Top of the Poppers ... featuring Alan Caddy ?!?

Surely some mistake? Well, read on...

Over in New Zealand, Top of the Pops recordings were originally issued on a local version of the Hallmark label. Then, in the mid-1970s, Music World took over - the label having been created by budget record entrepreneur, Hoghton Hughes.

Before and after the switch, New Zealand tended not to simply re-issue the UK albums, but instead create their own collections, many of which plugged specific artists in the titles - so, for example, we find albums with novel names such as, 15 Hits of Slade, T Rex, Sweet, 20 Hits of Abba and Other Great Groups, and 20 Hits of the Wombles and Other Pops for Children.

All good fun, of course, and fitting in with these was the 1973 LP, The Top of the Poppers Present Elvis Gold: 16 of The King's Greatest Hits. Here's the cover:

This album was issued by Hallmark New Zealand, before Music World became involved. What's odd, is that even by the close of 1973, The Top of the Poppers only had 13 cover versions of Elvis hits to compile. Yet the album promises 16 titles - so how did they do that?

The answer may surprise you - the album contains only three Top of the Pops recordings ("Polk Salad Annie"; "I'm Leavin'" and "Burning Love"). The rest of the tracks? One was borrowed from Hallmark's Revived 45s album (and was previously issued as a 45 on the Embassy label) - namely, "Surrender" - but the other 12 consist of the whole of this LP:

Yes, indeed. The bulk of the New Zealand album purporting to be by the Top of the Poppers actually had nothing to do with them! For those who don't know, Ross McManus was a modestly successful singer better known today for the fact that he was Elvis Costello's father. (This album was once re-issued on CD as Elvis's Dad Sings Elvis!)

(Bear with us, we're getting to the Alan Caddy bit...)

Come 1975, the Music World label had superseded Hallmark New Zealand, so far as Top of the Pops was concerned, and among the many interesting records which were issued, was this one - The Top of the Poppers Present Elvis' 20 Golden Hits.

Now, the proprietors of this blog, and the Top of the Pops fan website, have known about the LP for several years. But without full scans of the cover and labels, we did not know the track listing - until now. Buying Top of the Pops albums from such far-flung places is an expensive hobby, so when a copy turned up on Ebay from a UK seller, at a bargain price, we felt we should snap it up. What we discovered came as a surprise...

This LP contains all the material on the earlier New Zealand record, but contains four additional tracks: "Promised Land"; "Fool"; "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" and "Rags To Riches". All of these songs were to be found on earlier Top of the Pops albums, so one might suppose they were the source.

Well in fact, that was true for three of them - "Promised Land"; "Fool" and "Rags To Riches". But when it comes to "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", the Music World label eschewed the Poppers' recording from volume 15, and substituted a completely different soundalike cover version. Some intrepid detective work (ie, we listened to it) revealed this is none other than the recording by Alan Caddy, which was originally released in 1971 on the following Avenue label LP:

So what's the deal? We have to confess, we have no idea. Firstly, there's no obvious reason why the bona-fide Top of the Pops version would be ignored; and secondly, how did Music World manage to get the master tape of Alan Caddy's recording? And could the switch somehow have been a mistake? It's hard to see how!

Whatever the story, this is a possibly unique example of an Alan Caddy track being issued under the name The Top of the Poppers!

We might also mention that research into overseas releases is not always easy, and it's often the case that one discovery leads to more. In this instance, we were able to identify three other Top of the Poppers releases from the listing on the back:

 Hopefully, one day, copies of these will also surface.  Maybe they too hold surprises for us...

Alan Caddy - Japanese Avenue EP

Blog reader Holger Schoeler recently sent me some fantastic scans of an Avenue EP which was released in Japan in 1972. It's by The Alan Caddy Orchestra and Singers. Holger's interest is not budget cover versions, but Apple Publishing, and he is currently researching global releases with the Apple Publishing credit in the small print - more of which, later. For the moment, let's look at the scans he sent:

What a superb record! There is no UK equivalent, needless to say. The release of 1972 coincided with a change in the UK policy, whereby the Avenue label was discontinued for the 7-inch format, and replaced by Forest.

As for the songs themselves, only four of the six are known in the UK discography. All of side 1 appeared on the LPs catalogue-numbered AVE 0101 and AVE 0102 (and their own spin-off EPs), while the last track turned up on the year's best-of LP, 20 Smash Hits of '72 (released in Britain on the Stereo Plus 3 subsidiary).

So far as I know, the recordings of "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Imagine" were never released in the UK.

