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Produktnummer:
ISBN 978-3-95575-237-8
Erscheinungsdatum:
11.04.2025
Medien
keine Inhalte verfügbar
Produktinformationen "Bright Young Things - The Art and Philosophy of él-Records - Mark Goodall"
Existing for a few short years (1984 - 1988), él records was perhaps the
most ‘cult’ of the UK so-called ‘indie’ labels.
él records was created in 1984 by Mike Alway. Alway was A&R man for
Cherry Red signing artists such as Everything But the Girl, The
Monochrome Set and Felt. Alway left Cherry Red to help run Blanco Y
Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but soon felt constrained but the
conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own
label. él was once described as ‘the most innately English record label
there has ever been’ and yet had a global appeal. Alway must be the only
record label boss to have had four songs written about him…
Alway’s mercurial approach was to take complete control of the
repertoire, the philosophy of the label’s releases and even the titles of
songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a
curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on él. He
employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as
Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe)
who in addition to issuing their own records wrote, arranged and
performed for other él artistes and used creative talents such as
photographer Nick Wesolowski and designer Jim Phelan to create the él
‘look’.
él had a unique flavour eschewing the traditions of rock and indie music
of the mid 1980s, exhibiting instead a taste for 1960s bubbelgum and
chamber pop, the European chanson tradition, Latin rhythms and film
scores (one of él’s key players was child prodigy Simon Turner who wrote
music for the films of Derek Jarman). The ethos of the label was decidedly un-macho and many of él’s key artists were female. Él’s first single ‘I, Bloodbrother Be’ by Shock Headed Peters was an
uncompromising gay anthem. Alway saw él as a celebration of elegance
and beauty, in his own words, “a pop world beyond leather jackets and
jeans”.
While record sales were disappointing, this unique blend was critically
acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe while
in Japan él had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei
phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Cornelius and Kahimi Karie.
Bright Young Things is the first book to tell the fascinating story of él,
one of the most influential indie labels of all time