Starting out as a singles buyer for a record shop, Jeff Barrett went on, via Revolver and Creation, to enduring success as founder of Heavenly Records. Ben Wardle visits Barrett’s bar to find out more

Ben Wardle

“When I was at school, careers people would come round and say: ‘What do you wanna do?’ and I’d say: ‘Work in a record shop’. All I wanted to do was work in a record shop. Back then, the mines were still open and they’d say: ‘Have you thought about the pit?’” Sipping his first pint and enjoying the unseasonably clement weather, Jeff Barrett sits opposite LLV, perched comfortably on a table outside his own gaff. Next year, The Social – Barrett’s bar and venue, just round the corner from London’s Oxford Circus – will be 20 years old. His label, Heavenly, is just shy of 30. We’re here to celebrate the man’s life through vinyl, but initially at least, the past is not high on Jeff’s agenda: “We’re doing good now. We’re so strong now that I actually believe we’re as good as we’ve ever been… so looking back isn’t the thing, really – tomorrow’s more important.”

He’s right. Despite lamenting that he hasn’t had a band on BBC flagship music show Later… in 12 years, the month after we meet he’ll be sitting on the set watching Jools introduce his current signings multilingual singer Gwenno and Cardiff psych-rock fourpiece Boy Azooga, as well as globe-straddling early signings Manic Street Preachers. Past releases include Saint Etienne, Beth Orton, Doves and The Magic Numbers, who together have racked up millions of sales. Not bad for someone who sees his career in a very straightforward manner. “I just like putting out records. If every day allows me to put a record out and meet supremely talented artists, then… I’m a fanboy, really.

Barrett’s love of vinyl goes back a long way: “Record shops were like libraries to me – fountains of knowledge”

Pics: Wendy Barrett

DOVES

LOST SOULS

UK 2000

(Double vinyl) £167

A triumph for the EMI incarnation of Heavenly, this – along with their second and third albums, The Last Broadcast and Some Cities (both No. 1s) – is essential listening. Fourth album Kingdom Of Rust contains the magnificent title track, but is patchy. As Barrett says: “An amazing single, but you knew they were struggling to get on with each other at that point – they’d burned really intensely and worked really hard and they’d all grown up; kids, marriages, dead parents, and they were sick of each other…”

CHERRY GHOST

THIRST FOR ROMANCE

UK 2007

(Double vinyl) £60

“I loved this to bits,” says Jeff. Featuring the distinctive voice of Simon Aldred, this debut reached No. 7. Its follow up, Beneath This Burning Shoreline, didn’t capitalise on the band’s success and is one of only a few Heavenly LPs never released on vinyl.

BETH ORTON

TRAILER PARK

UK 1996

£40

Orton’s Heavenly debut contains the beautiful She Cries Your Name co-written with her boyfriend, producer William Orbit. It was the next record, Central Reservation, which earned her a BRIT Award in 2000 for Best Female Artist.