In this, the final installment of the world's first ever (we think?) Popty-Ping week, find out how Andy Black joins his Grandfather in the history books. Plus there's a way to get all upcoming releases in the near future...
"This idea evolved over time. I discovered many people started labels, put two records out, realised how hard it was and promptly gave up. So there had to be a target to ensure it didn’t just end as soon as things got hard. Dan’s artwork lends itself to creating a set collection of releases (people seem to buy the latest release, and once they’ve looked at it and played it, they go back and buy the previous ones.
"That’s the target. To find 9 brilliant, different, stand alone records. We might not quite find the next Philip Larkin, but it’s a dream to aim for."
In the last 1950’s, my grandfather wrote a very successful O level English school book on Poetry. It's called Nine Modern Poets, by E.L. Black. It became an education staple text book. It’s been praised and used by all sorts of people, from Andrew Motion to Ken Barlow in Coronation Street and Jarvis Cocker. In announcing a new guest editor position at Faber & Faber, Cocker recently visited his old school to return the copy he’d stolen as a pupil.
"If you release records, the British Library ask to donate copies for the national records and I eventually realised they held a copy of the old boy’s book."
So if we could find and release 9 great records, we could eventually put them on a compilation, call it Nine Modern Poets and get it in the British Library. It’s kind of carrying on his work for a new generation. So that’s the target. To find 9 brilliant, different, stand alone records. We might not quite find the next Philip Larkin, but it’s a dream to aim for. It works pretty neatly as a target, and a challenge and also a standard to uphold. Sales and infamy have increased with each release so hopefully we’ll now pull our fingers out and get them out quicker as more people realise what we’re doing.
So all being well then all 9 releases will be assembled on an LP, add in some unreleased additional tracks and maybe some guest stuff from more well known friends, and make it all together as a great compilation. As for the charity, not sure yet, but certainly one in support of friends and relative who have died I think.
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