大象传媒

by Bob Stanley

Rock On in Camden

Ace Records will be a familiar name to most SOTS listeners. The North London-based company are among the most well-respected in the world of re-issues. Their catalogue includes the mighty Golden Age Of American Rock'n'Roll series; Where The Girls Are, eight volumes (and counting) of classic and obscure girl group singles; the Kent label, specialising in northern (and sometimes southern) soul; and the Songwriter Series.

Ted Carroll at Golborne Road

If I was really pushed, I think my favourite Ace collections are in the Songwriter Series. There are compilations of New York's great Brill Building writers (Leiber and Stoller, Goffin and King, Neil Diamond, Mann and Weil, Barry and Greenwich) as well as the teams who were inspired by the Brill legends: PF Sloan and Steve Barri, on the west coast, gave us Barri McGuire's 鈥楨ve Of Destruction鈥� and its sunlit opposite, the Turtles' harmony-packed 鈥榊ou Baby鈥�; and New Yorker Chip Taylor (brother of Jon Voight and uncle to Angelina Jolie) wrote hardy perennials 鈥榃ild Thing鈥� and 鈥楢ngel Of The Morning鈥�. On the soul front, a Van McCoy set called 鈥楾he Sweetest Feeling鈥� includes the eponymous Jackie Wilson hit, Teri Thornton's intense and tearful 鈥榃hy Don't You Love Me鈥�, and Gladys Knight's northern soul stormer 鈥楽top And Get A Hold Of Myself鈥�. Most recently, they've released 鈥楥olour My World: The Songs of Tony Hatch鈥�, Ace's first collection by a British songwriter.

Trevor Churchill with Reparata & The Delrons

Is this starting to read like an extended advert? I'm a big fan! Ace's most recent release is Arthur Prysock's 鈥楾he Old Town Singles鈥�. This set goes back to the R&B sound that started the Ace story in 1978. Originally, its founders - Trevor Churchill, Roger Armstrong, and second-hand record dealing legend Ted Carroll, owner of the Rock On stall on West London's Golborne Road - ran the Chiswick label, putting out contemporary records by the Count Bishops, the Damned and Rocky Sharpe and the Razors. After they re-issued Vince Taylor's 鈥楤rand New Cadillac鈥�, they decided to give their re-issue arm a different name. As their planned releases included Frankie Ford's 鈥楽ea Cruise鈥� and an album by Huey 'Piano' Smith, both originally released on Louisiana's Ace Records, they simply borrowed the name - with the kind permission of the original Ace label's owner, Johnny Vincent.

Rock On in Camden

Personally, I can't thank Ace enough for the records and CDs they've put out over the last thirty-odd years. Whether it's been Theola Kilgore's extraordinarily moving 鈥楾his Is My Prayer鈥� or Mouse and the Traps' organ-led garage-rocker 鈥楲ook At The Sun鈥�, they've introduced me to dozens of mind blowing singles I would probably have never heard otherwise, and which are now among my all-time favourites. I used to spend many hours in Ted Carroll's Rock On shop when it moved to Camden Town (favourite find: the super-rare 鈥楬ow Can I Hide It From My Heart鈥�, by Manchester schoolgirl and Freddie Garrity prot茅g茅e Maxine Darren - a snip at 拢3!). I miss hanging out in the shop, but the regular flow of Ace CDs makes up for it.