From the press release:

A quietly spoken, true English eccentric with something of a rebellious streak, Tony Stratton Smith initially charmed and blustered his way into the music business as a manager during the early 1960s and a few years later, when the record labels stopped playing by what he believed to be the rules, he simply went and formed his own —The Famous Charisma Label — and set about spinning the record business on its head. An independent label like no other, it is fair to say that without Strat’s total belief and unwavering long-term support there would be no Genesis — Phil Collins has said as much — and a long line of artists owe Tony a similar debt of gratitude, from Monty Python to Malcolm McLaren, Lindisfarne to Sir John Betjeman, Vivian Stanshall to Julian Lennon.

 

A former sports journalist and close friend to Jimmy Greaves and Sir Matt Busby (Strat narrowly missed a seat in the Munich Air crash) he later became a popular figure in the horse racing world. But making money was never very high on Tony’s agenda, simply a means to an end that enabled him to fund the music and mayhem that brought him so much enjoyment. Strat was never happier than when the artists that he had so carefully nurtured were fulfilling their creative potential, delighting in working with the talents of Peter Gabriel, Alan Hull, Clifford T. Ward, Howard Werth and Peter Hammill.

 

Ultimately, what he really cared about were the people, the creativity, about imagination, inspiration and risk, and the sheer joy to be had in bringing all those elements together, lighting the Charisma-pink touch paper and standing back, glass in hand, to watch what might happen when the sparks began to fly.

Good pick, I'll definitely look into it.   It's guys like this who gave us prog rock that was accessible and well-produced .

I don't know ... this would be interesting, but then only to find that ... we got tired of AP's excursions with the acoustic guitar and not concentrating on the songs kind of thing, and then learning how PG's voice was made to "fit" the songs, with some acting, rather than singing.

Of bigger and better interest, TO ME, would be the number of side bands that they introduced that will be ignored ... and maybe only a paragraph said ... when PG gets 747 paragraphs ... not interested in that at all ... and PG, as much as I enjoyed a lot of his music and the show I saw was excellent ... in the end, is not at all as memorable and enjoyable as other things out there, including GENESIS.

I am not a great fan of books that go about ... the fame ... and the fortune ... and if you want a great example of an "anti-book", go read Anita Pallenburg's book, and it demystifies a lot the crap that we believed in, but also shows another side of the whole thing ... not to mention the placement and the ability of well to do "royals" from various places getting around.

I might look for a used copy for a couple of dollars ... I would like to review this, but seeing AUDIENCE, or any other band, only get 3 paragraphs ... is painful for me ... very painful ... there were a lot of musicians that helped make that label and work come together to be seen and shown ... and STILL ... I imagine that most of it will be buried and left behind!

Ive wanted to do a 'Charisma' label thread for a long time- as a label it was so much more forward thinking, mostly due to TSS and its independance. Vertigo, Harvest, Neon etc they were all part of corporates and just on the look out for what 'Progressive' bands they could get on their rosters.. TSS signed up acts and artists that 'moved' him and was prepared to invest and develop acts often out of his own pocket.. there are lots of  more obscure early Charisma releases which, although not 'Progressive rock' were certainly progressive for the times..

Hi,

And guess what my collection of music started on? Yep ... you got it! Probably the most "complete" Harvest of anyone you know ... that sadly no one will talk about and in the end, many of these people and their music is long gone and buried.

Vertigo is specially important for all of us, and it started in the late 60's and was done mostly by the FATHER OF PROGRESSIVE music ... and he deserves more stuff on him than a lot of folks better known. Met him in 1999 in SF at Gilly's birthday party ... an awesome moment. Picture of George on my webpages ... from that day on the Photography section.