Customer Reviews

Ace Records: Labels Unlimited

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Perhaps the premier reissue label in the world with Bear Family, Rhino and Hip-O Selects as seconds - Ace and its associated labels have set the standard for meticulous reissue sound quality, detailed notes and an incredible love of the music. Unfortunately this rather turgid and poorly edited book (how could anyone notate Ricky Nelson as Ricky Wilson??) totally misses out on the real passion and personalities of Messrs Armstrong, Carroll and Churchill. It is light on any real detail regarding these actual Ace family members with Ace themselves having put more detail with far better quality production into their annual (free) catalog and added to this with their monthly e-mail newsletters. Provides very little detail on Roger Armstrong's major work in the Stax (Fantasy) archives (or the Concord takeover) or Ady Croasdell's sterling work in building the UK Kent label - without doubt THE most important soul label in the world (Interesting that XM Radio's Soul Street's playlist reflects to the tee each month's Kent reissues!!). Overall a wasted opportunity.

This is the story of an incredibly important factor in the music that I love: Sixties Soul, Rock'n Roll, R'n B, Garage, Beat etc.
In the world before ACE Records all this music was left to warehouse bins and a few musical enthusiasts who would devote their live to rummaging through them (like the Cramps, for example). Then came Ace and dug up tons of treasures to reissue and make it available to the music lover - effectively sparking the revival of the above mentioned musical styles in the late 70s/early 80s.
It's the story of the beginnings in the Rock On market stall, the legendary Rock On record store and all the ACE- sublabels. There's Big Beat Records who would thrust the Garage Revival forward in the UK, there's Kent records with the whole world of northern Soul. And so on.
All this is told very interestingly, lots of anecdotes and personal stories come along with the facts. But even if you should not be interested in the story - still buy this book! It's so nicely done, with lots of pictures and photographs, all put into a great design. You've got to have this book, you just want to look at it all the time.
The story of Ace even goes beyond the above mentioned styles, too. If you want to know how World Music was invented in a back room in London, you also have to have this book.
So, what are you waiting for?

King K.