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The Immediate Discography: The First 20 Years
Immediate is bounded in time, a quaint (or should that be Quant?) time capsule forever synonymous with Swinging 60s London.
Incorporation to insolvency was only 5 five years but the reissues keep appearing 50 years on. Not surprising when you consider that the roll call of artists – e.g. Small Faces, Nice, Rod Stewart, Humble Pie, Chris Farlowe and Duncan Browne – was formidable.
Also, let's not forget this far on in time that Immediate was the first British independent to score a number 1 on their own label. This, perhaps, is one of the reasons that the label has such fervent admirers – ‘the little bastard Immediate’ stuck two fingers up at an oligopolistic industry that hadn’t changed since before WW2 and stirred things up good and proper.
Without Immediate we might not have had Harvest, Vertigo, Nova or Dawn from the majors and we may not have seen further maverick–run independents, such as Charisma, Virgin, Stiff, Cherry Red, Rough Trade, Factory or Creation.
Included are comprehensive listings of all original UK Immediate releases plus all known UK reissues up to 1985. Note that this book was completed with extensive input from Barry 'Mr. Immediate' Green, curator of Charly Records' Immediate archive - discographies don't come much more 'officially endorsed' than this (except, perhaps, the Saydisc and Transacord ones, which were both written with full support of the label owners, that is)!
The Virgin Discography: The 1970s
In 1977 Virgin signed the Sex Pistols. A horde of punk and new wave bands followed, such as XTC, Magazine, The Ruts and - as the Sex Pistols imploded – PIL. Following this, the iconic Front Line label was responsible for some of the best reggae ever heard, from artists such as U-Roy, Tapper Zukie, I-Roy, Keith Hudson, The Gladiators, Culture and the Twinkle Brothers.
This book covers the ‘classic’ years and is an absolute must for anyone with half an ear open – let’s face it, during the 1970s Virgin defined the nation’s – if not the world’s – musical taste. All known releases (vinyl, cassette and 8-Track) on Virgin and related labels (Caroline, Oval, JCOA/WATT, Atra, The Front Line, DinDisc, Ice, Butt, ECM/JAPO, No Bad, etc.) are documented here – from Tubular Bells to numerous forgotten gems that deserve much greater recognition. The Rawtenstall Concertina Orchestra, anyone?
The B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975
B&C started life as a distribution company, Beat and Commercial, which was set up as a sister company to Island. Island's early success led B&C's owner, Lee Gopthal, to start releasing records in his own right. However, B&C's main strategy was based on licensing records rather than signing and controlling artists directly and many of B&C's labels concentrated on singles and budget compilation albums, which were less lucrative than full-priced LPs – strategies that set the seeds of the company's own destruction. The end, when it came in 1975 was probably inevitable.
Still, whilst B&C was about, some very good music got released, almost despite itself on occasion. This book includes a detailed history that discusses the organisational set-up at B&C, supported by memories from those who worked with or alongside B&C, along with comprehensive discographies covering all known vinyl records, cassettes and 8-Tracks on the Action, Stable, B&C, Charisma, Pegasus, Peg, People, Mooncrest, Dragon, Sussex and Seven Sun labels. (Note that Charisma is covered in much more depth in The Famous Charisma Discography, also available from this page.)
The Famous Charisma Discography (Forewords by Michael Palin and String Driven Thing's Chris Adams)
To add further value the book presents the first-known listings of cassette and 8-track cartridge releases, as well as looking at the little-known Charisma Books and Charisma Films offshoots. The book includes a detailed history that discusses both Strat and the organisational set-up at Charisma, supported by memories from those who worked for the company alongside those of artists that made the label such a delight of eclecticism in an industry where confirmation of taste through providing bland, watered-down product is the norm. Charisma bucked this trend and in its heyday provided an intelligent and varied mix of the sublime and the (mostly deliberately) ridiculous for anyone who was willing to listen.
The Saydisc & Village Thing Discography
The Saydisc & Village Thing Discography provides an in-depth look at the wonderfully-eclectic Saydisc label and at the UK’s original “alternative folk label”, Village Thing. Also included are Saydisc's Matchbox, Amon Ra and Ahura Mazda labels as well as the legendary Roots label, which was distributed by Saydisc in the UK. The book includes over 50 pages of illustrations, including sleeves for almost every record listed.
Saydisc started life in Bristol, and set about recording all aspects of Bristolian musical life, such as folk, jazz, church bells, organs and mechanical music from cylinders and music boxes. However, in 1968 the label began a policy of releasing contemporary British and classic American blues on the Matchbox imprint. This policy was extended with the pressing and distribution of Johnny Parth’s legendary Roots label.
If this wasn't enough to ensure future collectability for the label, 1970 saw the formation of the Village Thing label, which concentrated on the emergent post-blues, home-grown British folk scene. Village Thing is now considered the classic acid/psych folk label, with the majority of records on the label having risen sharply in value over the last few years.
In 1973, the Amon Ra label was formed to release chamber music on authentic instruments, long before this became fashionable. Added to this, Saydisc also produced contract pressings for others, often with woefully-short pressing runs. Many of the records released are now highly collectable. Saydisc also released records licensed from quality American labels such as Rounder, Ahura Mazda and Kanawha to present contemporary American roots music alongside its expanding catalogue of classic jazz and blues. Added to this were releases covering barbershop, world music, choirs, handbells, British dialect, brass bands, carillons, church bells and railway recordings. This has ensured that Saydisc is now considered an absolute one-off. A truly classic British record label.
Bristol Folk: A Discographical History Of Bristol Folk Music In The 1960s & 1970s
Amongst those who contributed specially-written pieces are Ian Anderson, Andy Leggett, Rodney Matthews (yes, the world-famous fantasy artist started out designing LP sleeves and gig posters for Bristol’s folk set), Steve Tilston and the late and much lamented Fred Wedlock, all of whose diverse careers either started in Bristol or were shaped by their time on Bristol’s folk scene. The book also looks at the local labels that released many now highly-collectable folk records, as well as at Bristol’s numerous folk clubs – from the Troubadour, which put Bristol firmly on the national folk map between 1966 and 1971, and the Stonehouse, to the now less well-remembered, but equally-missed clubs, such as Bristol Ballads & Blues, White On Black, Folk Blues Bristol & West and many more.
Included are numerous pictures*, many published here for the first time, along with images of most of the record sleeves discussed within.
*Note that the Kindle and ePub/iBook editions do not include illustrations, though they do include a new section on Shortwaveband, who were missed out of the paperback based on the erroneous belief that they were based in Bath. Wrong! Bristol all along!