Search - Various Artists :: The Chiswick Story: Adventures of an Independent Record Label 1975-1982

This is a compilation of singles released by the British independent punk label Chiswick. Formed in 1975 by Ted Carroll, owner of the famous Rock On record stall in London, and Roger Armstrong, an employee at Rock On, Chiswick Records was instrumental in igniting the punk revolution that shook the U.K. in 1976-77.In 1975, two years before punk exploded, the Chiswick record label emerged from two small record stalls, operating out of markets in Notting Hall Gate and Soho. Splashing out the princely sum of £120 to record their first release - an EP from The Count Bishops - Chiswick Records soon started to hit the headlines with discs by the 101ers (fronted by future Clash-man Joe Strummer) and mod-punk-rockers-in-absurd-trousers The Gorillas. Against all good advice, they recorded Motorhead, and, when no-one else wanted to, The Damned, and they got hit records with them. They also scored hits with Rocky Sharpe & The Replays, Sniff & The Tears and Radio Stars, though they stood no chance of getting on Top Of The Pops with The Drug Addix (featuring a teenage Kirsty MacColl). Billy Bragg debuted on the label with his first band Riff Raff and Johnny & The Self Abusers took a big chance when they changed their name to Simple Minds! You get the whole scene here...pure rock...punk rock...rock & roll...even silly pop, though, there's also reasonably sensible pop and even some of that modernistic dance type music towards the end. All in all 52 tracks that cover the history of the first of the 70s UK indie labels and, as the slogan rightly said at the time 'better than a smack on the head with a brick' and not a single stiff on the whole compilation.