Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records

by Michael White

From 1987 to 1995, Bristol, England's Sarah Records was a modest underground success and, for the most part, a critical laughingstock in its native country-sneeringly dismissed as the sad, final repository for a fringe style of music (variously referred to as “indie-pop,” “C86,” “cutie” and “twee”) whose moment had passed. Yet now, more than 20 years after its founders symbolically “destroyed” it, Sarah is among the most passionately fetishized record labels of all time. Its rare releases command hundreds of dollars, devotees around the world hungrily seek out any information they can find about its poorly documented history, and young musicians-some of them not yet born when Sarah shut down-claim its bands (such as Blueboy, the Field Mice, Heavenly, and the Wake) as major influences.

Featuring dozens of exclusive interviews with the music-makers, producers, writers and assorted eyewitnesses who played a part in Sarah's eight-year odyssey, The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records is the first authorised biography of an unlikely cult legend.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Pop Culture

280 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael White is Senior Lecturer in Property at the University of Aberdeen Business School.

Since 1994, I've contributed hundreds of features and reviews to dozens of publications across Canada and internationally, including Glow, FASHION and Men's FASHION, Vancouver magazine, Toronto Life, WE (WestEnder), Western Living, FFWD, Exclaim! (Canada's national music newspaper), MOJO, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, enRoute, Airlines (WestJet's former in-flight magazine), and many more. My extensive interest in popular music has led to me writing the historical liner notes for several acclaimed CD reissues, as well as press releases and bios for established and up-and-coming recording artists.

Reviews

[Finlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the Sarah doc screened at Popfest, I think about half the room walked out with plans to start a band, a label, or a zine. This book has the same effect! Absolutely fascinating, sometimes uproariously funny, sometimes incredibly sad history of one of the most-loved and most-maligned record labels in history. I had a hard time putting it down. Now that I'm done, I think I'll go start a flexi label of my own...

[jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn that took me long to read but not as long as I lived it. I licensed 4 albums from Sarah Records for North American sales back in the early 90's (Blueboy - Unisex, The Orchids - Striving for the Lazy Perfection, The Wake - Tidal Wave of Hype and The Harvest Ministers - Little Dark Mansion). If you know Sarah, you know Sarah. If not, read this book and try to imagine a indie record label before the internet, before CD's even... damn, they didn't have a phone for a while.

The book covers time and bands and people in an interesting way and this results in a well told story of Matt and Clare who were Sarah Records of Bristol England. I too wrote them letters- hand written, faxed them and visited them in Bristol in order to sign the licensing deal. They are what the books says about them- nicest people who will ever meet. and Sarah Records, as the book details, was all about the people. Bands, yeah, but really the kids who took a chance with a guitar or producer or record label in order to get out into the world.

Music business sucks. Book business sucks. Music is great. Books are great. Business no. Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records is the story of people making Art. As Clare is quoted in the book says about something in particular, but I feel it speak more generally about life too-- ".. I don't think you can set out to be as famous as the Go-Betweens and succeed. You have to set out to be more famous and fail." Only then do you know what success is. Listen to these bands. Read this book.

May all my failures be as successful as Sarah Records. I still have all but the BlueBoy CD's for sale... widely.com

[Simon Bloomfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down

The book launch was 5th Nov - I started reading it in the train home and finished it over the weekend

A must read for anyone for who Sarah Records was a piece of their life

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding overview of Sarah Records. The book was short but felt very dense as I savored every word. You really get a good feel for what the times were like back then and what the label was trying to do. This was probably the most punk label ever. The worst part about reading this book was that I wanted to go and listen to every song they mentioned when they mentioned it.....

I discovered Sarah at the tail end of their existence and reading this book filled in a lot of the blanks for me. Also, it's great that these songs are available online now for easy listening.

[Richard Stokoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if you'd never heard of Sarah Records this would still be a great read. It's fair to say that the majority of the bands on the label would barely make it as footnotes in musical history, but the author's enthusiasm for them will compel you to reach for your mobile in a bid to learn more. This book was obviously a labour of love, and it was well worth the effort.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because this.

And this.

Honestly, maybe this is how I should review all the label and band books I read.

[Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best / most engaging music books I've ever read. I'm really only familiar with the (ahem) "big" Sarah bands, like The Field Mice, Blueboy, Another Sunny Day and The Orchids (along with bits and pieces from the Springfields, the Sugargliders and Shelley), but have always been intrigued by Sarah - their aesthetic was always so well-considered and beautiful, and I've loved everything I've ever heard from the label.

