The Island Book of Records, Vol 1, 1959-68   
Neil Storey, Manchester University Press, £85

FIFTEEN years in the making, this first volume of The Island Book of Records chronicles the early era of Chris Blackwell’s pioneering label, which was home during the 1960s to an eclectic range of musical artists, from Millie Small and Jimmy Cliff to Traffic and Fairport Convention.   

LP-sized and weighing in at 390 pages, it’s both an elegant coffee table book and a proper history, with a sizeable amount of written information to complement the fascinating photographs of record covers, artists and other ephemera, including gig adverts, concert tickets and flyers.   

There are also interviews with many of the musicians themselves, plus a host of producers, studio engineers and record company personnel. One way or another the book covers every LP released by the company up to 1968, with a bit of back story for each of them.