Friday, October 19, 2012

Studio 33 compilation from West Germany

I seem to have come across quite a few overseas editions of the UK covers albums lately, and here's another one. This LP, "England's Top 12", is a West German LP which utilises tracks from two of the obscure British albums on the Studio 33 label.





The back of the sleeve is identical to the front, and there is no indication of where these recordings originate. We of course know they are from the Avenue stable, but the original UK albums they are copied from are untitled, identifiable only by their catalogue numbers. This West German LP compiles tracks from AVE 10-010 and AVE 10-011, themselves so rare I am not even sure what the cover of AVE 10-010 looks like (can anyone help??).

Untitled UK album: AVE 10-011

Back in the UK, the Studio 33 label eventually gave way to the main Avenue label, whereupon the "England's 12 Top Hits" series came into being. What is particularly interesting is that as early as 1968, while the UK albums still had no name, West Germany had already launched this as a title (or something very close).

One more point: eagled-eyed readers will notice the "2" at the bottom of the cover. There is, in fact, also a volume "1" from West Germany. It is a direct pressing of the UK album, AVE 10-009, which so far as we know, was the very first Studio 33 LP released, so it looks like West Germany were right in on the action from the very beginning...


3 comments:

  1. I've had the first of these LPs for years, and I've got Vols. 3 and 4 as well! Semi forgot about them. Will e-mail pictures later this weekend-Vol.4 is great!!!

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  2. I uploaded volume 3 to my blog last year :) http://darnall42s70sstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/englands-top-12-volume-3-somerset-1968.html

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    1. Thanks - it's so great that you uploaded a copy! I downloaded MP3s from you just a short while ago, without realising the significance of what I had. Thanks to Declan (above) I now have a better understanding of this German series - I make it at least eight LPs released there in total. The full series (at least, as I now know it) can be seen here, under "West Germany":

      http://hitcovers.weebly.com/overseas-englands-12-top-hits.html

      Anyone reading this, and wanting to hear copies of these great Avenue/Studio 33 rarities - be sure to check out Darnall's fantastic blog post mentioned above - and indeed all of his blog.

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