The Island Book of Records Volume II: 1969-70
By (Author) Neil Storey
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press
1st December 2024
26th November 2024
United Kingdom
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Music recording and reproduction
Popular music
338.4778149
Hardback
432
Width 300mm, Height 300mm, Spine 37mm
3000g
The Island Book of Records Volume 2 documents the years 1969-70, during which Island sought to build on its success with the Spencer Davis Group by seeking out new British rock talent. By the end of the period, Island was emerging as a major British label, one that could boast releases from Jethro Tull, Nick Drake, King Crimson, John and Beverley Martyn, Fairport Convention and Cat Stevens.
Featuring material from recent interviews and from media interviews of the time, and including a comprehensive discography of 45s, The Island Book of Records Volume 2 is lavishly illustrated with gig adverts (very many at venues that no longer exist), concert tickets, flyers, international LP variants, labels, LP and 45 adverts and other ephemera collector's dream.
Praise for volume 1:
One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books of 2023
One of Shindig! magazine's Books of the Year 2023
'Its like entering the record shop of your dreams.'
David Hepworth, author, podcaster and Radio Times columnist
'Eyewitness accounts underpin a vault-load of memorabilia across 390 elegant pages where the footnotes are as fascinating as major events in what is an exemplary piece of musical archaeology.'
Phil Alexander, MOJO
'I had the pleasure of running Island Records for a decent stretch, but in my time there I never saw such a staggering overview of the early years compiled like this new book! The images, the details, the stories, everything! Rather amazing!'
Ted Cockle, former head of EMI Records
'LP-sized and weighing in at 390 pages, its both an elegant coffee table book and a proper history, with a sizeable amount of written information to complement the fascinating photographs of record covers, artists and other ephemera, including gig adverts, concert tickets and flyers.'
Peter Mason, Morning Star
'This is the anecdote rich inside story of the eventful first decade in the life of the maverick label which carved a distinctive niche within the UK's booming record biz of the 60s' as told by a cast of label employees, photographers, musicians, producers, and the man who started it all, Chris Blackwell.'
Grahame Bent, Shindig!
Neil Storey has spent almost fifty years at the heart of the music industry. He joined the Island sales force in 1974 before going on to co-run the press office into the mid-1980s.