Copycat Cover Records: Mr Pickwick

There are some tricky things for cover version aficionados to achieve. One of them is collecting together a full set of the "Top of the Pops" spin-off EPs issued on the Mr Pickwick label in the '70s and '80s. There were no fewer than 25 of them, all containing tracks from the main albums, 13 of which were branded as "Top of the Tots".

Putting those ones aside, the remaining dozen were all marketed to kids, and, one imagines, ended up scratched, battered and bruised on their way to being discarded as their owners reached adolescence. All of which explains the rarity factor.

I started collecting the UK Top of the Pops records in 2006 (I think!), which means it's taken me a full decade to track down a complete set of these EPs. When I started this blog in 2012, I owned eight of the 12. That year I picked up my ninth, "TV Funtime" - see here.

Three to go... It took until February 2014 to chalk off another - "Pop Around The World Volume 1" - see here. Wants list down to two!

And now, come October 2016, I've managed against all odds to pick up both of the remaining EPs to complete the set. Finally I have "Summer Special" and "Sunshine Special". And as you can tell, I'm pretty pleased about it. Here are some scans.

These two summery titles came out late in the series' run, I believe in 1981 (although they are not dated) despite being made up of 1970s recordings. We know that because a few with earlier catalogue numbers had later material - for example MP 9053 contains a version of "Vienna" from "Top of the Pops" volume 84.

So now I can rest, secure in the glow of a completed set. Here is the full dozen side-by-side. And there can't be many full collections out there...