Bright Young Things - The Art and Philosophy of El Records

Existing for a few short years (1984 - 1988), él records was perhaps the most ‘cult’ of the UK so-called ‘indie’ labels. él records was created in 1984 by Mike Alway. Alway was A&R man for Cherry Red signing artists such as Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set and Felt. Alway left Cherry Red to help run Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but soon felt constrained but the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label. él was once described as ‘the most innately English record label there has ever been’ and yet had a global appeal. Alway must be the only record label boss to have had four songs written about him…

Alway’s mercurial approach was to take complete control of the repertoire, the philosophy of the label’s releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on él. He employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe) who in addition to issuing their own records wrote, arranged and performed for other él artistes and used creative talents such as photographer Nick Wesolowski and designer Jim Phelan to create the él l'ook’. él had a unique flavour eschewing the traditions of rock and indie music of the mid 1980s, exhibiting instead a taste for 1960s bubblegum and chamber pop, the European chanson tradition, Latin rhythms and film scores (one of él’s key players was child prodigy Simon Turner who wrote music for the films of Derek Jarman). The ethos of the label was decidedly un-macho and many of él’s key artists were female. Él’s first single ‘I, Bloodbrother Be’ by Shock Headed Peters was an uncompromising gay anthem. Alway saw él as a celebration of elegance and beauty, in his own words, “a pop world beyond leather jackets and jeans”. While record sales were disappointing, this unique blend was critically acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe while in Japan él had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Cornelius and Kahimi Karie.

Bright Young Things is the first book to tell the fascinating story of él, one of the most influential indie labels of all time