Presented by hermanthegerman

"Bumpers... Island Sampler"

In the late sixties British record labels started to release a selection of their artists’ material on records known as samplers. These were not intended as anthologies or compilations – the purpose was to allow listeners the opportunity to sample a range of acts at a reduced price, showcasing in particular those for whom there was not a conventional singles market and hence little opportunity for radio airplay in the UK. Columbia’s “The Rock Machine Turns You On” and Liberty Records “Gutbucket” started the trend, but Island Records produced a series of gems from “Nice Enough to Eat” and “You Can All Join In” in 1969, to “Bumpers” in 1970 and “El Pea” in 1971. “Bumpers” was, as it’s name would suggest, the pick of the crop, with an eclectic yet cohesive collection of music across two 33rpm vinyl discs. It was also the first album I ever bought, me a pennywise 14 year old thumbing through the new releases in a record shop in Aberdeen with the 30 shillings (actually 29/11) cover price burning a hole in my pocket. The album came out in two pressings, one with the pink label and "i" logo, the other with the label displaying a palm motif on a white background and a pink rim. There are subtle differences between the recordings (as noted by Dave Sanderson), although the variations on overseas versions were much more fundamental, with a wholly different selection of tracks for the Antipodes (see here). In addition the sleeve notes and label information are shoddily compiled - to the numerous errors recorded by Bob McBeath at The ProgArchives add that John & Beverley Martyn are simply called "John & Beverley" on the back of the album. Incidentally, I have little idea what the motif on the back of the album represents, nor where the picture inside the album was taken, but I can tell you why there is the choice of artwork on the front - it is because those distinctive basketball-style shoes, popular in Britain at the time, were known as "Bumpers".

1970 was the year that 18 year olds got the vote, and women got equal pay. The first transatlantic Boeing 747 flight arrived at Heathrow and Britons got a taste of the new decimal currency ahead of decimalization in 1971. Ted Heath led a Conservative victory in the General Elections in a decade which would end with Margaret Thatcher in power. Tonga and Fiji gained independence from Great Britain, signaling the last small death throes of the British Empire, whilst white Rhodesians and the IRA initiated their own brands of independence movements. Across the pond, Americans protested for and against their invasion of Vietnam and Cambodia, and the National Guard shot unarmed students on the campus of Kent State University. A dazzling Brazilian team led by Pele won and retained the Jules Rimet Trophy, football’s World Cup trophy won by England four years earlier at Wembley stadium.

Simon & Garfunkel, the Rolling Stones, Andy Williams, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin has the biggest album successes of the year, and Elvis Presley topped a singles chart which had Rolf Harris’s “Two Little Boys” heading up the chart at the start of the year. This was the year of the Isle Of Wight festival that featured Jimi Hendrix, who was to die in London in September and achieve a posthumous number one single with “Voodoo Chile”. The Beatles split up and Janis Joplin died. Mariah Carey was born.

The music scene appeared remarkably vibrant, and Island Records was arguably the most innovative and diverse label around, and easily the most successful independent label before its founder, Chris Blackwell, sold it to A&M (PolyGram) in 1989. Blackwell had started in the record industry in 1958 in his native Jamaica, promoting the emerging bluebeat and ska sounds. He had a crossover hit with “My Boy Lollipop” from Millie Small in 1964, by which time he had moved his Island Records label to Notting Hill Gate in London. The label would expand to include a diverse range of pop, rock, folk, jazz, blues, reggae, progressive, underground and experimental acts that included the Spencer Davis Group, ELP, Bob Marley, Robert Palmer and U2. Along the way it developed a reputation for originality that attracted maverick and talented producers such as Joe Boyd and Guy Stevens. And, of course, the artists featured on Bumpers. Incidentally the pink label period releases are lovingly documented in a series of articles in "Record Collector" magazine between September and December 1996. I once read that Chris Salewicz was going to write a history of Island Records but I guess it is still a work in progress - should be a good read when it finally comes out. And Joe Boyd has written an outstanding book on the music industry called "White Bicycles" which co-incides with the time he was associated with Island.

I’m not going to say too much about my own recollections of Bumpers – that job has been done far more eloquently than I could dare by Dave Sanderson (see his page at flowerbedmusic.com). If you have something to add, know of corrections, wish to be acknowledged or just want to say hello, please click on the button at the foot of the page to get in touch.