Probably the most nerve-wracking time for any band the recording of an album and its release. It's then after a couple of years of sweating to write and record an album, that bands see how committed to them their record company really is; how much money has been set aside to promote the record, how interested the company is in building the band to reap profits in the future. Bands get their hopes up to fever pitch and most often have them dashed.

The Frank and Walters, three musicians from Cork, have been on this rollercoaster once already when their first album was released four years ago. They had hit singles, they were on Top Of The Pops, they were on the cover of Melody Maker and NME in the same week, but their album didn't perform to expectations.

Now, with the release of their excellent second album, 'The Grand Parade', imminent, The Franks have the butterflies again, and for greater reason. Because, in one of those situations seemingly peculiar to the music business, the band, having spent £200,000 recording their album, are waiting to see whether they will remain on Go! Discs or whether they will cut loose, or be cut loose, thereby allowing them to return to their first home, Setanta Records, run by Dublin émigré Keith Cullen, to which The Divine Comedy and A House are signed.

Named after two tramps in their native Cork, The Frank and Walters - Paul Linehan (vocals / bass), Niall Linehan (guitar) and Ashley Keating (drums) were first picked up by Setanta in 1991, agreeing a deal on a handshake with Cullen, whom Linehan cites as the most honest person he has come across in the music business. "There were no contracts," he says "We went to London and signed on. We were living in a YMCA for nine months before we signed to Go! Discs and could afford to move into a house."

A couple of early singles led to them signing to Go! Discs, which had a reputation for sticking with acts such as Paul Weller and The Housemartins in long-term deals. The Franks' debut album, 'Trains, Boats and Planes', flopped despite the boost of the hit single, After All. The band toured constantly until they were at the point of collapse, in 1993, when they crawled back to Cork to recover.

"We were in England for two and a half years, touring solidly," says Linehan. "We were on Top Of The Pops, we were overwhelmed by all the attention. We didn't know what we were doing. We had one album out, we painted ourselves into a corner with our 'whacky' image, and we weren't getting anywhere.

"I associated music with stress. I got to the point where I couldn't even look at my guitar. So we just went back to Cork and played pitch and putt and didn't even try to write songs for a long time. We just wanted to live a normal life after the manic years in England."

What happened next is a good example of the way the record business is going. In another of the proliferating deals whereby a small independent label is subsumed into one of the major record companies, Go! Discs was bought out by Polygram. The six majors, hungry for market share, have been buying up small independent labels at a ferocious and accelerating rate, and now control over 90% of the music market. Polygram first purchased a 49% stake in the company in 1987. Last month it bought the remaining 51% for an undisclosed sum from Andy Macdonald, Go! Discs founder and managing director. The label had developed a reputation as one of Britain's leading independent record companies since it was established in 1983; the Franks now fear that the small indie label to which they were signed will become swamped with red tape and embark on reducing the size of its roster. "Andy Macdonald has gone, which is a pity as far as we're concerned," says Linehan. "We could talk to Andy, whereas now we have to go through all sorts of Bureaucracy with Polygram. They've offered Andy's job to the man underneath him, Mike Hennigan. If he accepts, we'll be in a good position. If not Polygram will install someone who might fire all around him. If Mike Hennigan takes the job, we'd like to stay on Go! Discs. If not, we'd like to take the album and go to Setanta."

"The signs so far with Polygram are not the greatest. They've made basic mistakes putting out the first single from the album, Indian Ocean. Whether a single charts well has a lot to do with strategy, and we knew the strategy for Indian Ocean was wrong. We told them so, and sure enough it when in at 59 and then dropped right out. It's very frustrating seeing that happen after working for two years on something, and I don't think it would happen if we were on Setanta."

If they do get to walk - and the feeling within the band is that it would be a good idea - they would be hoping to leave with The Grand Parade tucked under their collective arm. If they do they will leave with a marvellously expansive and positive album, one of the best of the year, and one that deserves far better than to slip between the cracks of a multinational into oblivion.