Island Records 1969 - 1972
1-28-08 Island Records!
Last week, when writing about Mott The Hoople – I said that it would be great to find and listen to all of the Island UK ILPS series 9100 – 9200 – so here’s a list of ‘em. I had to start with 9099, as it’s one of my favorites. I think I am good with nearly the entire 100 albums listed here. What do you think? Sorry that my research is messed up by having the Alan Bown album listed twice. And what’s that “Unreleased” album, ILPS 9195?
1969
ILPS 9099 White Noise - An Electric Storm (dynamite 100% classic album)
ILPS 9100 Clouds - Scrapbook (only got it recently, just a great Scottish band)
ILPS 9101 Blodwyn Pig - Ahead Rings Out (Mick Abrahms of Jethro Tull)
ILPS 9102 Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking (their 3rd album, Richard Thompson!)
ILPS 9103 Jethro Tull - Stand Up (Chrysalis) (the 2nd J.T> album, and a timeless classic!
ILPS 9104 Free - Free (Fantastic 2nd album, great cover, even!)
ILPS 9105 Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (Enigmatic debut, Joe Boyd production)
ILPS 9106 Dr. Strangely Strange - Kip Of The Serenes (One of my favorites, amazing! Yet another Joe Boyd production)
ILPS 9107 Spooky Tooth with Pierre Henry - Ceremony (British rock guys mess around with a French synthesizer maniac; not my favorite Spooky Tooth album!)
ILPS 9108 Mott The Hoople - Mott The Hoople (The Rockin’ Mott debut album with an Escher cover!)
ILPS 9110Q Quintessence - In Blissful Company (Hippie music, with a lovely cover)
ILPS 9111 King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King (dynamite 100% classic album. And takre a look at all the other amazing records issued around this!!!)
ILPS 9112 Traffic - Best Of Traffic (Cash-in time! But still a good album!)
1970
ILPS 9113 John & Beverly Martyn - Stormbringer (Another Joe Boyd production!)
ILPS 9114 Renaissance - Renaissance (Keith Relf of The Yardbirds)
ILPS 9115 Fairport Convention -
ILPS 9116 Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (One of the better Traffic albums)
ILPS 9117 Spooky Tooth feat. Mike Harrison - The Last Puff (My favorite S.T. album! Is it just me, or does this remind me of a Joe Cocker album of the day?)
ILPS 9118 Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon (His
ILPS 9119 Mott The Hoople - Mad Shadows (The fun 2nd Mott album, and my favorite)
ILPS 9120 Free - Fire and Water (This is where you get “All Right Now”!)
ILPS 9121 Alan Bown - Listen (wait a second, this is both 9121 and 9131 – which is it?)
ILPS 9122 Blodwyn Pig - Getting To This (Chrysalis) (2nd album)
ILPS 9123 Jethro Tull - Benefit (Chrysalis) (dynamite 100% classic album, easily my favorite J.T. album)
ILPS 9124 Bronco - Country Home (Steel guitars!)
ILPS 9125 Fotheringay - Fotheringay (Fairport periphery)
ILPS 9126 McDonald & Giles - McDonald & Giles (Former King Crimson members)
ILPS 9127 King Crimson - In The Wake of Poseidon (2nd album, really great)
ILPS 9128 Quintessence - Quintessence (LP cover folded open from the center, man!)
ILPS 9129 If - If (Large rock group with horns…Chicago/BS&T influenced?)
ILPS 9130 Fairport Convention - Full House (Live album!)
ILPS 9131 Alan Bown – Listen (?) please tell me if I have the # right!
ILPS 9132 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Emerson,
ILPS 9133 John & Beverly Martyn - Road To Ruin (Another Joe Boyd production!)
ILPS 9134 Nick Drake - Bryter Lyter (Another Joe Boyd production!)
ILPS 9135 Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman (A rather nice album!)
ILPS 9136 Amazing Blondel - Evensong (Folk music!)
