Do you really own a first vinyl pressing?

Here you can find the record labels Island used for John's UK releases. This info can prove useful as some traders have a tendency to put a near mint (= newer) release in a nice looking original sleeve with lyric sheet.

The white labels used on both releases of Live at Leeds are left out since they were 'independent'. Also there was no use for the Antille's labels from Canada, the German pink labels with a black 'i', the Australian Island or the black Island labels from France since these were all licensed releases.

Island was founded in 1962 by Chris Blackwell although some sources say it was 1959. The label was named after a 1956 novel Island In The Sun by Alec Waugh (Evelyn Waugh's elder brother). In the beginning it produced mainly reggae releases. Halfway 1967 the label adopted progressive rock which coincided with the introduction of the famous pink labels. All mono releases were on the first pink label but it does not work the other way round.

From this table it becomes clear that the albums changed face faster than the singles.

album label	albums	timestrip		singles	single label
	London Conversation (mono)	1967	Oct
	The Tumbler (stereo)	1968	Dec
		1969	July
		1969	Oct/ Nov
	No JM reissues or releases on this 'black block' label
		1970	Jan	John The Baptist (different pink label)
	Stormbringer!	1970	Feb
	The Road To Ruin	1970	Nov
		1970	Dec
	Bless The Weather	1971	Nov
		1971	Nov	May You Never
	Solid Air (gatefold, ILPS9226)	1973	Feb
	Inside Out (gatefold, lyrics)	1973	Oct
	Sunday's Child (lyrics)	1975	Jan
	London Conversation (mono rerelease)	1975	??
	The Tumbler reissue.	1975	??
	Stormbringer! reissue.	1975	??
	The Road To Ruin reissue with Witchseason logo.	1975	??
		1975	Dec
		1977	Feb	Over The Hill
	So Far So Good (gatefold)	1977	Mar
	One World (lyrics, ILPS9492)	1977	Nov
		1978	Jan	Dancing
	Grace & Danger	1980	Oct
		1980	Oct	Johnny Too Bad
		1981	Mar	Johnny Too Bad dub remix
		1981	May	Sweet Little Mystery
	The Electric John Martyn	1982	Oct
		1984	Oct	Over The Rainbow
	Sapphire	1984	Nov
	Piece By Piece (gatefold, lyrics)	1986	Feb
		1986	Feb	Angeline (7 ")
		1986	Feb	Classic John Martyn (12 ")
		1986	Mar	Lonely Love (12 ")
		1986	Aug	Island Life Media Sampler (promo)
	One World reissue (no lyrics, ILPM9492)	1986	Sep
		1986	Oct	Lonely Love (7 ")
		1986	Oct	Island Life Media Sampler (promo)
	Solid Air reissue (single sleeve, ILPM9226)	1986	Nov
	Foundations	1987	Oct
album label	albums	timestrip		singles	single label

There have been more rereleases: of Bless The Weather and Solid Air on the blue rim label (so mid 70's), and of The Tumbler, The Road To Ruin and Inside Out on the blue label (probably mid 80's), but it is difficult to pinpoint their release dates.

The third pink label lasted longer in Australia, it was used as late as 1973.

The album labels are of course originally copyright of Island Records and reproduced here by kind permission of Ian & Stephanie Rennie, makers of an impressive and informative Fairport Convention website and also owners of the former Musikfolk webstore. Their info was largely based on a Record Collector story.

Simply Vinyl records rereleased two JM albums on audiophile 180 grams high quality vinyl: Solid Air and Grace & Danger. They used this pink Island label which is nice but not quite accurate as the pink labels stopped in 1970 and the rereleases were made 1999 and 2000, the original albums originating from 1973 and 1980 respectively. On the other hand this is a good way to identify genuine HQ pressings.

Meanwhile Rob Caldwell gets the honour of tracking down the strangest label for London Conversation. This layout was in fact used very rarely in 1980 by Island, also for a UK release of Grace & Danger, and I also saw a reissue of So Far So Good with it. But this scan comes from a mono (!) rerelease in Italy with an additional catalogue number Orizzonte ORL 8373 on the sleeve. My own Italian copy has the same catalogue number but a blue day/night label.

And while we're at it, how about this US holiday card? Almost Baywatch avant la lettre...