This Is Island

A long time ago, whenever I walked into a record shop, the staff would sometimes ask me what I was looking for. Most of the time, I probably mentioned specific records or genres. Nowadays (if there were any service-minded staff around), I’d probably reply with a “No idea, I already have so much, but who knows, maybe something will suddenly catch my eye…”

Earlier this month, I went back to the Low Countries for family reasons, but still found some time to check out a few places that sold 2nd-hand CDs and vinyl. Although I mentioned earlier not to have any preferences, label samplers & promo releases might strike my fancy, and therefore I was quite pleased to score an Island Records album entitled This Is Island from 1974. Virtually all its artists were familiar, except for Sutherland Bros. & Quiver and McGuinness-Flint. Neat was the appearance of The Wailers, instead of Bob Marley and … Although this 15-track compilation didn’t contain any obscure/alternative tracks, what really made me buy it was the cover; brightly coloured, no scratches or scribbled names, cool design! I guess I also forgot to mention that interesting record cover art also is (very!) important to me! Unfortunately, no cover artist information was provided, bummer.

This version of the Island Label was new to me as well. 

I doubt if that 'nude female tree trunk' would be allowed nowadays!

As the back cover didn’t provide much detail, I did some digital digging and found more information.

Most of the represented artists/groups were on Island already, but others were licensed from other labels.

Bronze Records was actually new to me; I don’t think I had ever seen it before; its artists included Manfred Mann's Earth Band, McGuinness-Flint, and Uriah Heep. The other label was The Rocket Record Company with Kiki Dee Band.

As you can see, the album contained a couple of hits (This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us, I Shot The Sheriff, I've Got The Music In Me, etc.) as well as covers (Another Saturday Night, Everlovin' Woman, etc.) and would have been a great bargain at the time.