10 years of Kscope

10 years of Kscope

by Pete Clemons

https://kscopemusic.com/

I was recently reminded of the days of classic budget sampler LPs such as ‘The Rock Machine Turns You On’ and ‘You Can All Join in’ by way of a CD celebrating 10 years of the Kscope label.

Admittedly, the 10-year celebration was a year ago now, but the CD came as an additional freebie I received as being part of an order I made through distribution mail order outlet Burning Shed.

Rock Machine and You Can All Join in, were compilations released by their respective labels, CBS and Island, as part of campaigns to turn people on to the exciting new sounds of the late 1960s. As opposed to this Kscope release that has been released to celebrate a decade of the label.

Rock Machine sold over 140,000 copies and entered the charts during June 1969. It featured and introduced us to bands such as The Byrds, Moby Grape, Blood Sweat and Tears and Spirit. And it was described at the time thus...’it's the happening sounds of today. It's all here - the talent, the product and the big concept to make it all happen. Now, doesn't that turn you on?’

Similarly, You Can All Join In was instrumental in giving bands such as Free, Jethro Tull, Spooky Tooth and Traffic exposure to a wider audience as it reached number 18 in the charts.

And this Kscope release has been designed to showcase the more underground sounds of today. And the importance of this unassuming album can’t be overstated.

Kscope, now an independent company, was formed during the very late 1990s. It was Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree who thought up the name which came from a play on the word Kaleidoscope. Plus, it reminded Steven of that old TV promoted budget label of the seventies, K-Tel, which also appealed to him.

Initially Kscope was an outlet for the music of Steven Wilson’s own band Porcupine Tree. In fact, the first release on the label was an album called ‘Stupid Dream’ by Porcupine Tree released during 1999. But the Kscope label went dormant when Porcupine Tree signed up for Lava Records at the time of their 2002 album release ‘In Absentia’.

May 2008, however, saw the Kscope name revived after Steven Wilson suggested that the label be opened for new releases by new talent and allow the bands to develop musically. It provided a home for the growing post-progressive genre and an evolving, flexible and adventurous style of music without boundaries.

As such The Pineapple Thief became one of the first of that new talent to be signed up and the bands seventh album ‘Tightly Unwound’ became the first album released on the newly revived Kscope label.

Kscope albums are available via an on-line distribution company called Burning Shed. Burning Shed is run by artists and musicians for artists and musicians. Given that, you are always guaranteed a first-class service. Additionally, however, I have even noticed that our own relocated HMV has a good number of Kscope products available on their shelves.

You Can All Join In was chronicled at the time as ‘one of those seamless compilations that simply cannot be improved upon. A dozen tracks highlight the best – and that is the best – of Islands recent and forthcoming output’.

This was exactly the feeling I experienced on first hearing the Kscope compilation containing the work of No-Man, Engineers, Blackfield, Gazpacho, Lunatic soul, Tesseract and many others.