- Format: MP3
As label-based compilations go, this single disc from the British reissue house is one of the better efforts. While other such self-promoting projects emphasize diversity to boast a rich roster, Ace has thankfully focused on R&B, blues, and roots music, so the play list flows quite nicely. From Pee Wee Crayton's jump guitar on "Huckle Boogie" on through Fatback's unky "Wicky Wacky," you get a delightful disc and a nice overview of their releases.
The origins of Ace Records lie in a couple of market stalls, one in the Golborne Road and other at the edge of Chinatown in Soho. Ted Carroll owned Rock On Records and in 1975 expanded his empire from one market stall to two when the Soho mega-stall opened. Ted held court at the Golborne Road and Roger Armstrong was installed in Soho. Inspired by tales of Chess, Atlantic and Frog Death Records, they decided to start their own independent record label. Trevor Churchill, who also served some time behind the counter, had much experience in the real world of record companies and was drafted in, and Chiswick Records was formed. It sailed into the eye of the hurricane of Punk Rock, made some good records, some weird records and even the odd hit, but was never less than interesting. Chiswick mixed new recordings with re-issues and the Ace label was established in 1978 to exploit the latter. With the advent of the New Romantics in the early 80s enough was enough, and Chiswick stopped trying to keep alive the corpse of rock'n'roll as a commercially viable art form.
So all our resources were poured into Ace and soul sister label Kent. Over the next few years more labels were added; notably BGP, Southbound and GlobeStyle. Various original imprints like Stax and Westbound were licensed, and retained their label identity. The Fantasy catalogue of Original Jazz Classics added an immense number of jazz albums drawn from the Prestige, Riverside, Contemporary, Milestone and Pablo catalogues.
By the turn of the century Ace had grown into one of the largest catalogue companies in the world, representing more post war black music than anyone else. So it just goes to show what you can do with a few second-hand records for sale, a lot of enthusiasm and 25 years to kill. Thanks to all concerned.
The 25th Anniversary compilation
Don't get me wrong, we are proud of the world music, punk rock and pop records we made over the years, but this compilation is about the years before we started, so by definition the great recordings that we have made since 1975 do not appear on this CD. However, feel free to check them out in our catalogue - hard copy or web based - and maybe even buy a few. It will broaden your horizons - honest!
The Ace Records 25th anniversary CD contains one track for each year 1950 to 1975 - the year we started the company. This is the core time period we deal with. The mix of music aims to represent the range of post-war American music that we cover. It is a mini collection in one neat CD package at a ridiculously low price. No need for me to go through the track listing as you will know most of it already and if there is anything you don't know you are in for a treat. Grab it while you can as you will probably have to wait until our 50th for the next one.