Saturday, April 6, 2013

Did Avenue reissue their EPs?

You wouldn't think there'd be much point in reissuing EPs of chart hits, months or years down the line. After all, people like, and then go off, pop songs pretty quickly. But information gained from the excellent 45cat.com (of which, more will follow here soon) indicates that Avenue may have done exactly that. Here is exhibit A:


This record, NUE 76, is an edition of the 1969 pictured EP below. But check out the details: the price on the front is 30p - in decimal. The UK didn't adopt decimal until 1971, and Avenue didn't include picture covers, let alone those selling for 30p, until late-1970 - which is also when the NUE catalogue number system came into being. So, can there be any real doubt that this is a reissue?

This is the original copy, with no picture sleeve, and with the AVE catalogue number: 


Significantly, this is not a one-off. Consider the EP below, which was released concurrently with the Avenue album AVE 058 of circa October 1970...


Although you can't see it, thanks to someone, presumably a retailer, blotting it out with ink, the price point is 25p. And here is another edition, with the price up to 30p:


What we seem to have here are two reissues which, judging by their retail prices, date to well inside 1971. And look at the similarities between these two late editions - both printed on pale coloured paper, both with single-coloured ink overprinting, and both with one song - the first on the EP - given as a title track "plus". Both feature the later Avenue logo and both retail at 30p.

I rest my case, m'lud. Avenue must have reissued at least two of their soundalike EPs in 1971. Why??

And were there any others, I wonder...

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