One of The Telegraph's best music books of 2023 Nominated for the 2024 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research 'It's like entering the record shop of your dreams.' David Hepworth, author, podcaster and Radio Times columnist 'Eyewitness accounts underpin a vault-load of memorabilia across 390 elegant pages where the footnotes are as fascinating as major events in what is an exemplary piece of musical archaeology.' Phil Alexander, MOJO 'I had the pleasure of running Island Records for a decent stretch, but in my time there I never saw such a staggering overview of the early years compiled like this new book! The images, the details, the stories, everything! Rather amazing!' Ted Cockle, former head of EMI Records 'LP-sized and weighing in at 390 pages, it's both an elegant coffee table book and a proper history, with a sizeable amount of written information to complement the fascinating photographs of record covers, artists and other ephemera, including gig adverts, concert tickets and flyers.' Peter Mason, Morning Star 'The details are exhaustive, the images beautiful and wonderfully laid out in an unfussy clear manner that never overpowers the original sleeves.' Cally Calloman, Caught by the River 'This is the anecdote rich inside story of the eventful first decade in the life of the maverick label which carved a distinctive niche within the UK's booming record biz of the 60s' as told by a cast of label employees, photographers, musicians, producers, and the man who started it all, Chris Blackwell.' Grahame Bent, Shindig! One of Shindig! magazine's Books of the Year 2023.