Light in the Attic Records

LIGHT IN THE ATTIC RECORDS 

 
Light In The Attic Records  is an independent record label established in 2002 in Seattle, Washington by Matt Sullivan, known for its roster of reissue projects, and for its distribution catalog.  As a reissue label, Light In The Attic has re-released works by artists such as Betty Davis, Serge Gainsbourg, Jim Sullivan, Jane Birkin, The Free Design, and many more.  The record label has also released albums by contemporary bands like The Black Angels and Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
I first heard about Jim Sullivan in a glowing piece on National Public Radio.  I heard excerpts from a few of his songs (which utterly captivated me), but the story mainly dealt with his mysterious disappearance and the attempts of his record label – Light in the Attic Records  to track him down.  They didn’t figure it out, and even reissuing his first album, U.F.O. on CD in 2010 was a major challenge, since the master tapes were long since destroyed, and the few available vinyl copies had sound problems of all kinds to deal with. 
 
For 35 years, Sullivan’s album became a kind of holy grail for record collectors.  Matt Sullivan (no relation) of Light in the Attic Records worked diligently to try to solve the mystery and to get the tracks cleaned up for re-release, and he collected some remarkable artifacts about the man and the disappearance that are shown on the CD insert.  The CD came out way too late to help Jim Sullivan himself, but now we have these marvelous songs to wonder over all over again. 
 
(October 2011)
 
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Later albums collecting Phil and the Frantics music have come out on Bacchus Archives Records (Phil and the Franticsand Light in the Attic Records (also called Phil and the Frantics); the latter label also recently released the album by past UARA Jim Sullivan   
 
(August 2012)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021