Sounds Like Hits - a glimpse of volume 8

Among the hardest of all UK covers albums to find are those from the Rediffusion "Sounds Like Hits" series. I have previously lamented the fact that, after many a long year's collecting, I still haven't so much as laid eyes on the sleeves to volumes 3 or 8 - let alone got my hands on copies. Gradually I've been ticking them off, but these two still evade me - so I was delighted a few days ago to be contacted by Australian collector, Ken Grady.

Ken describes himself as a casual 'jackdaw' who picks up LPs he finds on his travels. Luckily, one of his most recent scoops was an Australian copy of "Sounds Like Hits" volume 8! It was issued in Australia on the local Astor label, who among other things, were also issuing all the Marble Arch "Chartbusters" LPs to Australian listeners, at the same time.

From what we know about the Astor editions from the "Sounds Like Hits" series, the sleeve designs always match their UK equivalents, with just the relevant label logos changed (gold stickers on the front come in handy!). So, we can be pretty sure this is what the UK album looked like - if it exists, that is. (Which it surely does.)

Here are the images Ken sent through:

Our thanks to Ken for details of this, and several other Australian albums, which have greatly increased our knowledge of the Astor label discography.

For more info on Australian pressings of "Sounds Like Hits", see here.