Top of the Pops - Complete set for sale

Happy New Year, blogsters. I have a couple of interesting Top of the Pops items to kick off 2018, this being the first of them.

I was alerted to this by an anonymous tip-off - presumably from the Ebay seller himself.

The seller, kevsboxcom, is advertising, "the dogs b**, the mother-load, the eBay job lot of 2018 ... Every Top of the Pops LP from the main series Vol 1 (1968) through to Vol 92 (1985) and Every Best of year LP (1969-1984), and over half have their original posters."

You can see the item for sale here

He's also chucking in a few extras, including one Top of the Pops CD.

Job lots like this don't generally come up, so this is a rare chance for someone to bag a complete set in one go! The asking price for this mega-lot? A reasonable £299.99.

Will be interesting to see how the sale goes...


Watch this space for a couple of fab new TOTP finds!

New CD issues from Artistry

Exciting news has come through once again from the guys at Artistry, with the release of more CDs compiling from the old cover version albums - "International Edition Tops In Pops"; "Tops In Pops of the 60s Vol 3" and a collection of "Instrumental Chartbusters".

There are some fantastic track selections on these latest discs, one in particular catching my eye, as we did a post on it recently - "Tops in Pops of the 60s Vol 3" contains the coveted version of "Love Me Do" by the Sparrows, which was the first cover version of a Lennon-McCartney song anywhere in the world! This, I believe if the first and only time it has been released on CD - so a little bit of music history there.

The rest of the tracks raid the Avenue vaults for vocals by Martin Jay, Danny Street, Peter Lee Stirling, David Byron and others - many of them familiar from the LPs released back in the day. Some are much older and a tad rarer - "Two Silhouettes" for example, was an Embassy label B-side for Paul Rich back in 1963.

Fans of Elvis Costello will also note the presence of Ross McManus on one of these albums - he's Elvis's dad of course! (And need we mention a certain Elton John?)

Below are some track details from the CD inserts. These should be available any time now, on EBay - head over and track them down. As ever, full credit to Colin Richardson and the Artistry team for preserving these fab recordings.

Brand new Artistry CD - Tops in Pops

The crew at Artistry have done it again. Following their CD re-issues of recent years, which have seen many classic cover versions from the 1960s preserved in the modern digital format, they have just announced the release of a new collection: "Tops in Pops of the 60s".

Here's the front cover - a striking pastiche of a certain sleeve design from years gone by...

Many of these tracks are known from the EP catalogues of the 1960s, and originally turned up on labels such as Cannon, Crossbow and Top Six. Others are familiar from the early Avenue LPs, but while those original records did not always credit the singers, this CD puts the matter right. Here's the full listing with artist creditations:

We will post details of how to obtain copies when ready - meantime, to check out Artistry's other CD releases, click "Artistry" on the menu, right, and head over to Ebay to track them down.

Artistry are an independent label, and are fighting the battle along with other independents, to keep the CD format alive in this age of downloads. Help them out by placing an order, and hopefully there will be more CDs in the pipeline.

Thanks to Colin Richardson and his team for their sterling work.

Car boot sales: here goes 2014

Today marked the start of the car boot sale season down in my part of the country, with the first proper outdoor event held at Sayers Common in Sussex. For me, boot fairs are one of the main sources of cover version music, not to mention pleasant ways to while away a sunny Sunday morning - so needless to say, I was there at opening time, wants list in hand.

As usual, most of what I discovered was already in my collection - "Hot Hits" LPs and the like - but I did manage to come away with one nice item for the bargain price of 25p:

As all collectors know, these cassettes are pretty hard to come by. On the few occasions one turns up on Ebay, it will tend to attract bids of up to £20, making them beyond the practical reach of most collectors. It's especially pleasing then to find them for pennies, and with this particular example - almost pristine in condition - one of many gaps was filled in my own set.

The album, Best of Top of the Pops '78, was the final release to be made up of Bruce Baxter-era productions, as Top of the Pops switched to buying in external recordings at the close of that year. It also has the distinction of being one of a relatively few Top of the Pops albums to have been released on all four main formats: LP, cassette, 8-track and, more recently, CD, and I'm pleased to say I now have one of each:

Artistry release new CD of David Byron sessions

The Artistry label has done a fantastic job in the last couple of years, preserving some of the old Avenue recordings on CD - not least, those sung by David Byron in his pre-Uriah Heep days. The label has already issued two collections of Byron's vocal slots, which we covered in this blog post back in 2012. Now, a new volume has been added to the CD discography: The Early Sessions Vol. 3.

