★Universal Island Records
An Electric Storm
When White Noise’s debut album, An Electric Storm, landed on Island Records in 1969, it must have sounded like nothing else. Packaged in a striking black and white sleeve that pictured a spark of lightning streaking across a black sky, this was an album that - quite rightly as it turned out - resembled as much a scientific experiment as any conventional musical document.
White Noise were first conceived when American electronic engineer David Vorhaus-- following a lecture by BBC Radiophonic Work…
London Conversation
London Conversation is the first album by John Martyn, released on Island Records in 1967. Largely self-penned, the album is much more folk oriented than his blues/jazz tinged later releases. Recording was completed by 9 August and the album was released when Martyn was 19 in October 1967. The album reputedly cost £158 to record. The cover photo was taken by Barry Wentzel on the roof of Island Records boss Chris Blackwell's flat in Cromwell Road, London.
Ceremony: An Electronic Mass
Ceremony is a 1969 album by progressive UK rock band Spooky Tooth in collaboration with French electronic and "found-object" composer Pierre Henry. The album takes the form of a church service. A Pierre Henry-free version of the closing track "Hosanna" with different lyrics appears on 2015 Universal release 'The Island Years 1967-1974' under the title "When I Get Home." The release also includes an alternate take of "Have Mercy" (also without Henry) and a session outtake titled "Shine a Light on…