| The Village Thing | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Saydisc |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founder | Ian A. Anderson |
| Distributor(s) | Transatlantic Records |
| Genre | guitar-oriented, singer-songwriter, folk, blues |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | Badminton, Gloucestershire |
The Village Thing was an independent record label in the United Kingdom which published folk music, blues and acoustic music between 1970 and 1973, under the tag of "The Alternative Folk Label".
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The company, based at The Barton, Inglestone Common, Badminton, Gloucestershire, rose from the thriving Bristol contemporary folk scene based around the Clifton area and centred on the Bristol Troubadour Club. Specialising in local acts, it took the music to a wider audience and was highly influential in the development of British folk and blues based music in the 1970s and after. Records were pressed in relatively small numbers and a cult following has resulted in them becoming highly collectable. Typical pressings were about 2,000 copies, but their best seller, "The Folker" by Fred Wedlock sold some 20,000. Village Thing was founded by Gef Lucena, Ian A. Anderson and John Turner. Lucena was already running a local indie label, Saydisc, which had already gained a reputation for publishing low-run pressings by local folk/comedy artists including Fred Wedlock; Saydisc was the "parent" company and continues to trade today. Anderson had become well-known for his part in the "White Blues Boom" of the late 1960s and had recorded for Fontana both solo and with Mike Cooper. Turner was manager of the Troubadour Club and played bass with the humorous folk/jazz fusion band, The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra. Village Thing records were distributed by Transatlantic Records. The company logo was designed by Rodney Matthews, as were some of the album covers; Matthews later became very well known for his fantasy art and produced album covers for major artists including Thin Lizzy, Magnum and Rick Wakeman.
Some of The Village Thing albums have been reissued as CDs on labels including Scenesof (US); Castle, The Weekend Beatnik, Saydisc and Sunbeam (UK); Riverman (Korea); and Vinyl Japan.
VTS7, VTS17 and VTS18 were also released on cassette and 8-track cartridge