Various Artists
Album: Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene Vanguard Records & The 1960s Musical Revolution
Label: Ace
Tracks: 20/23/20/20
Website: http://acerecords.co.uk/vanguard-label

There are some record labels that have come to be associated with a genre, Motown, 2-Tone, Bronze, Sun, Topic etc. There's a number of labels that have come to be known for a certain attitude, Stiff, Charisma and I guess one of the first amongst those was Vanguard. From small beginnings in the 1950s, it grew up to be one of the early indie-majors and whilst the output stretched across a number of genres, it always seemed to have space for free thinking songwriters, many of which would end up being called protest singers.

"Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene Vanguard Records & The 1960s Musical Revolution", now there's a title and a half, is a four cd expose of the label from reissue specialists ACE and quite a package it is too.

Curated by none other than John Crosby and with an introduction from Samuel Charters, this 83 track compilation naturally covers all of the big name artists that made the label their home, it also serves to remind you of some of the lesser names that went through its doors.

The sleeve notes help emphasise how important some of those lesser known names were to the development of other artists. The label saw a regular hotchpotch of artists getting together at the label building, festivals etc, bouncing of ideas and thoughts of each other, with many artists on the label becoming part of the burgeoning civil rights movement at the time.

Vanguard was a label that really didn't care about creed and colour, it was a label where expression was considered to be a currency and that partly lead to it being known almost as much for the writing as it was for the recording and performances.

"Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene Vanguard Records & The 1960s Musical Revolution" draws on all of the genres where Vanguard was considered a name, folk, blues, country, old timey and generally sits in the left field. The artists are as diverse as Charlie Musslewhite, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Odetta, Frost and Sandy Ball. There are songs on the album that may not sit as well with their peers as others, some, it has to be said, have not been treated by the gift of time very well, but this is one heck of a compilation, supported by a well written booklet and one that should fit happily into the collection of any musophile, even those with the originals on vinyl.

Neil King