Very rare box set on Ebay

Back in 1968 (we think!) mfp took the extraordinary step of re-issuing their first four budget cover version albums in a special box set - containing the albums, Hits '67, Smash Hits, Heart Hits and Hits '68.

Some years ago I spotted one online and bought it - I have never seen or heard of another copy anywhere until now. Remarkably, one of these mega-rare box sets is up for sale on Ebay:

More info on this box set can be found here. And here's an old blog post I did about my own copy back in 2012.

For a reasonable £29 plus shipping, this holy grail for cover version fans can be yours if you're quick. Here's a link to the Ebay listing.

It looks to be in reasonable condition, with some light wear and tear, and also has the original printed insert. Judging by the photos, the inner sleeves are later, but could easily be swapped for plain white ones, as originally issued. And some sticker removal would be in order for at least one of the record labels! Nonetheless, a great item for someone out there.

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**UPDATE: Item is sold.

Take Aim – here come 100 number 1s of the 60s!

The Aim label isn’t exactly a household name, but it appears on our cover version radar as an imprint of the Artistry stable, who issued their monthly “Smash Tracks” series on cassette, from 1978 onwards (see here). Aim appears to have been introduced around 1980 and helped re-launch Artistry’s regular series under the tweaked name, “Today’s Smash Hits”.

Besides these regular tape-only albums, there were a number of related off-shoot cassettes. A full discography seems never to have been published, but on my travels I had previously discovered a cassette called “20 Fantastic Number 1 Hits from the 60s” – volume 5, no less – so there must have been others. Not a regular series of course, but of much interest anyway.

And then these appeared on Ebay:

 Wow – all five of the set in one go. Of course I had to have it. They were issued in a printed slip-case – fantastically presented, it has to be said. Here is the whole set together:

The final image above is of the bottom of the box, and you can see Artistry’s brand label still there, as originally sold.

The track listing is fascinating. I won’t type out all 100 tracks here, but you can see what’s included from the back of the box:

We know that the standard UK cover versions started in the early 1960s. However the tapes, “1960-1961” and “1962-1963” are early even for the first EPs, and we struggle to identify the origins of these recordings.

It gets easier for “1964-1965” as practically all were on the old “Top Six” EPs. For example, here’s where “A Hard Days Night” first surfaced:

“1966-1967" seems split between “Top Six” and the first Avenue EPs, which started up in 1967, so we can see where these come from too. Here’s where you first heard “Silence Is Golden”:

The final cassette in the box, “1968-1969” contains tracks almost entirely from the Avenue LPs, as well as the Marble Arch “Chart Buster” albums which often shared the same material. Check out the old Avenue albums for these tracks, for example, “Sugar Sugar”, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "Love At First Sight", on the LP below:

Here are some images of that fifth cassette, which links in directly to the covers LPs we know and love:

This box set collection was the handiwork of Colin Richardson, and was sold by mail order. (It was also promoted on British radio.) We think it’s a fantastic item, and one which we are proud to have in our collection.

And just for the record, here are a few more of the Aim cassettes – please let us know if you have any others we can add to our database...

++++++++++++++++   UPDATE - MARCH 2017  ++++++++++++++++++

Since posting the above, we've spotted a variant on Ebay. See how the cassette shell is black, with print directly onto the plastic:

Casette auctions on Ebay

I wonder how many budget cover version LPs have gone to landfill over the years? Probably millions. No-one buying them on the cheap in the 1970s would have imagined that 40 years on, there would be an internet and a collectors' scene, or that these items would attract decent prices on the market. As for the cassette editions, even more disposable, right?

Well, there have been a couple of interesting sales on Ebay this week, illustrating the continuing interest in these old albums - and particularly the rarer cassette versions. First came the item below, which needs little introduction.

This 69th album in the series was the last one to be produced by Top of the Pops stalwart, Bruce Baxter, who signed off at the end of 1978. This scarce cassette edition closed on Ebay at a handsome £20.99.

We were alerted to the auction below by an anonymous post on the blog, and of course followed the auction with interest. We have already featured the vinyl edition twice on this blog, once when we investigated the original UK release and again when we learned that it had been issued in, of all places, Brazil. See posts here and here.

Amazingly, this is a cassette edition which contains four tapes housed inside a compact box. From what we can tell, the tapes contain a whole LP on each side, so all six albums are crammed onto three cassettes.

It's nice to see the fourth cassette present too. It's the 'extra' album, Rock 'n' Roll of the 50s, which there was some uncertainty over whether it was included in the UK set at all. This discovery all but proves that it was.

I have never seen this cassette box set before, and there are presumably very few copies left in circulation. The closing price for this example was a respectable £16, and for the lucky winner, a real rarity for the collection.

If you spot any unusual or interesting items on Ebay, drop us an email. We're always interested in what's out there and what collectors are up to. Tip: There's a copy of Top of the Pops vol 91 on Ebay right now!

Chart Busters box set surfaces in Brazil

A while back, I posted details of a Readers Digest box set called "Chart Busters", which I picked up on a charity shop run (see here). Little did I know when I bought it, that it contained tracks from a range of covers albums including Hot Hits, Top of the Pops, 12 Tops, Parade of Pops... and so on.

