Three Score & Ten: Topic Records at 70 OUT NOW

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“Topic’s is one of the great achievements of the recording age, and few labels can have had such an effect on their culture. Three Score & Ten is one of the greatest documents of social history that we have in this country.” – Richard Thompson

“Topic’s role has always been, I think, to document the folk music of the British Isles. It has been spectacularly wonderful at doing that.” – John Kirkpatrick

“There are so many wonderful albums released by Topic, which have influenced my music beyond measure.” – Jim Causley

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Three Score & Ten Box Set (Click to enlarge)

2009 is a landmark year for many independent record labels.  It sees the anniversaries of  Motown and Island (both 50), Rough Trade (30) and Real World (20). But it is Topic Records that celebrates its 70th anniversary. This makes it the oldest, truly independent record company in the world and an extremely sprightly, almost ageless senior citizen compared to the above ‘youngsters’.

Three Score & Ten: An fRoots Album Of The Year

Three Score & Ten has been voted for by the fRoots Critic’s Poll, not only as the number one album in the Reissues and Compilations of the Year, but also as the number one album in the Best Packaged Album Of The Year in a ‘total landslide’ decision.

June Tabor Show Review

An excellent 5 – Star review from the Guardian:

“June Tabor may be claimed as one of their own by the folk fraternity but throughout her lengthy career her aim has been to break down musical boundaries. The reinterpretation of traditional songs is central to her work, but only part of it. Here she gave her highly personal, often gently theatrical, treatment of anything from Chaucer to Latin-tinged jazz, along with whole ranges of contemporary and traditional song, and in doing so explored and demonstrated the connections between them.”

Click here to read the full article.

7 Topic CD Reissues

In addition to the recently released Three Score & Ten box set, Topic Records are proud to be reissuing seven significant recordings from their impressive archive, available for the first time on CD.  They will be available from all good stores from Monday 26th October 2009.

Martin Simpson Show Review

A 4-star review from the Guardian of Martin Simpson’s Big Band show, Wed 23rd Sep ’09.

eMusic Feature

Top download store eMusic have run a feature on Topic’s releases.  Click here to visit their site.

Guardian Review for Watersons’ Show

Friday 11th September 2009 – Southbank Centre, London

“Great folk music is concerned with history, tradition and change, and this emotional concert was a reminder of the continuing story of one of England’s most adventurous musical families. The original Watersons were a four-piece from Yorkshire who started out in the 1960s singing unaccompanied traditional songs with extraordinary passion.”

Click here to read the full article.

Record Collector

“In the same year that Hollywood brought us Gone With The Wind and The Wizard Of Oz, a more humble entertainment made its bow, but one which, in its field, has proved to be just as enduring and iconic.  Folk music labels have come and gone over the last 70 years though none have had the impact of Topic; nor can they claim to be, in the words of Richard Thompson, “a vital component of British culture”.”

Click the image on the left to read the full article.

Press Reviews

SOME QUOTES FROM THE CRITICS…

‘Topic’s independence has always been total, both in organisation and spirit, with a maverick disregard for commercialism. This attitude manifests itself thorougherly in the magnificent book/box set that marks the 70^th anniversary’ – The Telegraph (*****)

‘Quite simply, fabulous work all round. Well done Topic’ – The Morning Star

‘Topic has given us some extraordinary instrumentalists and magnificent singers…life affirming and uplifting’ – The Wire

***** – Observer Music Monthly
***** – Financial Times
***** – Songlines

Observer Review

Three Score & Ten has had a fantastic review in The Observer.  Click the image to view.

Scotsman Review

The latest great review of Three Score & Ten comes from The Scotsman.

“Seventy-year-old record label’s haunting voices bring back ghosts of a vanished Britain”

Click here to read the article.

Three Score & Ten – Available Now

The sumptuous box set has now been released.  To pick up a copy, visit your local independent record store or click here.

The album has been getting some rave reviews, including 5 stars from Mojo, Uncut, Observer Music Monthly and The Guardian.  Visit the Press & Media page for more details.

