El Pea

Infobox Album
Name = El Pea
Type = Compilation
Artist = Various Artists


Released = 1971
Recorded =
Genre = Rock
Length =
Label = Island Records IDLP-2
*Holland : Island Records (Ariola - Eurodisc Benelux NV) STEREO 85 378 XT (1971)
*Germany : Island Records (Ariola - Eurodisc GmbH) 85 378 XT (1971)
Producer = Various
Reviews =
Chronology = Series
Last album = "Bumpers"
(1970)
This album = El Pea
Next album =

The success of its predecessors in marketing Island Records' roster of artists perhaps made this compilation inevitable; the budget priced album format had established its credentials in generating interest in new albums for several record labels and had become almost a routine. El Pea (a pun on "L.P.", short for "long-player"), despite the quality of its featured acts, was the last original sampler from Island Records. Nevertheless, the lasting popularity of the the series that had begun with You Can All Join In but three years earlier ensured the commercial feasibility of later meta-compilations [compilations from compilations] , especially on the fresh medium of compact disc. Island Records is all but unique in benefiting from the nostalgia generated by compilations such as El Pea.

Track listing

Side One

# "Empty Pages" (Winwood/Capaldi) - Traffic (from John Barleycorn Must Die (ILPS 9116))
# "Late November" (Denny) - Sandy Denny (no source specified) [The track later appeared on "The North Star Grassman and the Ravens" album (ILPS 9165). This version has an alternative vocal track to the "Northstar" version; it later appeared on the reissued Island Masters version of "Northstar" (IMCD 313, 2005)] (4:25) [Timings have been obtained from available sources; there are none listed in El Pea itself, therefore their accuracy is not guaranteed]
# "Thru The Night" (The Alan Bown/Lyric Bown/Bannister) - Alan Bown (no source specified) [This track features Robert Palmer on vocals and only appears here and on the 2005 metacompilation "Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal" (Catalogue# UM3).]
# "Song For Suzie" (Tony Colton/Ray Smith/Albert Lee) - Heads Hands & Feet (from ILPS 9149 [Titled "Heads Hands & Feet" on issue] ) [replaced by "Auntie Aviator" by John & Beverley Martyn from "The Road To Ruin" on Dutch/German issues] .
# "Lord Marlborough" (Trad. Arr. Fairport) - Fairport Convention - (no source cited) [This was released on Angel Delight (ILPS 9162)] (3:27)

Side Two

# "Mother Goose" (Anderson) - Jethro Tull (from ILPS 9145 Aqualung) (3:51)
# "Dive Deep" (Quintessence) - Quintessence (from ILPS 9143 "Dive Deep")
# "Spring Season" (Gladwin) - Amazing Blondel (from ILPS 9136 "Evensong")
# "Extract from "Tomorrow's People - The Children Of Today" (Giles) - McDonald & Giles (from their album ILPS 9126) [Eponymously titled]
# "Our Love Will Not Decay" (S. Condell) - Tir na nÓg (from their Chrysalis album to be released May 1971) [alternative version of the same song on their album ILPS 9153 "Tír na nÓg")]
# "Don't Look Around" (West/Palmer/Pappalardi/Collins) - Mountain (from their album ILPS 9148 "Nantucket Sleighride") (3:47)

ide Three

# "Highway Song" (Fraser/Kossoff) - Free (from ILPS 9138 Highway) (4.14)
# "Waiting For You" (Williamson) - Incredible String Band (from ILPS 9140 "Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending")
# "Wild World" (Stevens) - Cat Stevens (from ILPS 9135 Tea for the Tillerman) (3:20)
# "Sudden Street" (Roden) - Bronco (no source cited) [This became a track on the album "Ace of Sunlight" (ILPS 9161)] (6:23)
# "Feast of Stephen" (Heron) - Mike Heron (from ILPS 9146 Smiling Men with Bad Reputations)

Side Four

# "Knife Edge" (Emerson/Lake/Fraser) - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (from ILPS 9132 Emerson Lake & Palmer) (5:04)
# "One of these Things First" (Drake) - Nick Drake (from ILPS 9134 Bryter Layter) [This is actually the track "Northern Sky" from the same album] (3:47)
# "Original Mixed-Up Kid" (Hunter) - Mott the Hoople (from ILPS 9144 Wildlife)
# "Can't Stop Worrying, Can't Stop Loving" (D. Mason) - Jimmy Cliff (from his forthcoming Island album) [This was "Struggling Man" (ILPS 9235), not, however, released until 1973]
# "Greyhound Bus" (Abrahams) - Mick Abrahams (from their album ILPS 9147) [This was "A Musical Evening With Mick Abrahams" (ILPS 9147 but issued on the Chrysalis Records label (1971)]

The Cover

The cover, of course, features a photograph of a pea, underlining the pun of the title.Being a double album, the packaging was in gatefold format. The discs themselves (without paper liners) were stored in vinyl pockets, the apertures being "protected" by plastic foam. This design had two major faults: static electricity discharges, and scratches on the disks; in addition, the pockets had a tendency to detach from the main cover and it is now difficult to find a copy which has not been repaired in some way.

As with previous Island samplers, the artists themselves get pretty short shrift as far as the cover is concerned; each is illustrated, but none is identified. They do all have long hair, however.

Cover Credits

*Ray Rathborne - Photography
*Alan Crackness - Illustrations
*Douglas Maxwell Ltd - Concept/Design [This design company created several album covers at about the same time, for bands such as Wild Turkey [http://www.nice-little-hobbit.net/wild_turkey/wild_turkey.html] and Uriah Heep, often working with Ray Rathborne, the photographer for this compilation] .

References