When does a one-off become a series?

We had another interesting email from Clive Hetherington recently, in which he flagged up a couple of covers albums we'd not seen before. Both are UK albums on the World (?) label, an imprint of the World Record Club.

Which may ring a bell; we've featured this (supposedly) one-off from Word Record Club before see here:

This album appeared sometime in the second half of 1964, and so far as we knew, was never followed up.

Now Clive's research has thrown up two possible successors. The label is different, but the company the same. Fistly, here are a few images:

The top one is called "DJ's Dozen" and the bottom one is "Hot Pops". Although both contain his from summer and autumn 1965, in both cases the labels state 1966 as the year of issue, so they weren't released currently with the hit versions.

These are wonderful finds, but can we really consider the World Record Club releases to be a series? Probably not. Nevertheless, these new discoveries will be of much interest to UK collectors, and provide some more evidence of the cover version idea gaining traction in the mid-1960s.

Here are the track listings, and where the corresponding single entered the UK charts, the date is given as a point of reference:

DJ’s Dozen

• What the World Needs Now
• On My Word (12/06/65)
• Ticket To Ride (17/04/65)
• It Ain’t Me Babe (05/06/65)
• Please Don’t Just Stand There
• Help (31/07/65)
• There But For Fortune (10/07/65)
• Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (29/05/65)
• Colours (05/06/65)
• You’ve Got Your Troubles (10/07/65)
• Mr. Tambourine Man (19/06/65)
• I’m Henry The Eighth I Am

Hot Pops

• Satisfaction (28/08/65)
• The Time In Between
• Catch Us If You Can (17/07/65)
• All I Really Want To Do (14/08/65)
• I’m Alive (29/05/65)
• Looking Though The Eyes Of Love (12/06/65)
• And I Love Her
• We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place (17/07/65)
• You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (25/09/65)
• Down In The Boondocks (09/10/65)
• Don’t Make My Baby Blue (07/08/65)
• Unchained Melody (14/08/65)

We must also mention the album below, chanced upon while looking for more info:

"Top Pop Song Hits Vol 2" is basically a compilation from the two UK albums - everything points to it being a US release. I wonder what they did for Vol 1??

Thanks to Clive for his scans and info.