THE SAYDISC & VILLAGE THING DISCOGRAPHY AN ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Catalogue Number SAY001 ISBN Number 978-0-9563531-2-2 Buy through MusicWeb for £16 postage paid World-wide. Musicweb Purchase button	The Saydisc & Village Thing Discography is the second volume in the occasional Great British Record Labels series and comes hot off The Record Press to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Saydisc, which began life in 1965 as Saydisc Specialized Recordings Ltd, and the 40th anniversary of Village Thing, which grew out of Bristol’s vibrant, late 1960s post-blues, folk scene. This discography includes: Listings of all known UK LPs, 7” records, CDs and tape issues, plus track listings. Sleeve illustrations for almost every record listed. Previously unpublished photographs. Illustrations of all known label designs plus memorabilia. A history of Saydisc and Village Thing, with contributions from the label owners. Inside is an in-depth look at the wonderfully-eclectic Saydisc label and at the UK’s original “alternative folk label”, Village Thing. Also included are the Saydisc-related Matchbox, Roots, Amon Ra and Ahura Mazda labels. To make this anniversary celebration even more special, the book includes over 50 pages of illustrations – some previously unpublished – including sleeve illustrations for almost every record listed. Those few sleeves that are missing are so rare that even Saydisc does not have file copies!		Saydisc started life in the Bristol suburb of Frenchay and set about recording all aspects of local musical life, from folk and jazz to church bells and organs, from Bristol dialect to old phonograph cylinders and musical boxes. However, in 1968 the label began a policy of releasing both contemporary British and classic American blues on the newly-formed Matchbox imprint. This policy was extended in 1969 when Saydisc began to press and distribute Johnny Parth’s now near-legendary Roots label in the UK. In 1970 the Village Thing label was formed, which concentrated on the emergent post-blues, home-grown British folk scene. Village Thing is now considered the classic acid/psych folk label, with the majority of records on the label having risen sharply in value over the last few years. Saydisc also released records licensed from quality American labels such as Rounder, Ahura Mazda and Kanawha to present contemporary American roots music alongside its expanding catalogue of classic jazz and blues. In the mid-1980s, Amon Ra, along with its parent Saydisc label, became a trend setter when it abandoned vinyl records for the new CD format. Added to the above were releases covering barbershop, world music, choirs, hand bells, Cotswold dialect, brass bands, carillons, church bells and railway recordings. Saydisc also produced contract pressings for others, often with woefully-short pressing runs. Many of the records are now highly collectable with very silly price tags attached. This has ensured that Saydisc is now considered an absolute one-off. A truly classic British record label.
Catalogue Number SAY002 BRISTOL FOLK A DISCOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF BRISTOL FOLK MUSIC IN THE 1960s & 1970s Buy through MusicWeb for £16 postage paid World-wide. Musicweb Purchase button	In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Bristol became nationally renowned for its powerhouse folk & blues scene, and was second only to London for the number and influence of its recorded artists. It’s an era still remembered with enormous nostalgia by those who participated, and is nigh legendary to those who came later. Although focused on Bristol, Bristol Folk should be of great interest, not just to Bristolians, but to all fans of late 1960s and early 1970s British folk and blues music, not to mention that strange beast now known as ‘psych’ or ‘acid folk’, because many Bristol-based musicians became nationally-known and influential exponents of these various styles. Bristol, because of the national reputation of its folk scene, became a magnet for the brightest and best on the folk scene: established names such as Al Stewart, Stefan Grossman, the Incredible String Band and John Renbourn were enamoured of Bristol’s friendly folk scene and were frequent visitors to clubs, such as the Troubadour, where they were often given a run for their money by Bristol’s own resident musicians, many of whom went on to become national names themselves.		The 34 pages of illustrations include photographs – many previously unpublished – promotional materials and memorabilia from the artists’ private collections and other archives to which the author had special access, plus over 80 record sleeves. Also included are cuttings from Bristol’s early 1970s arts and entertainments magazine, Preview, and Plastic Dog’s near-legendary Dogpress newsletter – one edition of which found itself being waved around at a Parliamentary hearing on obscenity! The book also looks at the local record companies, Saydisc and Village Thing, both of which released many now highly-collectable folk records, as well as at Bristol’s numerous folk clubs – from the Troubadour, which put Bristol firmly on the national folk map between 1966 and 1971, and the Stonehouse, to the less well-known, but equally missed clubs, such as Bristol Ballads & Blues, White On Black, Folk Blues Bristol & West and many more. Over 180 records are listed in the discography section, all bar an elusive few with full details and complete track listings. Values are included for almost all of the records included – and these range from 50p to over £1,000. Some very rare and sought-after records were released by Bristol-based musicians...and for those without a record player, there is a supplementary discography of reissues and a list of artists’ websites where many of the CDs listed can be bought.