Pop around the world

Collecting the Mr Pickwick cover version EPs - spin-offs from the Top of the Pops LPs of course - is an endurance test. The EPs on my wants list reduced from four to three back in September 2012, when I finally picked up a copy of TV Funtime. Some eighteen months later, and I have just managed to tick off another: Pop Around The World Volume 1:

This disc is one of a mini-series of three. All the songs feature places in the titles, and in this case we have "Rivers of Babylon" (from Top of the Pops volume 66); "Montego Bay" (volume 13); "Waterloo" (volume 38); and "Nights on Broadway" (volume 61). Interestingly these four songs vary widely in terms of vintage, with "Montego Bay" dating as far back as 1970, while the most recent, "Rivers of Babylon" is from 1978.

The EP itself is not dated, but we can say with a degree of confidence that it was released in or shortly after 1981 - just as the LP series was grinding to a close. Why? Because other songs on EPs either side of this catalogue number (MP 9052) contain material from 1980 and 1981, and they were presumably all released at around the same point. As noted, this is the first of three EPs in a mini-series, and volume 2 included "Vienna" from Top of the Pops volume 84 (1981).

For the record, here are the other two sleeves:

So what's left on my wants list? Just these two elusive numbers, to make up a complete set of 25 EPs. The hunt will continue - check back here in 18 months to see if another has turned up!