ILPS 9137 If - 2 (see listing above for “If”)
ILPS 9138 Free - Highway (Great hard rock album, from a band under conflict)
ILPS 9139 Renaissance - Illusion (not released in the
ILPS 9140 Incredible String Band - Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending (The soundtrack LP to their film of hippies running around in the woods; really great!)
ILPS 9141 King Crimson - Lizard (3rd K.C. album, with a new vocalist)
ILPS 9142 Uriah Heep - Very ‘eavy Very ‘umble (re-issue of their Vertigo debut title) (Bronze)
1971
ILPS 9143 Quintessence - Dive Deep (3rd album of hippie music)
ILPS 9144 Mott The Hoople - Wild Life (3rd album of MTH)
ILPS 9145 Jethro Tull - Aqualung (Chrysalis) (Their very successful album)
ILPS 9146 Mike Heron - Smiling Men With Bad Reputations (Solo I.S.B. album, with John Cale and The Who)
ILPS 9147 Mick Abrahms Band - Mick Abrahms Band (Chrysalis) (Post-Blodwyn Pig)
ILPS 9148 Mountain - Nantuckett Sleighride (Licensed from Windfall) (their 2nd)
ILPS 9149 Heads Hands and Feet - Heads Hands and Feet (Another band with horns)
ILPS 9150 Paladin - Paladin (Bronze) (Black paper cover that damaged very easily)
ILPS 9151 Clouds - Watercolour Days (Chrysalis) (Ooh, I’d love to find a copy of this!)
ILPS 9152 Uriah Heep -
ILPS 9153 Tir Na Nog - Tir Na Nog (Chrysalis) (Irish or Scottish?)
ILPS 9154 Cat Stevens - Teaser & The Firecat (Another nice C.S. album)
ILPS 9155 Emerson,
ILPS 9156 Amazing Blondel - Fantasia Lindum (Folk music)
ILPS 9157 Juicy Lucy - Get A Whiff At This (Bronze) (3rd album, fantastic! Great cover, and amazing vocals by Paul Williams)
ILPS 9158 Procol Harum - Broken Barricades (Chrysalis) (5th album and one of my favorite records on this list – all hail the mighty Procol Harum!!!)
ILPS 9159 Jimmy Cliff - Another Cycle (Got this rather recently – not really a reggae album, believe it or not!)
ILPS 9160 Free – Live (just what it says!)
ILPS 9161 Bronco - Ace of Sunlight (Steel guitars!)
ILPS 9162 Fairport Convention - Angel’s Delight (More, please!)
ILPS 9163 Alan Bown - Stretching Out (Would love to find a copy of this!)
ILPS 9164 War - War (United Artists) (Post-Eric Burdon, I believe)
ILPS 9165 Sandy Denny - North Star Grassman & The Ravens (Solo
ILPS 9166 Traffic - Welcome To The Canteen (Live album)
ILPS 9167 John Martyn - Bless The Weather (His first solo album in a while)
ILPS 9168 Luther Grosvenor - Under Open Skies (Wonderful album, S.T. guitarist)
ILPS 9169 Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself (re-issue) (Bronze) (3rd album re-issue)
ILPS 9170 Mike Harrison - Mike Harrison (
ILPS 9171 War - The World is a Ghetto (United Artists)
ILPS 9172 Incredible String Band - Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air
ILPS 9173 Colosseum - Collector’s Colosseum (Bronze)
ILPS 9174 Tony Hazzard - Loudwater House (Bronze)
ILPS 9175 King Crimson - Islands
1972
ILPS 9176 Fairport Convention - Babbacombe Lee
ILPS 9177 War - All Day Music 1972 (United Artists)
ILPS 9178 Mott The Hoople - Brain Capers
ILPS 9179 Mountain - Flowers of Evil (Windfall)
ILPS 9180 Traffic - Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
ILPS 9181 Sutherland Brothers Band - Sutherland Brothers Band
ILPS 9182 Claire Hammill - One House Left Standing
ILPS 9183 Vinegar Joe - Vinegar Joe
ILPS 9184 Nick Drake - Pink Moon
ILPS 9185 Heads Hands and Feet - On The Tracks
ILPS 9186 Emerson,
ILPS 9186 Toots & The Maytals - Funky
ILPS 9187 Jim Capaldi - Oh How We Danced
ILPS 9188 Kossof, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit - Kossof, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit
ILPS 9189 The Bunch - Rocks On
ILPS 9190 Paladin - Charge
ILPS 9191 Michael McGear - Woman
ILPS 9192 Free - Free At Last
ILPS 9193 Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (Bronze)
ILPS 9194 War - Deliver The Word (United Artists)
ILPS 9195 (UNRELEASED?)
