MFP tots up Australian double

This week I was pleased to hear from Phil Watt, who emailed from Australia with some images of the album below. At first glance, it's a copy of "Top of the Tots" volume 3 (which is where the sleeve art originated) - but look again...

It's called "The Best of Top of the Tots" but isn't a compilation in the usual sense. The track listing below reveals all:

This is in fact a double album re-issue, not of volume 3 but of "Tots" volumes 1 and 2, both of which, incidentally, had previously been released by Summit in Australia

How this album came about is a bit of a mystery. The stand-out feature is the MFP logo, indicating this is part of their Australian "Two of a Kind" series of double albums. We know from our other Australian "Top of the Pops" LPs that by about November 1972, the Australian Summit label behind "Top of the Pops" there had moved in with the Australian MFP, at offices on South Creek Road, Dee Why. This particular release is the most overt example of the two labels merging their interests, and we believe it appeared around 1975.

The cover reminds us of something else, too. A few years ago, MFP went all digital and issued a download-only album called "Hot Hits Presents Junior Choice Favourites". Look what they selected for the artwork:

One final thing to note - "Top of the Tots" volumes 1 and 2 also ended up being released in the UK as a double-pack. However this was not on vinyl, but cassette, as part of Pickwick's Ditto series of twin cassettes. Here's one of the pair of tapes:

Amazing find, this, and great to see MFP and Pickwick joining forces.

Thanks to Phil for the images.


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Further to the above, Phil has sent some info and images about the packaging of this Australian album.

The two LPs were housed inside plain paper inner sleeves, both of them slipped into a conventional sleeve (not a gatefold). And the labels are 'orange' mfp, as shown below. Great to see Pickwick mentioned straight above the mfp logo!

Top of the Poppers? No, not really!

These days, the digital download format is particularly attractive for budget labels, since it eliminates all the overheads which manufacturing physical CDs entails. Indeed, we've looked at several recent examples on this blog, including download editions of a couple of mfp's "Hot Hits" albums.

Pickwick have been leaders in the download field for some years, and it is possible to get the full set of Top of the Pops albums that way - which is a sizeable body of recordings, to say the least. Once or twice though we've raised our eyebrows at their decision to bill new anonymous cover versions to the Top of the Poppers - which brings us to the download album below:

This is the artwork for a collection of country and western tracks, currently available on Amazon. The ten tracks are as follows: Walk On Out Of My Mind / A Girl Like You / Foolish Mind / Tormented / The Lonely Heart / When A Fool Loves A Fool / Spell Weaver / Two People / Can I Sleep In Your Barn / Let Me Say I Love You.

We don't know the true origins of these tracks, but of course they don't really have anything to do with the Top of the Poppers as we know them. 

This release follows a precedent set a few years ago when Pickwick issued a collection of karaoke DVDs and CDs which were also marketed as by the Poppers, although not on the actual covers! To blur things further, they actually did contain a real Top of the Pops track among them, complete with vocals! The CD below is the one in question, which contains "You Sexy Thing" from Top of the Pops Volume 49. (Note, the Poppers are not mentioned anywhere on the CD - just in the online product descriptions.)

A spin-off of the karaoke releases was another CD on Pickwick's Exceed label, "Kids Chart Party", which contained so-called guide vocal versions of contemporary tracks. This time, Pickwick went so far as to print the name "Top of the Poppers" on the CD cover!

Nice to see the Poppers' name still in use, but be warned! Things ain't always what they seem...

Old Rediffusion LP available for download

A slightly odd one this... An album from Rediffusion's "Sounds Like Hits" series has for some reason been made available as a digital download on Amazon. It's billed as being by the Top Hits Group. Fans of download covers albums will have heard of them - they are the (made up) act behind probably a couple of hundred "albums" compiled from every cover version LP series under the sun. The download albums are mostly called "Chart Toppers" and "Best of the Hit Charts", although there are many more as well. If you've not seen them, takle a look on Amazon.

And so to this one. Of course when making these avilable for the iPod generation, cover art is supplied to the purchaser, and this is where things take an ever stranger turn. This album does not have its original UK artwork, but something very close - which appears to be an overseas version of the same original LP. The photo is clearly from the same shoot, but not known in the UK discography. The download "album" is called "Hit-Parade Especial".

Download artwork. (What are the logos in the bottom corner?)

Original UK LP cover

 
Can anyone identify the country of origin for this artwork? Or tell us the record label?

By the way, those wanting to hear it for free (without actually owning the MP3 files) can do so here

Hot Hits goes digital

At last it seems like the custodians of mfp's old Hot Hits collections have started the process of uploading them to iTunes and similar outlets, for digital purchase. Of course, in some ways this is old news; as long ago as 2010, no fewer than seven virtual albums appeared on iTunes, all consisting of compilations from the ...Hits... and Hot Hits LPs.

This time around it's different though. Although so far there are only two albums available, they are in effect re-issues of Hot Hits volumes 1 and 2  - whole albums in their entirety. They are re-named Hot Hits Plays 1970 volumes 1 and 2, but have the original artwork generally intact:

 

These are the corresponding LP sleeves:

So it looks like Hot Hits might at last be catching up with Top of the Pops, who made their whole back catalogue available for download, including spin-off albums and even EPs, some years back. On which subject, we ought to mention two other mfp-sourced albums which have been released in the digital format:

The one on the left, Hot Hits Plays Reggae, is essentially the LP below, which was originally called The Wonderful World of Reggae. The one on the right, Hot Hits Plays the Kinks, we are not familiar with - does anyone know if this had a vinyl equivalent?

So that's the good news. Now we have to have a bit of a grumble. Take a look at the cover of Hot Hits volume 1 - the vinyl LP. It sold for 15 shillings, which is equivalent to 75p. In 1970, a single cost roughly seven shillings or 35p, so for just over the cost of two singles, you got a full dozen tunes. And that, in a sense, was what Hot Hits and similar LPs were all about.

Fast forward to 2012, and the download version costs £7.99 on iTunes (50p less on Amazon UK). How does this compare to the price of a "single" - which is to say, the equivalent purchase of the hit version? Well, Amazon has a download of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime" for 79p. And a download of Shirley Bassey's "Something" for 79p. And a download of Nicky Thomas's "Love of the Common People" for ... well, you get the idea.

So, a Hot Hits album, compared to the original versions, no longer costs just over two tracks, but a price equivalent to a whopping ten! What's more, the individual Hot Hits songs are also priced at... 79p each - exactly the same! Are we complaining? Yes and no. It's great to have these available in the digital format - it's just a shame they are no longer in the budget price category. Still, after 42 years, I guess they could be considered classic LPs nowadays, so what the heck. Get them onto your new fangled iPod and see if you can still tell the difference!