RECORD COMPANY SAMPLERS

They were cheap, often weird, but in the 1960s and early 70s record company samplers were a lifeline to new music, and for bands, sometimes the launchpad to success.

Bargain compilations from the 1960s and 1970s delivered the promise of new music, and fame.

It’s all around you, as much as you desire — on the radio, TV, countless digital platforms and other means of delivery. It goes with you on your phone, iPod, laptop and tablet. You’re bombarded with it in shops, pubs, bars, restaurants, cafés and on call-hold. These days music is everywhere, whether you want to hear it or not, to the point where it can be hard to get away from it.

But it wasn’t always like that. Until the UK got Radio 1 in 1967, and Australia got Double Jay on AM in 1975 along with the expansion of FM broadcasts, if you wanted to discover new music, often even the popular stuff, you had to make an effort, tuning in on time to the few music programmes that offered a precious lifeline to music that was new and exciting.

If your taste was a little more eclectic and went beyond what was likely to figure in the Hit Parade (now known as the charts), then you had to pool knowledge. Friends would gather together at someone’s house to listen intently to each other’s latest album purchase. You’d spend hours flicking through sleeves in your local record shop, looking for some indication that the music inside might be worth hearing, and then ask if you could listen to it in one of the shop’s listening booths. Or if you got to know the person who worked on the record counter you could spend a few Saturdayafternoon hours there listening to your requests before the manager came along and told them to play something “a bit nicer”.

When ‘samplers’ — record labels’ budgetpriced ‘try-before-you-buy’ compilations of tracks from a range of artists on their label — came along at the end of the 1960s, to music fans thirsty for something new they were affordable treasure troves. Samplers were many people’s introduction to what became their favourite artists. In many cases they were also a significant factor in some of those artists going on to become established stars. Some of the artists were already stars, and tracks from them might be included so that punters weren’t shooting in complete darkness. Often the track-listings varied wildly in musical style, but that was part of the point: to deliver a wide range of new music in the hope that an artist flicked your switch and you went on to buy more by them. Of course it’s impossible to say how much they helped careers. But it’s also possible that without samplers some artists who went on to have long, hugely successful careers might not have got further than that difficult second album.

 YOU CAN ALL JOIN IN Island Records 1969

More than just a showcase for some of the newer/ lesser-known signings (alongside a couple of established artists) to Island Records, that label’s first sampler showed just how good samplers could be, and would carry some weight as a ‘regular’ compilation album. With highlights including Free’s I’m A Mover, Jethro Tull’s A Song For Jeffrey, Fairport Convention’s exquisite Meet On The Ledge and Art’s What’s That Sound (a renamed cover of Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth), this early sampler thankfully set a high-bar for those that followed, and it’s arguable that few, if any, really bettered it.

 THE ROCK MACHINE TURNS YOU ON CBS Records 1968

The one that started the sampler ball rolling, did what the title says; this album was the first step to many people being turned on to previously-unknown mostly American artists by great tracks such as Spirit’s Fresh Garbage, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ brassy My Days Are Numbered, Moby Grape’s up-tempo shuffle Can’t Be So Bad and Taj Mahal’s laid-back

slide-driven Statesboro Blues. Those four alone are worth the price of admission. Familiar names such as Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Zombies and Simon And Garfunkel provided a safe haven for those unsure about exploring unfamiliar territory.

 THE AGE OF ATLANTIC: Atlantic Records 1970

The bigger the label, the bigger the artists and the more diverse the roster to choose from. In the 60s/70s, Atlantic was one of the biggest, and were able to have Led Zeppelin (Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown), Delaney & Bonnie’s Clapton-enhanced hit Comin’ Home, MC5 thumper Tonight and Yes (Survival) among the carrots dangled to entice record buyers to hear then lesser-known, artists. Among these, Iron Butterfly, Dr John, the Allman Brothers Band (the excellent Black Hearted Woman), and Vanilla Fudge all offer something worthwhile.

 FILL YOUR HEAD WITH ROCK: CBS Records 1970

Given CBS’s roster, it’s no wonder that two years on from ‘The Rock Machine...’ they were able to muster a star-spangled double sampler with enough top-drawer class — Santana (Savour), Chicago (Listen), The Byrds (Gunga Din), Johnny Winter (I Love Everybody), Leonard Cohen (You Know Who I Am), Argent (Dance In The Smoke), Taj Mahal (Six Days On The Road) — that the supporting cast almost doesn’t matter. But it does, and the likes of Black Widow (Come To The Sabbat), Skin Alley (Living In Sin), Steamhammer (Passing Through) are evidence that making it big depended on so much more than just making great music.

 THE VERTIGO ANNUAL: Vertigo Records 1970

One of lesser-known and more out-and-out rock samplers of the period, this mostly British collection is notable for the strength of the tracks by some of its lesser-known artists. Best of that bunch are the gloriously fuzzed-Hammond-driven Introduction by lost-in-action proggers Gracious, Cressida’s excellent waltz-away To Play Your Little Game and especially Affinity’s brilliant Three Sisters. The big names here include Black Sabbath (Behind The Wall Of Sleep), Uriah Heep (Gypsy), Manfred Mann Chapter Three (One Way Glass) and Rod Stewart (Handbags And Gladrags), but by no means do they steal the show.

JUST FOR PROGGERS...

PICNIC (A BREATH OF FRESH AIR): Harvest 1970

The progressive-inclined imprint of British major-player major label EMI, Harvest was at the time home to home-grown artists including Pink Floyd, Roy Harper, Deep

Purple, Barclay James Harvest and R&B bruisers The Pretty Things. All those make their mark on this 2-LP set with less obvious tracks (e.g. Floyd with Embryo, Purple with

Into The Fire), but they’re given a run for their money by top tunes from comparatively in-the-shadows artists here like Kevin Ayers (Eleanor’s Cake Which Ate Her), the Battered Ornaments (Twisted Track) and Quatermass (Black Sheep Of The Family).

CHARISMA FESTIVAL 1976

Another one for prog-leaning fans with a broad musical taste, this has a ‘family’-feel track listing that includes Genesis and offspring Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, and second cousin Brand X, Van Der Graaf Generator and their breadwinner Peter Hammill, Hawkwind, The Nice, Patrick Moraz and Lindisfarne among the betterknown names. That broad musical taste will be helpful for tracks by Rare Bird, Clifford T Ward, String Driven Thing and Paul Ryan. A double album with two tracks apiece from most of the artists, but for some of them the song selection could have been a bit better...