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mikec2137 SUBS 19th Nov 2023
| | My impression is that which label (Island or Sue) any given single release appeared on depended on who the powers that be thought would be likely to buy. Nominally Island catered for the black ska/reggae record buyer and Sue for the white R&B enthusiast. This meant that what would seem like natural Sue singles material ended up on Island. (Joe Haywood, Roscoe Gordon, Shirley and Lee, Mel Turner)
When it came to LPs, there are a few releases that came out on Island when Sue would have seemed like a more natural home. Bobby Bland, O.V. Wright, Guy Stevens Testament Of Rock and Roll, and the aforementioned The Duke and The Peacock (which I think I have two copies of) I can only assume that by this time faith in Sue as a label was fading, and Action hadn't yet got going.
As an aside I'd love to add the missing Island/Sue LPs to the database but I can't scan 12" covers. Do other people have bigger scanners? |
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Madame Streggae ● 17th Nov 2023
| | Thanks both - I'd forgotten about Duke and the Peacock. One to add to the wants list if it's not beyond my pocket. |
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ppint. 17th Nov 2023
| | philmh ''the duke and the peacock'' was a full-price lp, and one which i don't believe sold especially well - iirc, none of the island group's sold especially well until island entered its purple period - paradoxically, on the pink (pop) label - though whether this was because of relatively poor distribution, or primarily due to poorer promotion - chris blackwell's personal priority seems to've always been pushing singles sales - or in more-or-less equal parts to both, this deponent knoweth not.
- ''this is sue'' ''this is blues'', and spectacularly ''you can all join in'' suddenly announced to younger record buyers, apparently countrywide, that there was an awful lot of good music on this label (sue sales didn't really pick up much, i don't believe - though all (or almost all) the sue singles back catalogue was still actually available if you ordered it, sfaiaa) - being fourteen tracks for about the price of two singles! |
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PhilMH 17th Nov 2023
| | MS, "Treat Her Right" had previously been released on the Island comp THE DUKE AND THE PEACOCK the previous year; a few singles from Duke/Peacock had been issued on Sue in 1968, before the label was folded into Action (with more D/P recordings issued there) but that track wasn't one of them. Anyway, I wonder why the track was included on another comp a year later; maybe there was continuing demand for it, and the previous comp had already been deleted? |
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Madame Streggae ● 16th Nov 2023
| | I've never understood the rationale behind the title of this since a fair few of the tracks saw issue on Island and one (the Roy Head) I don't even think came out on either that label or Sue. I think it was put together more as a collection that might have a fairly broad appeal, and it must have sold by the cartload at 14/6. |
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Scratchy45 6th May 2023
| | But for the purposes of this release, it's Island.... |
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