Anyway, I have since come across some more information on this release, revealing that the box - plus an intriguing extra - was also issued in, of all places, Brazil - thereby representing the export of a good cross-section of the UK covers industry, with recordings from most of the main labels. Here are some images of the box:

It's noticeable how deep the box is, as compared to the UK one, with the track listings printed under the lid. The label logo can be seen on the top - it's Borges & Damasceno, rather than Reader's Digest, who were a budget label in Brazil (surprise, surprise). More interesting still are the contents of the box:

The upper image shows all the records laid out, and they are in red printed inner sleeves, in contrast to the UK edition which had each individual LP in a conventional sleeve. And what's that blue sleeve at the top? It's a seventh album, which was not included at all with the UK set! Here's the full cover artwork for it:

The album is called "Rock 'n' Roll of the 50s" and I have yet to find a UK equivalent. It contains cover versions of classic 50s hits such as "Rock Around The Clock", "Long Tall Sally", "Peggy Sue", "Be-Bop-A-Lula", "Shake, Rattle And Roll" and so on. I wonder where these recordings originally came from?

Reader's Digest - 6 covers LPs in a box

I've seen this box set before, but not taken any notice, assuming the contents were original chart hits (yuk!). But this weekend, I saw a copy in a charity shop for the knock-down price of £1, and had to have it. The box houses six individual LPs, all covering particular periods in pop history.

What is intriguing is that these recordings - 90 of them in all, following the charts from 1960 to 1975 - are all soundalike cover versions made by "studio musicians". It says so in the small print!

Of particular interest (to me, anyway) are the three LPs which account for eras which were also covered by the regular anonymous hit album series - which means the LPs, "1968/1971", "1970/1972" and "1973/1975". All three of these albums are packed with songs familiar to collectors of the genre, and it's perhaps worth listing them:

1968/1971: Mrs Robinson / Love Child / What A Wonderful World / Congratulations / Help Yourself / Mony Mony / Two Little Boys / Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town / My Way / Galveston / I'll Never Fall In Love Again / Sugar Sugar / Bridge Over Troubled Water / Band Of Gold / I Hear You Knocking

1970/1972: It's Wonderful (To Be Loved By You) / Wand'rin' Star / My Sweet Lord / Brown Sugar / I'm Still Waiting / Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep / Double Barrel / Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree / Blockbuster / Feel The Need In Me / Power To All Our Friends / You Are The Sunshine Of My Life / Amazing Grace / Take Me Bak 'Ome 

1973/1975: You Wear It Well / Metal Guru / Mother And Child Reunion / Tiger Feet / Devil Gate Drive / You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me / I'm Leaving It (All) Up To You / Rock Your Baby / The Most Beautiful Girl / Hold Me Close / January / Bye Bye Baby / Can't Give You Anything (But My Love) / I Only Have Eyes For You

So there you have it - three LPs packed with classic sounds, just like the cover LPs we know and love. But of course, the question which arises is, where were they sourced from? This is where things get a little tricky. Neither the labels nor the packaging reveal anything, but it surely stretches the imagination to think that Reader's Digest had them all made especially. Moreover, the dates next to the song credits show a range of years, implying they were recorded when the hit songs were roughly current. So where are they from?

I've done some sound comparisons with the known LPs but not got very far. From what I have compared, they don't match the Windmill recordings, nor the Pye recordings, nor the Avenue recordings. But I have pinned down the origins of two of the songs: The older "Anyone Who Had A Heart" is the same version as on the 1964 Top Six EP pictured below (although "Glad All Over" is a different version). And "Amazing Grace" is the bagpipe version from "Hot Hits" volume 11. Other than that, I have drawn a blank so far.

So, I throw the issue over to you, dear readers. Can anyone cast any light on where these recordings originate? Here's a sample track to help - this is the version of "Band of Gold" as featured in this box set:

Band of Gold.mp3

mfp in a box!

I thought I'd share one of my favourite recent discoveries, a box set of LPs which I guess was issued in 1968, called "48 Great Hits on 4 LPs".

It contains the first four mfp albums released in their "Hits" series: "Hits '67", "Smash Hits", "Heart Hits" and "Hits '68". As you will see from the photos, the records themselves are in plain white paper sleeves, and are identical in all respects to the usual individual editions. But there's the added interest here of a yellow printed insert, which has brand new sleeve notes for each album.

The box itself is impressively made - good, sturdy cardboard with a hint of faux-leather about it, and a gold sticker which must have held the lid shut before it was opened.

If anyone can tell us more about this box set, we'd love to hear from you. And, I wonder, were any others produced?

Here's an extract from the first LP in the box, and in fact mfp's first covers album ever, "Hits '67". It's a version of the Beatles' "Penny Lane", and is notable for the fact that some people claim the vocalist is none other than a pre-fame David Bowie. Decide for yourself!

Anyway, it also contains a superb blunder - check out the trumpet sections. They must have been recorded on a separate track and mixed in - but the whole trumpet track is way out of time with the rest of the music. If it is Bowie singing, no wonder he's not admitting to anything!

LISTEN  mfp Penny Lane.mp3