A new exhibition will bring together eighty years of Isle of Wight music for the very first time.
The event, which opens next week, will feature vinyl by modern hitmakers such as Wet Leg and Coach Party as well as musicians from yesteryear like Level 42, The Bees, Craig Douglas and the Isle of Wight Cherokees.
Three week exhibition
Dozens of rare records and related ephemera will be on show at Montage Place, Ryde, for three weeks from Monday, 20th November 2023 – all with an Island connection. The earliest 78rpm records date back to the 1940s, while some exhibits are so new they are not due for release until the end of the year.
The free display has been put together by Island record label Wight Vinyl, with support from Newport shop AAA Records.
Barding: Celebrating the Island’s musical output
Wight Vinyl’s Andy Barding said,
“We want to celebrate the Island’s musical output by drawing the many strands together and putting a representative sample of this vast body of work on show for the first time.
“Most of the records displayed were bought from Island shops or directly from the artists and their record companies. Some were recovered from within piles of dusty discs in charity shops and at car boot sales. Others were borrowed from private collectors, or sourced online.
“They span eight decades of recorded sound… and a multitude of styles. Through the 20th and 21st centuries, Isle of Wight records have immortalised classical, folk, rock, pop, punk, alternative and country music – as well as the spoken word and ambient sounds of passing trains. Records have been made of artists performing at the Isle of Wight festivals. And there’s even a million-seller celebration of the 1969 festival in both French and Italian.
“In many cases, the records have outlived the people who made the sounds. Which makes them all the more important. Some of these releases are already very, very obscure. Without context, they could easily slip into permanent anonymity. That would be a crime.”
For more information or to offer items for exhibit, please contact [email protected]
News shared by Andy in his own words. Ed
