Top of the Pops - Bulgaria style

If, like me, you're old enough to remember the Cold War, you are probably still under the impression that pleasures such as pop music were not tolerated in communist-controlled Eastern Europe. Well, here's a record to make you wonder if that was really true...

This is a Top of the Pops LP from 1971, pressed in communist Bulgaria. It consists of a selection of songs taken from the UK volumes 15 and 16, and was issued on the Bulgarian national label, Balkanton.

We previously knew of three different editions of this LP, one made for Bulgarian listeners, one for export to the Soviet Union, and a third, with English text, for export to Western Europe. This latest copy is an alternative pressing of the Soviet export edition, and was sent to us by Konstantin, a record collector friend in Moscow.

The title of the album is "World's Variety" and the tracks, which are printed in Russian on the back, are as follows:

Rose Garden / Power To The People / Walkin' / Baby Jump / Stoned Love / Another Day / Candida / Sunny Honey Girl / The Pushbike Song / My Sweet Lord / Strange Kind Of Woman / Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

Enjoy this version of "Strange Kind Of Woman" by clicking here: STRANGE KINDA WOMAN 16.08.mp3

 

Above: The original UK releases