The Village Thing

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".

History

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.

Availability

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.

Discography

Albums (12 inch vinyl)

VTS 1 Phlop! Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra
VTS 2 The Sun Also Rises, The Sun Also Rises
VTS 3 Royal York Crescent, Ian A. Anderson
VTS 4 The Legendary Me, Wizz Jones
VTS 5 An Acoustic Confusion, Steve Tilston
VTS 6 The Words In Between, Dave Evans
VTS 7 The Folker, Fred Wedlock
VTS 8 Piggery Jokery, Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra
VTS 9 A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust, Ian A. Anderson
VTS 10 Mudge And Clutterbuck, Mudge And Clutterbuck (unreleased)
VTS 11 Magic Landscape, Hunt and Turner
VTS 12 Hokum, Tight Like That
VTS 13 Tucker Zimmerman, Tucker Zimmerman
VTS 14 Elephantasia, Dave Evans
VTSAM 15 Us (Various artist)
VTSAM 16 Matchbox Days (Various artists)
VTS 17 Feelin’ Fine, Derroll Adams
VTS 18 Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages, Ian A. Anderson
VTS 19 Jonesville, Al Jones
VTS 20 Frollicks, Fred Wedlock
VTS 21 Chris Thompson, Chris Thompson
VTS 22 Peabody Hotel, Dave Peabody
VTS 23 Junk Store Songs For Sale, Lackey and Sweeney
VTS 24 When I Leave Berlin, Wizz Jones
VTS 25 Murf, Noel Murphy

Singles / Extended Play (7 inch vinyl)

VTSX 1000 "The Great White Dap" EP - Various Artists (Wizz Jones/The Sun Also Rises/Ian A. Anderson/Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra)
VTSX 1001 "Cut Across Shorty / Shake That Thing" - Strange Fruit
VTSX 1002 "One More Chance / Policeman’s Ball" - Ian A. Anderson