Graham Reid | | 2 min read
Alternative Ulster, by Stiff Little Fingers
Okay we don't usually fall for press releases and we admit this one is about something rather specialised, but here goes . . . because we are excited even if it is capitalism capitalising on nostalgia.
The influential British record label Rough Trade Records is going to release limited edition seven-inch singles boxsets to celebrate the label's 25 years in the game.
The first of these very limited edition sets arrives on June 20 and it covers the influential indie label’s early releases between 1978 and 1980.
The sleeve notes include in-depth interviews with Rough Trade co-MDs Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee.
The second volume covering 1980-1993 will be released later in the year.
So let's look at Volume 1.
It includes eight classic 45s that followed the label’s formation out the original Rough Trade shop in West London in 1978 features Augustus Pablo, Stiff Little Fingers (with Alternative Ulster), Kurt Cobain's favourite band the Raincoats (pictured below), Subway Sect, Swell Maps, Cabaret Voltaire, the Pop Group and Young Marble Giants.
The eight singles, which have been recreated especially for this edition, were handpicked by Lee and Travis, who were key players in the DIY nexus that formed around the first Rough Trade shop in the late 1970s.
“There wasn't much commercial thinking behind starting a label out of the first Rough Trade shop, not much planning,” recalls Travis. “We were just doing things out of love really.”
Reflecting this passion behind its foundation, rather than a dry definitive history of the label’s early years, the boxset represents a personal and musical history, as inspired by Rough Trade’s recent 45th anniversary (a sapphire jubilee), Geoff and Jeannette have selected tracks that represent moments of true creative spark from the time.
Accompanying the singles will be exclusive archive photography sourced in collaboration with many of the era’s greatest photographers plus new quotes from the artists themselves and notable fans also feature.
“I used to shop at Rough Trade before I joined the label and everyone knew it was the place to go to find interesting music,” Lee of the memories that influenced their track selection.
“Geoff and I just sat down and the tracks just came to us like that! We're celebrating 45-plus years of the label, and we could easily have picked 45 seven-inches. There have been so many good singles!”
So many in fact, that a second volume of 45s will follow later this year on September 26.
It will cover the years 1980 to 1993 and will include music from the likes of Mazzy Star, Scritti Politti, Jonathan Richman, The Sundays and more.
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Each copy of Rough Trade 45s: Volume 1 will be individually numbered, while the run is limited to just 1000 copies worldwide.
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