Island Book of Records - Volume One: 1959-68

Nominated for
the 2024 Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ Awards for Excellence
in Historical Recorded Sound Research

Like entering the record shop of your dreams. David Hepworth/Mark
Ellen – Word in your Ear podcast

An exemplary piece of musical archaeology – Mojo

The level of detail is simply stunning – Record Collector

Comprehensively compiled and meticulously edited – Richard
Williams, The Blue Moment

Every album released between 1959 when Chris Blackwell founded
Island in Jamaica through to the end of 1968 in the UK is included. Each is
fully illustrated to include labels, booklets, die-cut covers and foreign
editions as well as scheduled but ultimately unreleased LPs. Hardback and
vinyl-sized, the IBoR runs to 392 pages and also contains a 20+ page
illustrated discography of 45s and EPs; appendices detailing subsidiary label
LP releases; gig adverts (many at venues which no longer exist); record release
flyers; magazine covers; concert tickets, and Island’s pioneering LP adverts –
many of which became art in their own right – plus other artefacts and
ephemera. Many featured photographs have never been seen before. These archival treasures have
been painstakingly drawn together for the first time, offering a truly
unparalleled resource for those seeking an immersive trip back to a period when
music ignited a cultural renaissance.

The IBoR text combines contemporary
commentary with interviews from years gone by. Exclusive interviews include
Chris Blackwell together with photographers Dick Polak, John Benton-Harris,
Barrie Wentzell and Gered Mankowitz; graphic artists John Hurford and Burt
Goldblatt; musicians Owen Gray, Ernest Ranglin, Muff Winwood, Jess Roden, Dave
Pegg, Simon Nicol, Spooky Tooth’s Mike Harrison, Kellie and Luther Grosvenor,
Patrick Campbell-Lyons, Don Letts and Steve Winwood; former Island staff
members David Betteridge, Ann Sullivan, Rob Bell, Penny Massot, John Glover,
Tom Hayes, Tim Clark and John Knowles; studio engineers Phill Brown, Brian
Humphries and John Wood; producer-managers Joe Boyd and Sandy Roberton. Commentary of the time
includes Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis, Barbara Lynn, Enid Cumberland and Linton
Kwesi Johnson while in memoriam Guy Stevens, Sandy Denny, Elmore James, John
Martyn, Lee Gopthal, Chris Wood, Byron Lee, Count Prince Miller, Millie Small,
the Rt Hon Edward Seaga and Jim Capaldi all feature. Their memories evoke the
early excitement generated by this pioneering record label.

Volume 2 (1969–1970) is planned for worldwide publication by
Manchester University Press during November 2024