family and the high concept él Records, which he had founded as a subsidiary outlet while at Blanco, became his new focus.
Although Alway had recruited a cast of performers he would describe as the best English pop writers of their generation — Vic Godard, Bid (The Monochrome Set), Karl Blake (Shock Headed Peters), Jessica Griffin (Would-be-goods), Victor Armada (Mayfair Charm School), Nick Currie (Momus), Philippe Auclair (Louis Philippe), and former Jonathan King teen prodigy Simon Turner (The King of Luxembourg), critical acclaim was not matched by sales and in 1988 the project was abandoned.
In 2005, él reinvented itself (again under the Cherry Red flag) with Alway applying his eclectic taste to the restoration of historic editions; film soundtracks, jazz, and flamenco guitar, Brazilian and Indian recordings, vocal and Modern Classical music Nicholas aka Nick Wesolowski, drummer with The Monochrome Set (formed by members of the original Adam and the Ants) led design and layout for the label, and worked as photographer for él Records.