VARIOUS (ISLAND RECORDS ARTISTS) – The Vinyl Series Volume Three – 2LP – Vinyl

LABEL: Island/UMe

CAT NO: 5393834

BARCODE: 0600753938348

Tracklisting:

Disc 1 Side A:
1. Free- Fire And Water
2. Robert Palmer Sailin Shoes
3. The Meters Cissy Strut
4. Bryan Ferry The In Crowd

Disc 1 Side B:
1. Zap Pow This Is Reggae Music
2. Toots and the Maytals Time Tough
3. The Slickers Johnny Too Bad
4. Jimmy Cliff You Can Get It If You Really Want
5. Augustus Pablo King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown

Disc 2 Side A:
1. Traffic Dear Mr. Fantasy
2. Bad Company Bad Company
3. Spooky Tooth Better By You, Better Than Me
4. Sparks This Town Aint Big Enough For Both of Us
5. Roxy Music Virginia Plan

Disc 2 Side B:
1. Cat Stevens Morning Has Broken
2. Nick Drake Way To Blue
3. Sandy Denny Late November
4. Emerson, Lake & Palmer Lucky Man

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Vinyl Series Volume Three
[Island Records]

2LP Limited Edition Black Vinyl

The third volume in Island Records The Vinyl Series will be released by the celebrated label with UMe on October 29. Its the latest of the compilations curated by founder Chris Blackwell, in which he hand-picks tracks that evoke his and the labels unique history.

The new release is an 18-track double LP featuring some of Islands key releases of the late 1960s and early 70s. Volume One celebrated the labels pivotal songs of the 1962-69 period, while this summers Volume Two reviewed the 1969-73 era. The new addition to the series will further explore the genre-crossing sense of adventure that was a cornerstone of Islands emergence.

The counterculture, which came to full force in 1967, had coincided with Islands launch as a label, writes Blackwell in the liner notes for Volume Three. Most of the acts we started off with remained with Islandto many of us, there didnt seem to be much change. Volume Three also features track-by-track essays by author and longtime Island historian Chis Salewicz.

Folk and acoustic-based tracks include Nick Drakes Way to Blue, from his first album Five Leaves Left, and Sandy Dennys Late November, first heard on a 1971 label sampler. Cat Stevens, who continued to be Islands biggest seller, as Blackwell writes, is represented by the 1971 hit Morning Has Broken, his adaptation of a Christian hymn.

Islands breakthrough into the harder rock scene is also recognized, notably with Free, whose title track from the 1970 album Fire and Water opens Volume Three. Blackwell writes of Free: Incredibly young, but in many ways wise beyond their years, the four-piece was such a talented group, led at the time I signed them by the 15-year old (!!!) Andy Fraser.

The subsequent success on Island of Bad Company, featuring Frees Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, is heard via the title track of their first album, and prog rock supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer via 1970s Lucky Man.

Blackwell goes on: When I heard the first Roxy Music album, I confess that I wasnt immediately certain of it, but after absorbing the depth of their sound and vision, I understood that this was a true artistic endeavor, conceived and executed as such. The Vinyl Series: Volume Three includes Roxys first single Virginia Plain and Bryan Ferrys solo cover of The In Crowd, as well as key tracks by Traffic, Spooky Tooth, and Sparks. The companys embrace of R&B and funk elements is reflected in tracks by Robert Palmer and the Meters.

Islands inextricable connection to reggae is marked by the inclusion of two tracks from the soundtrack of 1972s The Harder They Come, Johnny Too Bad by the Slickers and Jimmy Cliffs You Can Get It If You Really Want. Other highlights from the labels achievements in bringing reggae to a worldwide audience include songs by Toots and the Maytals, Zap Pow, and dub star Augustus Pablo. Blackwell observes that he began to see [reggae] was also starting to be taken up by some of the same audience who were the fanbase for underground rock.

See below for tracklisting