A HISTORICAL DEBT

Back in the days when the only ways to get a hold of music was to either tape it off the radio, tape it from your mates' collections or, if you had a bit of spare cash around, actually go to to a record shop and receive bits of round plastic 7" or 12" in diameter in exchange for handing over notes and coins, the compilation album was something that you took seriously as it was a cheapish way of maybe latching onto something new.

I've loads of these types of albums inside the cupboard full of records, but there's plenty more on the shelves where the CDs are stacked. This is probably one of the best I have...its certainly one that I didn't grudge paying full price for (£12 or £13 if memory serves me right).

A Historical Debt was issued by Beechwood Music in 1991. All of the songs had been donated royalty free, with the money raised being used to pay back some monies to small, independently owned and run record labels across the UK.

It was all the fault of Rough Trade, who had enjoyed such a cash and critically rich period over the previous decade, thanks in the main to The Smiths.

For those who don't know the story, here's a short and dirty version.

Rough Trade began as a record shop in West London in the mid 70s. It rose with the punk/fanzine/new wave movement, and by 1978 there was a record label as well as the shop. The label inspired many hundreds of others to be launched in countless living rooms and bedrooms. In the mid 80s, those behind the shop and the label decided it would be great idea to create Rough Trade Distribution through which most of the other small indie labels could end up in the shops all across the country and indeed further afield via a slick operation, rather than each individual label manager more or less driving everywhere and then trying to convince record shop owners to take copies of the records. Rough Trade Distribution didn't work....and it collapsed in 1991 owing money to all and sundry. Including the very labels that it had been established to help.

Every week, the music papers were carrying more tales of woe, doom and gloom with staff being laid off all over the place, bands going unpaid and tours being cancelled. Some bright spark, looking at how the 80s had been an era of the massive charity record for some worthy cause or other, came up with the idea of an indie-compilation in the hope that those of us who were concerned about the future might be able to do something about it. And so these tracks were put together:-

1. Oblivious - Aztec Camera
2. Push Me Shove Me (Live) - Erasure
3. Halo - Depeche Mode
4. Possible Worlds - The Shamen
5. Pump Up The Volume - Marrs
6. The Sweetest Girl - Scritti Politti
7. Birthday - The Sugarcubes
8. Phobia - Flowered Up
9. The Only One I Know - The Charlatans
10. Sleep Well Tonight - Inspiral Carpets
11. Well Well Well - The Woodentops
12. Godlike - The Dylans
13. All My Dreams Are Dead - Television Personalities
14. Jeane - Sandie Shaw
15. Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt
16. Skin Storm - Bradford
17. Let's Kiss And Make Up - The Field Mice
18. I Wonder Why - The Heart Throbs
19. Arc-Lite - Loop
20. Gods Zoo - Death Cult

Impressively, Mute Records, who were largely unaffected by the collapse of RTD, contributed songs by some of their best-known and biggest selling artists, while bands who had previously been on Rough Trade records but were now with majors were happy enough to see some of their old material recycled. Many of the other indies such as 4AD, One Little Indian, Heavenly and Sarah were also happy to help out.

I'm not sure how many copies were eventually sold, but there's still enough of second-hand copies out there being sold very cheaply if you're interested. Try here.

In the meantime, feel free to listen to these:-

mp3 : The Field Mice - Let's Kiss And Make Up
mp3 : Flowered Up - Phobia
mp3 : Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding

Cheers.