An attractive feature of this Japanese release is the sleeve. It's an uber-cool gatefold, with a printed inner section, with English lyrics! There is also plenty of Japanese text, and a photo of somebody (maybe one of the label's other artists) although, not speaking Japanese, I cannot say what is printed here. These are the two panels which make up the inner part of the gatefold:

There was also an obi strip on the original release:

Thanks to Holger for sharing this with us. I will now turn to his own research/collecting project of Apple Publishing. As everyone knows, this was a part of the Beatles' Apple empire, which published many of the songs composed by the label's artists, as well as those signed up without a recording contract (Gallagher and Lyle being among the most famous). Holger wants scans of sleeves and labels of everything which includes an Apple Publishing credit on it. (This EP falls into that category courtesy of Badfinger's "Day After Day" on side 1.)

If you have any obscure records which fit the bill, please get in touch with us, and help the project along. Holger has done immense work so far, and will appreciate any contributions which come along.

As for Japanese cover versions by Alan Caddy - there are at least two more out there. Let's also hear from anyone with details of more!

Forest EP

I was pleased to add the EP below to my collection. Although by no means one of the holy grails of budget records, it is nevertheless pretty rare, and forms part of a short-lived series of EPs on the Forest label.

The Forest label was introduced by Avenue in April 1972, as a way of re-launching and revitalising Avenue's 7-inch offer, which dated back to 1967. Typically the Avenue EPs would contain half of one of the label's LPs, and were accordingly issued in pairs more often than not - a formula which Forest naturally continued with.

This EP is from the Avenue album released in Summer 1972, and contains 50 percent of the LP. It is not clear why a partner EP was not also released, with the remaining six tracks on, but such are the mysteries of the Avenue discography. Below is the cover of the parent LP:

The EP is catalogue numbered FVA 2023, and is the seventh of nine Forest EPs released in 1972-73 containing soundalike cover versions. Below is the full Forest discography (cover versions only), with the approximate release dates given along with the lead track on each disc:

• 4/72     EVA 2001       Telegram Sam
• 4/72     EVA 2013       Look Wot You Dun
• 4/73     FVA 2016       Beg, Steal Or Borrow
• 4/73     FVA 2017       Desiderata
• 5/73     FVA 2020       Tumbling Dice
• 5/73     FVA 2021       Open Up
• 7/73     FVA 2023       Circles
• 9/73     FVA 2024       Pop Corn
• 9/73     FVA 2030       Love Theme From The Godfather

The Forest EPs had better quality picture sleeves than the Avenue EPs they replaced, and the cover model on this particular example is familiar to us; it's LP sleeve regular, Susy Shaw, of course. Susy would soon appear on the front of one of Avenue's LPs as well, in a similar pose:

Latest Avenue EP finds

Over the past few months, I've become increasingly interested in the 7-inch covers EPs which appeared (mostly) before the albums were in full swing (see here for my overview of these early releases).

The Avenue series is among the most interesting, not least because they were the first regular EP series to feature proper picture covers, some of which are uncannily like the familiar 1970s LP covers - a female model beside a list of song titles. Sounds simple, but in the day it was a design breakthrough for a record format which was still something of an experiment. Interestingly, they also used male cover models from time to time, as the standard template was being defined, something which is practically unknown on the LP releases.

And so to my three latest Avenue EPs... All three play a role of some sort in the development of the series itself, and there are some interesting points in the sleevenotes - clicking the images will enlarge them, so they can be read.


The disc below, AVE 39, was Avenue's first such release. The front cover is just a hodge-podge but it tells a little of the story on the back: 25 musicians assembled to record the EP at Wessex Sound Studios in North London, on 19 April, 1967. We also know that the Avenue series was created when the staff behind it became disillusioned with the perceived decline in standards on the Top Six EPs. Top Six appears to have ended with catalogue number 38 and here, Avenue start off with the catalogue number 39 - reinforcing the point by carrying on where Top Six left off! (To be pedantic, we should acknowledge a later Top Six EP numbered 41.)

AVE 39 - May 1967

This next one was given to me a while ago by blog regular Declan, a keen collector of Avenue and the associated Studio 33 label. Avenue had by now realised that a cover model looked the part on the front, and here they have gone for a male model, complete with flowers (well, it was 1967!) - so now you know where Morrissey got his ideas from. This was the first in a run of seven to be pressed on the Disc-A-Fran label, in an ill-fated commercial arrangement (see comments here).

