VA - The UK Sue Label Story: The World Of Guy Stevens (2004)

As Britain stumbled from the grey torpor of the 1950s into the brash glare of the soon-to-be swinging 60s, Guy Stevens' red and yellow Sue label became a talisman for the hippest kids on the block, a marker for the growing divide between the pop mainstream and the burgeoning R&B/Soul underground. This is the first of an important trilogy celebrating the triumphs and heroic failures of Britain's first cult label. Check out the titles in the panel on the left. Here are the echoes of authenticity that rang true for so many music fans seeking a counterpoint to the first noisy flush of British beatdom.

Before Stevens there was Chris Blackwell. He was Stevens' mentor and sponsor, the man who gave Stevens the opportunity to express himself. Blackwell was the first of the young mavericks who helped revolutionise the English record industry in the mid-1960s and though it's rarely acknowledged, he was also a good two years ahead of a distinguished pack which included Andrew Oldham, Mickie Most and Shel Talmy, not to mention Brian Epstein. As the beat boom, stoked by Beatlemania took hold, Blackwell began to cast an envious eye over the rapidly expanding pop market. While visiting Jamaica in July 1963, Blackwell caught the strains of Mockingbird a catchy American hit by Inez and Charlie Foxx, in a distributor's office. He rushed to New York to negotiate for the British release rights with the producer, Juggy Murray, on whose Symbol label Mockingbird was rapidly scaling the US charts.