Waxing lyrical

I was right about Father Christmas. Somehow he knew what I wanted, and treated me to the LP below. This one's been on my personal radar for some time, so it was nice to finally pick up a copy.

The album's called "US Chart Busters" - rather confusingly, since it's neither part of the "Chart Busters" stable, and nor is it (so far as I can tell) American. In fact, it's a compilation of 12 tracks from the Windmill "Parade of Pops" LP series. (Well, to be precise, 11 of them are. The 12th, "Killing Me Softly", previously appeared on Windmill's "Top Hits of the Year" LP review of 1973.) Given its contents, it's really a review album of 1974, since all bar "Killing Me Softly" originally appeared that year.

There's not much additional info to be found on the album itself. "Parade of Pops" and Windmill are nowhere mentioned. There is a credit for Multiple Sound Distributors in the small print (who were behind the "Parade of Pops" recordings), but nothing else - except a note that this album was in fact a promotional item for Johnson Wax.

So, that polishes off this blog entry - which will be the last of 2012. Happy New Year!

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UPDATE!

I am grateful to "Dr E Vibenstein" for pointing out something about this album cover. The main design, the curved lettering on "US" is in fact a logo for a brand of deodorant! The product was called "Us" (rhymes with bus), and this must surely be the brand for which this LP is a promotional item. (Us was presumably made by Johnson's, which accounts for their name being on the back.)

It's proved difficult to find any further info about Us Deodorant, but I did grab the following stills from the old TV advert available on YouTube. They show the product packaging/logo clearly:

The ad on YouTube shows the product being used by trendy young guys and girls in a disco, illustrating the brand's interest in appealing to what might be termed the pop music-consuming demographic - which makes sense in terms of their sponsoring an LP of pop hits.

So, this LP doesn't in fact promote a distinctly un-rock 'n' roll floor polish at all - and it isn't "U.S." - as in "U.S.A" - either; it's "Us" Chart Busters. Thanks again to Dr Vibenstein for the info. Well spotted!