Angel Air Is Ten
by James McCarraher

Impressive shop-windowing

From Stiff to Island to Warp, it’s just as possible to be a fan of a label as it is to adore a specific artist. You may have to search to find anyone who feels the same way about a reissue specialist, however, even one as erudite and respected as Suffolk-based label Angel Air, which opened for business in 1997, almost as a cottage industry.

Instead of, say, a run-of-themill sampler album, 10th anniversary celebrations embraced the publication of this sturdy hardback. Following the merest preamble, the book consists of press release-like thumbnail sketches of all the many acts, from Affinity to Zzebra, that have issued Angel Air CDs and DVDs. Though the in-yer-face likes of The Troggs and Stackridge are represented, the preference seems to be for the more understated signings that are ‘appreciated’ as much as simply ‘liked’, and who sell steadily if unremarkably.

By the time you reach the discography, the lingering impression is that Angel Air is a firm that doesn’t market its musical produce likes tins of beans. Here the catch-phrase about the artist having a voice is�absolutely true. Ten years after, Angel Air remains as enthused by the quality of its output as by financial gain.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 0952669021

Reviewed by Alan Clayson
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