LEADERS OF THE PACK

Anyone with a keen grasp of music history will be aware that Ace Records celebrated their 50th anniversary this year with a series of concerts and innovative events centred round their traditional home district of Camden Town, north London. Yet the genesis of the UK's most successful reissue label is somewhat more complicated. Michael Heatley takes a deep dive.

- 

The name of Ace didn't actually appear on a vinyl record label until 1978, when a group of music enthusiasts decided to separate their reissue activities from the other labels they jointly ran. They borrowed the name from a famous American label run by Johnny Vincent in Jackson, Mississippi.

The story had its roots in London's Portobello Market, when Ted Carroll had sold records from a stall under the Rock On name in the early 70s. Listen to Thin Lizzy's The Rocker and you'll hear Phil Lynott holler: "I get my records from the Rock On stall... Teddy boy, he's got them all!" (Carroll was the band's co-manager until 1974.) Carroll takes up the story: "In August 1974, I decided to open a second branch of my oldies business, Rock On, this time in Soho Market. About a month later I asked Roger [Armstrong], who I had known for about two years, to manage the stall for me.

Roger took to working at Rock On like a duck to water and so, after a couple of months, I invited him to join me as a partner in the reissue record label I was planning to launch some time in the near future. Meanwhile, I opened a third branch of Rock On Records in Camden Town in August 1975 in partnership with another friend, Barry Appleby." London in the mid-70s was, of course, a hotbed of musical activity, and it was inevitable that current acts - especially those who looked to traditional sources for inspiration would wend their way to Rock On. First to benefit were The Count Bishops, who started life as Chrome.

They inhabited the same speedy R&B pub-rock space as Dr Feelgood and their first release, the Speedball EP, was the first to bear the Chiswick Records label. This started a small but significant number of releases by contemporary acts, mostly on 45rpm singles: Joe Strummer's 101ers and Rocky Sharpe & The Razors featured early on. Sniff 'n' The Tears even managed a Top 20 US hit with Driver's Seat.