D/AVE 43 - Sep 1967

The last one (for the moment, anyway), a 99p bargain from Ebay, features on the front the same photo as previously used on AVE 41 back in July 1967. It has a different coloured panel for the songs however, differentiating it at a glance - but one has to wonder why the photo was re-used. Surely photos of this nature can't have been so scarce? Maybe they just liked it! Once more the sleevenotes tell us a little about the chronology of the series, introducing for the first time, the Clive Allan Orchestra and Singers. This outfit would continue being credited until into 1969, when Alan Caddy was given top billing instead.

AVE 47 - Jan 1968

These are my latest three additions in this series - but I've still got plenty to go before I'm anywhere near completion. Expect another blog about Avenue EPs shortly - but from a completely different perspective!

New CD release from Artistry

The Artistry label has done some great work in recent times, restoring and reissuing many of the old Avenue sessions on CD, leading so far to the release of two separate collections of David Byron's vocal recordings (see blog entry for August 30). We were promised more, and sure enough the anticipated Remembering the Stars of Easy Beat and Saturday Club volume 1 has just been released, and is a real treat for fans of the covers genre.

Some background: the CD title refers to two BBC radio shows of the early 1960s, which rather than endlessly spinning plastic, offered listeners a take on the current hits through the lens of a live house band fronted by an esteemed line-up of vocalists: Danny Street, Laura Lee and Tony Steven. Easy Beat and Saturday Club became highly popular slots in their day, but of course by the middle of the 60s, the times were a-changin', and when Radio 1 started broadcasting in 1967, it served to push the old formats off the airwaves for good.

Fortunately, this was also the period in which the recorded cover version idea was starting to crystallise. No surprise then that the star vocalists of BBC radio soon found their talents in demand by labels such as Avenue, and it is from those celebrated studio sessions that the CD below was compiled.

The star turns here, Danny, Laura and Tony, are represented equally on this disc, their lead vocals rotating in sequence. In all we have 21 cuts to enjoy, not all of them obvious; there are, for example, half a dozen rarities which were originally issued only in America, while two or three others were not known to this listener, including the early "Puppet On A String". Besides these, we have a collection of classic Avenue LP cuts from the start of the 1970s, ranging through the album series in all its splendour.

The CD benefits greatly from its well-rounded sonics which bring the music fully to life, courtesy of some top-notch remastering by Colin Richardson and Paul Wilson. Special mention is due to a track I can't stop playing - Laura Lee's gorgeous take on The Carpenters' "Superstar" - not just for the first-class vocals, but the resonant bass and great drum fills - honestly - I think it's better than the original, and I say that as someone for whom "Superstar" has been a guilty pleasure for years.

If you love the old vinyl covers records, treat yourself to this CD. You won't regret it. You can currently pick it up through EBay, or contact Artistry via www.artistrymusic.com

Here's the full track listing, and where the original 1970s Avenue LP release is identified, the catalogue number is given: 

1. Puppet On A String - Laura Lee 
2. Almost There - Danny Street 
3. Two Divided By Love - Tony Steven 
4. Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves - Laura Lee  [AVE 097] 
5. Take Me Home Country Roads - Danny Street 
6. Galveston - Tony Steven  [AVE 017] 
7. Rose Garden - Laura Lee  [AVE 067] 
8. I'm Leaving - Danny Street  [AVE 092] 
9. Witch Queen Of New Orleans - Tony Steven  [AVE 092] 
10. I Don't Know How To Love Him - Laura Lee 
11. Let's Dance - Danny Street  [AVE 0129] 
12. All In The Game - Tony Steven  [AVE 044] 
13. Superstar - Laura Lee  [AVE 092] 
14. Baby I'm A Want You - Danny Street [AVE 0101] 
15. Easy Lovin' - Tony Steven 
16. If Not For You - Laura Lee  [AVE 081] 
17. When You Are A King - Danny Street  [AVE 088] 
18. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? - Tony Steven 
19. Help Me Make It Through The Night - Laura Lee 
20. Taxi - Danny Street 
21. My Marie - Tony Steven  [AVE 044]

Thanks to all concerned - and here's looking forward to volume 2 which hopefully will emerge soon.

New discovery adds to UK Avenue listing

I was lucky enough this weekend to find a copy of the LP pictured below:

 

What's the significance? Well you'll notice that the label is Stereo Plus 3. This was a sub-label for Avenue, created in 1972 in an attempt to appeal to more record buyers. The LPs itself is made up of 20 hits, all of which charted in the UK during April and May, 1973, and so these recordings sit in the gap between two of the last Avenue covers albums. Were it not for the fact that they shoe-horned 20 titles onto a single album, it would naturally form part of the main series.

