Friday, September 7, 2012

Senn Sound - Top Hits series - your help needed!

We are currently researching a series of 8-track cartridge and cassette releases on the Senn Sound label. Some of these are probably overseas releases, but some are almost certainly UK. We need some help in sorting these out - please contact use if you can add any information to what is below or if you have any images we could use.

What we know about Senn Sound:

Senn Sound were a Swiss-based company, mainly known for manufacturing 8-track cartridge players. They also released a run of budget cartridges and cassettes. There is some evidence that the Senn Sound label was started by the Swiss band, The Livings.

What we know about the Top Hits cartridges:

For starters, we think there might be as many as four different series! Most likely these came out in different European countries, and a few of these we have info on - photos, track listings, catalogue numbers etc.There is an Italian series believed to have been issued in quadrophonic, and also at least one series which seems to be a UK project.

Our data so far:


SERIES 1

 

The cartridges above have a white bar across the top, and feature models next to (and on top of!) vintage cars. The words "Senn Sound" are printed in a variety of colours at the bottom of the photo. These examples are volumes 11, 13, 17 and (on cassette) 5.

Piecing together what we know, these would have started up around the beginning of 1972 and appeared every month or so until at least late-1973. The catalogue numbers seem to have started at 1002 for volume 1, so volume 11, for example, has number 1012. (The cassette has volume 5 as 3006.) We do not believe these were UK issues.


SERIES 2 - UK RELEASES


These cartridges are believed to be from the UK and are similar in appearance to Series 1, featuring the same artwork. The one on the left is volume 11, and next to it is volume 12 and the catalogue numbers are also the same as on Series 1 - volume 11 is numbered 1012 and volume 12 is 1013. However they do not have the white bar at the top of the labels, and instead have a panel of small print at the bottom.

We are fortunate to have a copy of volume 11, and the track listing shows it to date to around May 1973, which implies these cartridges covered roughly the same time span as Series 1, reinforcing the idea that Series 1 are not UK releases.

Below are some more images of UK volume 11. Note the UK copyright disclaimer on the back:











SERIES 3


This series is called "12 Top Hits" and has different cover art - the models are always sitting on the beach. There are two different editions of volume 1 shown above, and the right-hand one could well be from a different set of releases.

The catalogue numbers for these are much later than the other series - volume 4 is 1071 and volume 5 is 1072. These appear to have been commenced around the start of 1973 and run through towards the end of that year. They therefore overlap with the series above, and are probably from yet another country. 


SERIES 4: ITALIAN QUADROPHONIC 

We do not have any images of these, but we do know that a quad series was issued in Italy. They were called Top Hits, and the two we have heard of are as follows:

     Top Hits 1 - cat no. Q8 4002
     Top Hits 8 - cat no. Q8 4009

Of course it follows logically that issues 2 to 7 also appeared in the sequence and possbly more after volume 8. Although volume 1 seems like a standard collection, volume 8 is believed to have been composed of songs all sung in French!


ONE MORE ODDITY



We're not sure how this one fits into the above series - or indeed, if it does at all. It is visually different from the others, although it has a similar car theme on the photo. The print on the back includes mention of the performing rights society, MCPS, who were responsible for the UK - so there is a possibility this is a UK release. However it does not resemble the others we know of (above) so the issue of where it came from remains open.

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This sums up all we currently know. We would like to find out more about these. Please contact us if you can help - our email address is at the top of the page - or leave your comments below.

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UPDATE...

The following cartridge has turned up. It's called volume 9 and is probably part of the UK set (which we are calling series 2), despite the differences in the cover art...

5 comments:

  1. Have a look here for information about Senn Sound quadraphonic releases.

    http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?14491-Quad-in-Italy-a-%28partial%29-search

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Collectors,
    I am currently selling a senn sound recorder with some cassettes on ebay. Senn Sound Top Hits 6 and 9 are also part of the collection.
    Feel free to join the auction.

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/281129117626?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

    Best regards
    JR

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been doing research on quadraphonic releases for some time (any format, any matrix, any country). From my research, plus the link to QuadraphonicQuad above, this is all of the Senn Sound quad 8-tracks that I know of (asterisk means I have a photo of the item):

    4000 [artist unknown] - Sounds Like Santo & Johnny
    4001 [no artist] - Music From Movies*
    4002 [no artist] - Top Hits 1*
    4004 [no artist] - Top Hits 3*
    4005 [no artist] - Top Hits 4*
    4007 [no artist] - Top Hits 6*
    4009 [no artist] - Top Hits 8
    4010 [no artist] - [no title - probably Top Hits 9]*
    4021 Jan Langosz - Forever with Napoli
    4026 Giancarlo Zucchi - Ballate il liscio
    4038 [no artist] - Deutsche Hitparade 1*
    4048 [no artist] - Internationale Hitparade 5*
    4057 Don Barry - Sax with love
    4062 Don Barry - Sax with love 2
    4063 Don Barry - Sax with love 3
    4064 Don Barry - Sax with love 4

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi. That's a very interesting bit of research! Are these Italian releases? 4021 suggests they are. I would greatly appreciate any images you may have of the Top Hits ones - any quality would be fine. I may be able to do another blog post. The email address is toppopper@live.co.uk

      Thanks for posting this info.

      Delete
  4. Bit late in comenting but the only senn sound cartdrige i have is 12 Top Hits 4 (cat number 1071)

    http://s28.postimg.org/voxbea3kt/2015_09_21_15_43_52.jpg

    http://s8.postimg.org/q9990d4t1/2015_09_21_15_44_14.jpg


    ReplyDelete