Talk:Island Records/Archives/2013

Black Swan

The link behind the Black Swan label leads to the wrong record label, an US label of the 1st half of 20 th century. Island started in 1963 with the label for quite a short while, it was continued 1969/1970 by B&C Records and finally revived for two hand full of 12" es in 1976/1977, always to release Jamaican reggae music! See 19:27, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Subsidiaries

The list is not appropriate. I propose to seperate labels such as Black Swan, Sue et al. or Mango, 4th & B'way etc., which are part of Island and labels which were distributed (like GeeStreet, ZE etc.). It seems that the degree of integration differed from label to label. In the 1970s Chrysalis and Bronce were released on Island! --Reinhard P. Braun 08:27, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Someone added Gee Street after I had compiled the initial list. I don't know much about it, but I didn't think it was a "subsidiary" of Island. Chrysalis etc. of course weren't. Everything else on the list looks right (i.e., was really an Island-controlled brand) to me.—mjb 02:27, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Island Studios

I think some mention might be made of these. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the subject to participate, but it stands to reason that some important recordings were made there - possibly the whole Island Records catalogue of the 70s? I remember meeting Chris blackwell there in the early 70s and would imagine that they were his special technological dream. I do know that Stephen Stills recorded part of his first solo album there and also that the Island Records band If recorded at least their first two albums there.

Proposal

The "Selected discography" here duplicates information held in Island_Records_discography. It seems to be axiomatic that pink label releases are collectable (if so, I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams!) I've put a suggestion there that the heading be merged into that page (it is, after all, THE discography). This will also make maintenance of the list easier. I'll do it this weekend unless there are any objections. --Rodhullandemu 22:49, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Distribution Germany

“Phonogram Records (Germany, 1970s), Ariola Records (Germany & Netherlands, late 1970s–1989)“ While I'm not sure about the releases of the Netherlands, distribution of Island records in Germany changed from Phonogram to Ariola in 1971 (mid to end 1971). For instance, the group Free's 1970 releases of All Right Now, Stealer and the LP Fire and Water were distr. by Phonogram, while My Brother Jake and all subsequent original releases wear the Ariola catalogue-number system ("10 157 AT" for the single MBJ, with "Island" logo). please check Free's discogs page for German releases from 1971 on or other Island/Ariola 70s artists like Roxy Music, Cat Stevens...--Yeahx3 (talk) 09:41, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I went ahead and made this change since your info matches what we gathered in my Island Records research wiki for Discogs (the link for which was recently deleted without explanation from the External Links section of this article by User:Rodhullandemu). —mjb (talk) 16:06, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

My mistake, having looked at it, it is a valuable resource & shouldn't have been removed. Apologies. --Rodhullandemu 15:14, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

U2 royalties

I am not sure if this counts as a citation, but in the Island Records at 50 at documentary on BBC4, there was mention that the cost overruns on the Art Garfunkel film Good to Go led to Island not being able to pay the fist royalty check for War. Arachrah (talk) 23:34, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Dating Island vinyl centre labels?

Is there any guide to dating Island records from their centre labels? [1] covers the early pink labels and the "pink ring" label with the lettered island, but doesn't go beyond this. I'm assuming that the "orange background" label was next (apparently there's a "blue gradient" before this), then the "rainbow ring" with the stylised palmtree and the '80s styled design.[2] Can anyone add dates to these changes? Thanks Andy Dingley (talk) 19:44, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

EMI production dates ?

In the mid-1970s, Island operated its own record pressing plant, but had sometimes problems with quality control; many records were defective and had to be returned. Island (UK) contracted EMI to manufacture and distribute their works, from 1972–1977, when higher vinyl prices forced Island to a lower quality manufacturer[citation needed]. EMI regained the duty in 1987.

I'm having trouble making sense of these couple of sentences. They suggest that manufacture went through five pressing plants:

• outsourced pre-Island era
• Island, with quality problems
• EMI
• Someone cheaper than EMI
• EMI again

However when were the relevant dates?

In particular, does that comma-split run-on sentence meant that vinyl was expensive in '72 (so pressing went cheap from '72-'77) or in '77, so '72-'77 was EMI and the cheapie was afterwards? Also this period looks like the mid-'70s to me, so what is the first sentence about Island supposed to mean? Thanks for any clarification you can offer. Andy Dingley (talk) 19:33, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Just a FYI, EMI had a large-ish vinyl record pressing plant in Hayes, Middlesex as late as 1990, as I visited it at that time and they still had the pressing machinery. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.7.147.13 (talk) 17:59, 2 December 2013 (UTC)