ILPS 9196 Dick Heckstall-Smith - A Story Ended (Bronze) (Colosseum’s sax player – a former member of The Graham Bond Organization; a fantastic album!)
ILPS 9197 Richard Thompson – Henry The Human Fly (His debut solo album)
ILPS 9198 Smith – Perkins – Smith – Smith – Perkins – Smith (I love their single “Save Me” – took me 35 years to finally hear this album!)
ILPS 9199 Mountain - Live (Windfall) (Just what it says!)
ILPS 9200 Roxy Music - Roxy Music (Their marvelous debut album!)
posted by Ron Kane @ 7:14 AM
11 Comments:
AMAZING BLONDEL:
I see that Amazing Blondel's Fantasia Lindum is included in that run. I happened to stumble across a copy of this around 1977-78. My mother was given several hundred unsellable albums by a friend who "did" lots of garage sales and flea markets. I duly examined each of these and found only a handful of albums that were not easy listening kitsch that would take another ten years for me to appreciate. First and foremost of these was Fantasia Lindum, which looked to my 14 year old eyes to be either exactly what it appeared to be or else the heaviest metal LP ever recorded. Fortunately, it was the former so I "Johnny Appleseeded" it amongst all of my teenaged friends, one of which [Charles} became an even more avid supporter of the band that I was. Though unsurprisingly, he always had a deep seated Anglophilia that went far beyond and claims I could make on that disease; not unique among my friends.
DOING A LABEL:
There are a few labels I really enjoy the output of. Virgin from '77-'83 was phenomenal to me. Simon Draper had apparently the same taste in music as me. During the postpunk period, it was an aberration for bands I loved NOT to be signed to Virgin. But would I collect the output of a label in its entirety? There are only two labels I can go there for.
Compact Records didn't release that much from 81-85 but I would be happy to have it all. But the issues are obscure and hard to find pre-internet. I still marvel at the 7" box "Teach Yourself Compact" you sent me many years ago as it is filled with many items I have never seen in person until receiving the box! There were probably under 60 records released and I would venture that I have about 30-50% of them. Obtaining the rest has been a though I've entertained and I would not be surprised that eventually I'll have it all. Most impressively the Fontana Mix LP!
ZTT Records:
From the period of "Relax" to "Laughter, Tears & Rage," [Oct. 83 - June 88] this label could do no wrong in my eyes. Trevor Horn was in charge and Paul Morley added the seasoning of pretension that made it superb in my eyes. I've got most of the 12" singles/LPs/CDs from this period. My collection is by no means complete, but it feels pretty full to me.
I agree that the run of LP's on Virgin from toughly 1978 - 1982/3 would be amusing to listen to. However, I do not have strictly UK pressings, many pressings from Europe, Japan etc - so no list quickly forthcoming.
ZTT would be cool to hear 'em all, too.
Amazing Blondel - who'd've thought it?
Re: Virgin
I remember in 1986, a Virgin CD I bought had a copy of their 20-30 page then in-print, brand-spanking-new CD catalog. I had almost a third, if memory serves, of their entire CD collection!
Like you, I was down on Culture Club. Musical pablum, apart from 1-2 sides. I Hope I Never... hear "Karma Chameleon" EVER again!