Michael White's elegant prose, coupled with extensive interviews with Matt and Clare and a huge number of former labelmates makes for an engaging read, and has already sent me off to track down some more bands from Sarah's extensive roster.

[Declan Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

unexpectedly moving in the final chapters. a wonderful document of a unique and important movement in britain's music culture.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really delightful book. I only knew about half of the bands when I started reading, but White kept it engaging the whole way through. I just would've liked a bit more coverage of Sarah's Australian signings, the Sugargliders and Even As We Speak - not just because I'm Australian, but because they're the best bands I discovered from reading this book.

[Danimal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad this book exists, just like I'm glad many of the singles the book talks about exist. There's just not enough writing about indie-pop! However, this book is less about Sarah Records and more about the bands that recorded for that amazing label. And maybe many of those bands aren't really that interesting to read about. Some of them are wonderful to listen to, however. I've loved the Field Mice for many years, and this gave me the push to finally dig into the Orchids' catalog, which is nice, if not maybe the most distinctive in the long run.

Anyhoo, I'm glad Michael wrote it, kinda glad I read it, and very glad I can listen to it all on Spotify now (I know, I know, they suck, but jeez what a treat to hear all these songs!).

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being sold as an academic text, this is kind of just what you would want from a book on Sarah - breathless charm, dedication to an aesthetic vision and seasoned with political anger. It’s enthusiastic and joyous and occasionally both funny and very sad. It’s basically a well made, slightly flawed but ultimately perfect loveletter to a label that was all those things too. Lovely. Next up can we have a book of all the fanzines and the cover art? Please?

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A necessary read for Sarah Records enthusiasts. Lots of juicy tidbits to be devoured.

[Don McKinlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

You probably need to be interested in Sarah records to seek this book out, but it’s a bit of a gem

[Demi Takahashi · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wish i could remember everything i read

[Pb Gon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enh!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for fans of Sarah. If you finish this and are looking for something else to read of similar quality, I recommend C86 & All That by Neil Taylor to give a good overview of what came before Sarah and led up it to.

[Eric Hinkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book about the pop label with the greatest number of amazing records per capita. Written with passion and knowledge, as well as an extremely astute setting of context (which helped for people like me, for example, born the year before the label even started). It really made me want to go to England, and made me wish I'd been there to hang out with like-minded folks way back when.

I can't say I "couldn't put it down," because after every chapter I had the unwavering urge to listen to all the bands and songs Michael White had just been writing about. Only after delving into these songs again could I start on another chapter. I found this a fun, fascinating, and not-fast way to read the book. I also trickled my way slowly through my playlist of Sarah 1-99, a process made even slower by having to repeat again and again some of my favorites (like "Sunflower", "All of a Tremble", "Clearer", "Tell Me How It Feels", "Six O'Clock is Rosary", etc.). The book also made me realize that I'd missed a handful of records, including, shockingly, some of the very best songs: "Autobiography" and "(All You Find is) Air", which I couldn't stop listening to. It also made me realize that Boyracer is actually pretty fun stuff.

There are only a couple gripes I have. One is that St. Christopher is breezed over in the span of two paragraphs, despite their sizable addition to the Sarah catalog (and their sheer longevity in general). This was sad because I know almost nothing about the band, but oh well, the wealth of info about Blueboy, Harvey Williams, Heavenly, etc. makes up for that. Another is the total neglect of mentioning The Bus Stop Label, from Iowa, who originally released "Sunflower" two years before Sarah picked it up, and who also put out "All of a Tremble" in 1989, making it the first Stateside record in the Sarah cannon (not the Heavenly 10" on K in 1992, which White thought was the first).

But that's picking nits. What YOU should do, instead, is pick up this book (if you haven't already). Now I'm anxious to watch the DVD!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of all possible books that could've been written about Sarah. Like everything in indiepop -- labels, bands, fans, fests -- this book is dripping with passion and enthusiasm. For that reason alone, I probably would've loved it -- even if the prose was a bit shambling -- but Michael White is a brilliant journalistic writer, clearly and concisely pulling together the various historical threads to paint a vibrant picture of the UK indiepop scene during Sarah's tenure. I was briefly disappointed when I realized that some of my personal favorites (especially St. Christopher) were all but absent, but in the wider view these choices make total sense. It was such a joy to rediscover these records.