Rich Cohen - The Record Men: Chess Records and the Birth of Rock & Roll

This is a book that nearly passed us by. Initially published in the USA in 2004 it came out in the UK in 2005 - I believe even the UK publishers (Profile Books) have admitted that it was badly promoted and didn't reach the audience that its qualities merited. First and foremost a book about the record industry (less so the music), it majors on how the Chess label, and the other key record men of the period, embraced the changing musical landscape and turned the new sound into a multi-billion pound business.

Written with a passion and exuberance that mirrors the music of the period, it tells the tale of the embryonic beginnings of a new industry - overviewing the way that Chess aggressively acquired its artists, the dubious business dealings, the "persuasive" approach with distributors, all combined with a genuine love for the music that was being recorded. We also get some lovely insights into the relationships among the entrepreneurs / owners of the emerging labels, especially the one with Atlantic, probably the only independent label to outclass and outsell Chess.

Cohen appears to be a fan - and that means we never lose sight of the creative musical process as he takes through the beginnings and development of what turned out to be one of the most important label's in black music history. Buy this if you're interested in the creation of an independent label and the business processes that kept it solvent - there are others listed in the Shades Literature file that do the music better, but few capture what it took to keep a label afloat as well as this one.

A very fine companion to the Charlie Gillett's "Making Tracks - The History Of Atlantic Records" and, in all truth, a more exciting read, possibly a better book?