Description

Fifty Forgotten Records by R.B. Russell

Hardcover – Tartarus Press – April 2025 – 244 pages

Ray Russell was not at the crossroads when Robert Johnson met the devil, and he didn’t see Elvis Presley perform live. He wasn’t at Woodstock, or Altamont, or on the roof of the Apple Building. To his enduring frustration, he didn’t get to see The Sex Pistols in Manchester at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976, because he was only ten years old.

There will be many others who are just as passionate about music as Russell, who also failed to be in the audience at seminal moments in music history. But, like him, they own records that mean the world to them, and have seen bands play who blew them away. The point is, we all treasure our own personal musical histories because they enrich our lives. This book is a celebration of being a committed music fan.

Ray Russell co-runs Tartarus Press with his partner, Rosalie Parker. He formed a band at seventeen and discovered he couldn’t sing. Close friends released a record which used his lyrics, but John Peel played another of their songs. He ran a record label for a month, worked in a record shop and has released a few records of his own music.