Did somebody say Amazing Blondel? :)
My fascination with that band (who I thought had been introduced to me by Tom W. rather than Jim) came from the fact that I had been REALLY into that kind of music in England at the time ... Steeleye Span, Incredible String Band, Bonzos, Fairport, Spirit, Nick Drake (yes I knew who he was before the VW ad, a fact that AMAZED my wife!), et al.
In short, I was a pathetic Brit folkie follower. Glam was for when I was slumming (which I did QUITE A LOT OF in the mid-70s thank yew!).
Anyway, when it comes to label runs I'm surprised neither of you mentioned Stiff and Sire. For what seemed like ages to me, both put out nothing but gold for a while there, though like all things they eventually went all pear-shaped. Howie Klein blogs on one of my favourite political blogs and we correspond from time to time.
Did either of you catch the Stiff documentary that came out last year?
Obviously the previous comment was from me, not Heather. She was still signed in. Doh!!
Re: Stiff/Sire
Certainly Sire & Stiff were labels to follow as well! In fact, I'm not embarrassed to say that I innocently bought Madonna's first album as it languished in the $0.50 bin at Crunchy Armadillo records after release as a promo solely because it was on Sire. I felt it was a mediocre disco album at the time, and paired it on cassette with the first Ministry album, "With Sympathy" for listening. I thought "Borderline" was the one good song due to the arrangement. I felt her vocals/songs were weak. The next year, after "Holiday" became a hit traded the LP in at Murmur Records for a six-fold increase in value! Soon afterward, Madonna's nature became apparent, and I took a real strong disliking to her.
I 'did' Sire in the early 70's - but never saw the fascination with the label, after the debut Ramones 45. They licensed so much stuff!
Stiff, on the other hand, A&R'd a ton of material - not all of it made of gold. Ian Dury, Rachel Sweet, Department S - I'll give you those!
Still, for what you can take to the bank without gagging, very little can beat this run of Island LP's, in the 'classic rock' and prog sweepstakes.
Many labels have good 'runs' - where a year or two is interesting - but Island UK really sort of did it for ages.
It may be a little late to leave a comment to a 12 month-old post but in my defence I only came across your blog a couple of days ago. The list contains so many of my all-time favourites (eg anything by Traffic, Free, Fairports, Quintessence, If, early Jethro Tull) that I thought it would be worth finding out how many I was missing. Answer - about a dozen. I've filled most of the gaps courtesy of other bloggers (many thanks to one and all) and found Alan Bown's "Stretching Out" at www.Millisong.com - a good quality rip at 320 kps, if you're still looking for it. Can't vouch for their bona-fides as yet, only just subscribed, but they seem similar to other sites I use e.g. GoMusic.ru who I can vouch for and who are particularly good. Haven't found Smith Perkins Smith or Jimmy Cliff's "Another Cycle" yet, but I'll keep looking. Any pointers / links anyone out there can offer would be most gratefully received. Great blog - keep up the good work.
I have just picked up a copy of illusion by renaissance. It looks german, and is Pink Island. It has 2 codes, namely ilps 9139 and Stereo 6339 017. This is a very curious state of affairs, as there is reference to a UK 'export only' issue on Help 27. I bought it at Cropredy yesterday and feel this LP needs further investigation. I have just seen an italian listing it at 195 Euro, but thats the Italians for you! ...probably. Cover by Paul Whitehead, so my interest is further seized.
Hi Ron,
I saw Smith Perkins Smith in, I think, 1971 in Amsterdam, as a part of an Island-show with Uriah Heep, Vinegar Joe and the premiere of the movie Traffic Live. I immediately bought the album, and indeed 'Save me' is fabulous. It's still on my turntable.
Do you know whether the first Heads, Hands and Feet (with the breathtaking Song for Suzie) is available on CD or who can give me the download?
Frits H. Emmerik, The Netherlands
fhe@communicatiekunsten.nl
for a complete listing of island album releases - www.theislandbookofrecords.com
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