Online Special Offers

Two of the biggest names in digital music retail are offering gig tickets, free track downloads and cheap album downloads this week.

Nokia are offering a pair of tickets to 2 of the Topic 70 London shows as well as a free download of Eliza Carthy’s Worcester City.  These go live from Friday 11th September but are available for a limited time only.

7Digital are also offering Eliza Carthy’s Worcester City as a free download but are also offering Anglicana for download for only £5.  This offer also goes live on Friday 11th September and lasts for one week.

Win Tickets to Club Topicana

We are giving away a pair of tickets to another event celebrating Topic’s 70th anniversary,  Club Topicana:

TOPIC 70 at Southbank Centre
Saturday 19th September
Purcell Rooms

Folklahoma and The Magpie’s Nest, merchants of New folk, Old folk & No folk, host a Topic Records inspired evening, complete with contemporary twist. From bold balladeers, reckless youths and new-wave Travellers, this modern multi-artist event will echo with the redolent of ‘Old Blighty’. Participating artists include Ed, Will & Ginger, Dan Wash & Will Pound, Cath & Phil Tyler, Thomas McCarthy and Alistair Roberts.  You can find out more about the artists here.

The Willett Family

- John Kirkpatrick

Topic’s role has always been, I think, to document the folk music of the British Isles. It has been spectacularly wonderful at doing that. Those Folk Songs of Britain LPs and more recently the Voice of The People series are a fantastic treasure trove… and do a wonderful job of presenting traditional music. I think that’s Topic’s main strength really.

Mike Harding Show

On Wednesday 2nd September, Tony Engle was interviewed on Radio 2 by Mike Harding.  Some of the tracks were played off there too.

You can find out more about the show, and listen to it until Wednesday 9th September, by clicking here.

Ewan MacColl

- Richard Thompson

I first heard Ewan on the Radio Ballads, and from there became aware of him as a songwriter. At a time when much of our popular and folk music was imported, it was essential to have a great writer of our own, connected to the tradition and extending it with contemporary themes. He wrote some truly magnificent songs, and it is good to hear them again, reassess them, and keep them in the collective mind, thanks to Three Score & Ten.

Topic’s is one of the great achievements of the recording age, and few labels can have had such an effect on their culture. Three Score & Ten is one of the greatest documents of social history that we have in this country.

Waterson:Carthy

- Jim Causley

There are so many wonderful albums released by Topic, which have influenced my music beyond measure. For example I simply cannot imagine a world without The Voice of the People collection. It is an incredible resource to all traditional song enthusiasts. But the album which really sticks in my head as an important milestone is A Dark Light by Waterson:Carthy.

Win Tickets to Topic 70 Events

As you may have read from our live section, there are a handful of live dates around the capital to celebrate Topic’s 70th anniversary.

The first is THE WATERSON FAMILY & THE ELIZA CARTHY BAND – Friday 11th September – Royal Festival Hall, London

The second being MARTIN SIMPSON & BIG BAND – Thursday 17th September – Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

The third: JUNE TABOR in Concert – Friday 18th September – Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

And the ultimate show is MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK – Friday 25th September – The Kalamazoo Klub at Union Chapel, London

Folklahoma and The Magpie’s Nest presents ‘Club Topicana’

Details have now been announced for this date:

TOPIC 70 at Southbank Centre
Saturday 19th September
Purcell Rooms

Folklahoma and The Magpie’s Nest, merchants of New folk, Old folk & No folk, host a Topic Records inspired evening, complete with contemporary twist. From bold balladeers, reckless youths and new-wave Travellers, this modern multi-artist event will echo with the redolent of ‘Old Blighty’.  Curated by Sam Lee.

Participating artists include :

Interview with Tony Engle

Topic Records boss Tony Engle was interviewed by Properganda Editor Simon Holland (Friday 07/08/09) on the subject of the release of Three Score & Ten.  More details on the Press and Media page.

Click here to listen to the interview (the file is large, so may take a while to load).