At the same time that I became the label manager at Liberty, Transamerica Corporation in the States had bought both United Artists and Liberty. Andrew Lauder's tale is a classic one: young and naïve country boy who came to the big city, fell into a random, entry-level but opportune position at the publishing company Southern Music, and went on to make his mark in the industry for half a century. Among the players were Leapy Lee, Dave Margerrison, Dick Leahy and Daily Mirror editor Richard Stott.

Lauder and Riviera also started Demon Music Group in 1980, to concentrate on the singles market, early signings including Department S and Bananarama. Soon after, we signed the Flamin’ Groovies and some other oddball bands, things that did fairly well without really hitting the charts. Fritz at least finished the tracks, which would have been enough for an album, but while Dave’s tracks still sounded great the rest were more like demos.

My first job with Liberty was radio promotion, getting records played on the radio and it coincided with the beginning of Radio 1 in September 1967.

He also has significant experience advising banks and sponsors on the hedging aspects of financings (infrastructure and leveraged finance), including deal contingent hedging, as well as workouts of derivatives portfolios in distressed scenarios. I’d always thought we’d recorded too early and didn’t trust my instincts that the band was under- cooked. Andrew is a derivatives and structured finance specialist, with a particular focus on TRS and repo linked funding structures, synthetic securitisations, CLOs and bespoke repackaging transactions. After a while, the American guy said ‘you’re doing such a good job as label manager that you might as well do it’. Lauder was co-founder of the labels Radar, F-Beat, Demon and Silvertone; this came after a decade in United Artists corporate trenches backing such unlikely nags as Can, Hawkwind, Dr Feelgood, and The Stranglers, as well as fading memories like the Groundhogs and Man.He's always retained a fan's perspective which, combined with an exceptional knowledge of music, meant he was at ease around musicians and never happier than spending time with them. Lemmy’s first trio came together quickly with Pink Fairies’ guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. With all this in mind, UK record industry veteran Andrew Lauder’s memoir is not necessarily one for those who prefer these things to teem with improbable tales of incredible narcotic excess.

He was ahead of the game in other ways, too; pioneering a more creative way of marketing and promoting records and revolutionising the way catalogue was organised and presented.With our high quality and fast digitizing process, we help newspaper archives in converting their physical prints into digital format. Lauder's far-sighted recruitment of Amon Düül II and Can lit the fuse for the 'krautrock' explosion of the early 1970s (a term, incidentally, that he loathed); and Lauder effectively god-parented the pub rock boom a couple of years later. It's remarkable how, in a book which documents his many successes and accomplishments, that lovely voice and manner is still unmistakable.