power pop criminals

STIFF vs CHISWICK

It's a long-standing truism that the most dynamic creative thrusts come from the outside. In the 50's, it was shoe-string local labels catering to supposedly minority tastes that generated easily half of the R&B and rock'n'roll hits. Next decade, in the '67 spirit, indie labels like Island and Harvest flowered. Lately, thanks to impetus given by a few hardly individuals, small was once again beautiful.
It began in '75 with the American Beserkley label, infant upstart Matthew Kaufman. An investigate gambler, Kaufman took the long-shot approach to commercial success and put his race-track winnings behing pressing up a few hundred copies of singles by bands and artists who had somehow come under his wing, people branded commercial non-returns by the big companies
Borrowing his ideas but adding their own flair a year or so later came Stiff, preceded by Chiswick who were actually the first of the new British independents, evolved out of the small Rock On chain of specialist record shops and catering initially to that market with R&B and rock'n'roll issues and re-issues.

So during this Summer 2010, i'll post some battles between both labels, the battles will be chronologically referenced. All posts were ripped from the original 7" releases and converted to 320 mp3. Complete scans have been included.

For every battle, you'll be able to vote and pick the winner. You can vote even though you don't want to download any of the items shared. See right column.