So what's going on here? It could be that the LP was conceived as the start of a new series on the Stereo Plus 3 imprint, although as far as I know there were no others released. The exception is the two end-of-year round-up LPs issued on the label and sourced from the main Avenue series; The 1973 collection borrows no fewer than seven tracks from this album alone!

There's more. It is quite well known that Alan Caddy issued two LPs called "England's Top 20 Smash Hits" in Poland during 1973, on the national Pronit label (pictured here).

 
These are quite widely documented and each LP (volumes 1 and 2) contains 10 tracks. What we have above is an album with the entire contents of both the Polish LPs on one disc! The tracks are even in the same order - side 1 is volume 1 and side 2 is volume 2. It is tempting to view the UK LP as a re-issue of the two Polish ones, but in truth the Polish albums probably arrived later.

There is one interesting point to mention in relation to the UK cover. The lettering might look familiar; it is the same as the lettering used on two Avenue EPs from 1971:

LISTEN: We thought we'd upload a sample track. Have a listen to this spirited version of Paul McCartney's "My Love" - it could have been a hit itself!...    

08 - My Love.mp3

1967 EPs from Avenue / Disc-A-Fran

The other day we received the two fantastic EPs pictured below, both of which were released through the Avenue organisation in 1967. These EPs form part of a series of 7-inch discs which number at least 160 and probably closer to 200, on the Avenue, Disc-A-Fran, and (later) Forest labels.

Avenue's first EP, AVE 39, emerged in early 1967, and pictured below is the follow-up. It's been suggested that the guy on the front is none other than a young Elton John, who was known to be on the fringes of the Avenue label at the time, but personally I doubt it's him.

Check out the pretty decent cover version of "Waterloo Sunset", which leads off side 2: 
Waterloo Sunset Avenue EP.mp3

 
The other EP was issued on the Disc-A-Fran label, which for some reason was used for EP numbers 43 to 49 in the sequence. This one is quite unusual, in that the cover features a 16-year-old singer named Ray Bentley, whom Avenue obviously thought was a star in the making. He's billed as lead vocalist on the track, "For Your Love" on side 2, although all the other songs are standard soundalikes. What ever became of him? Please get in touch if you know!

Thanks to Declan for the records.

* For more details of the Avenue/Disc-A-Fran EPs, check out the website, Bargain Records.

Exciting news from Artistry

We were pleased to hear from Colin Richardson, head honcho at the Artistry label this week, who tells us of some more archive recordings heading for CD release shortly. Colin revealed:

"The next CD is 'Artistry Remember the Stars of Easy Beat and Saturday Club'. This is a 21-track disc with vocals by the three stars of the show, Danny Street, Laura Lee and Tony Steven. Release date is Oct 16, 2012. 

"This will be followed by 'Artistry Beat Club', a 30-track compilation from the vaults of Artistry, with early sessions by Elton John, David Byron, Ray Dexter, Chester Kamen, Paul Wilson and others - with Accompaniment Direction by Alan Caddy, Richard Franklin, Steve Cameron and Chester Kamen."

So there you have it - more treasures unearthed from the vaults and coming to CD for the first time, which is bound to be of great interest to collectors.

We should take this opportunity to remind readers of Artistry's two David Byron session CDs (below), which are currently available through Ebay. Both contain material originally recorded between 1968 and 1970, for the Avenue label. David Byron is supported on vocals by artists such as Peter Lee Stirling (Daniel Boone), Reg Dwight (Elton John) and Dana Gillespie.

David Byron: The Early Sessions

•  Soul Deep
• Come And Get It
• Yellow River
• Bad Moon Rising
• Viva Bobbie Joe
• Behind A Painted Smile
• Let's Work Together
• Rainbow
• Mony Mony
• I'm Gonna Make You Mine
• Give Peace A Chance
• Long As I Can See The Light
• Cold Turkey
• American Woman
• Urban Spaceman
• Reflections Of My Life
• Melting Pot (duet with Dana Gillespie)
• Good Morning Freedom (duet with Dana Gillespie)
• Soul Sister Brown Sugar (lead vocal Peter Lee Stirling)
• Something Is Happening

David Byron: The Early Sessions Vol. 2

• Ragamuffin Man
• Race With The Devil
• Man Of The World
• Keep On
• Question
• Yummy Yummy Yummy
• Travellin’ Band
•  Hurdy Gurdy Man
•  Hello I Love You
•  Where Do You Go To My Lovely?
•  Hello Suzie
•  He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
•  Ain’t Got Time Anymore
•  By The Way
•  Natural Born Bugie
•  Heather Honey
•  Instant Karma
•  Wet Dream
•  Sugar Sugar
•  Lovin’ Things