The notes describe the delicate nature of the task undertaken by Colin Richardson and his team, working with aging studio tapes with techincal issues, to produce a 20-track selection of songs worthy of the CD format. And an interesting set it makes too. Byron is nothing if not versatile, and displays his talents with a challenging range of singing styles from reggae ("Love of the Common People") to Bob Dylan ("Lay Lady Lay") to Motown ("Tracks of my Tears") and even the 1970 England football team ("Back Home")!

Many of these recordings will be known to collectors of Avenue, having turned up on vinyl around 45 years ago. But with the scarcity of those early LPs and EPs a matter of common knowledge and frustration, having another set available on CD is fantastic news.

Readers can pick this disc up, and others released by Artistry, on Ebay. Thanks and congratulations to Colin Richardson and the rest of the crew for preparing this new disc. Here is the track listing:

1. Hitchin' A Ride
2. Need Your Love So Bad
3. My Melanie Makes Me Smile
4. What Does It Take?
5. Yester Me, Yester You, Yester Day
6. Young Gifted And Black
7. Lay Lady Lay
8. Gimme Dat Ding
9. Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp
10. Love Of The Common People
11. Rainbow Valley
12. Tracy
13. My Lady
14. In The Bad Bad Old Days
15. Lazy Sunday
16. My Sentimental Friend
17. Tracks Of My Tears
18. I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top
19. Back Home
20. All I Have To Do Is Dream

Fantasy "Top of the Pops" - Part 2

In my last post, I featured some of the superb CD collections made up by Frank McDonald. Below are some more sent in by Frank, and compiled along similar lines. This time though, there is no "Sing & Play" tag - these CD collections make a mini-series called "Pay Tribute To"...

It would be great to see these CDs in the shops - but don't rush out to your local record store! These are not commercially available - but you can assemble them yourself if you wish, by downloading the tracks from iTunes. Here is the full cover art for each one, showing the song listings - check out the sleeve notes for "Pay Tribute To The Ladies" - just like the real thing!

 

If all these CDs are a bit "modern" for vinyl junkies out there, I thought I'd take this opportunity to show a spoof record sleeve I made myself some time ago. It's a humourous take on what Top of the Pops might have looked like had it been available back in 1940. Tracks include "In The Mood", "Blueberry Hill" and "When You Wish Upon A Star"...

If anyone else fancies having a go at making up some fantasy albums - or CDs, or tapes - please do send in your efforts and we'll post them up...

Fantasy "Top of the Pops" albums from Down Under

As everyone knows, Top of the Pops didn't just release records in the UK. They stretched their tentacles right around the world, reaching as far as Australia, where a substantial number of albums was released on the Summit label. Naturally, there are Australian collectors too, and one of them is Frank McDonald, who very kindly sent me a load of info and sleeve scans from his collection, which has helped us to map out virtually the whole of the Australian discography. (For a look at our database as it now stands, see here.)

Frank has also been busy putting together some of his own fantasy compilation albums from the series, and has sent in some images of the artwork he has created for them. Just to be clear - these are not commercially available and are just for fun. You can't buy them, although if you wanted to visit iTunes or Amazon, you could buy the relevant sound files and make your own versions.

Top of the Poppers Sing & Play The Bee Gees' Greatest Hits: 

Top of the Poppers Sing & Play Hot Chocolate's Greatest Hits: 

Top of the Poppers Sing & Play Abba's Greatest Hits: 

As you can see, Frank has put in plenty of effort not just in the cover art but also the track selections. The Hot Chocolate CD borrows "Brother Louie", and the Bee Gees CD a few more tracks, which were never covered by Top of the Pops, but which did feature on other album series on rival labels. Abba on the other hand, contains 17 of the 18 tracks which graced the Top of the Pops series (just "Voulez-Vous" is absent, from volume 74), which is two more than Pickwick themselves managed when they released an official Top of the Pops CD collection along the same lines in 1999...

In case you're tempted to make your own physical CDs from Frank's templates, here is the full artwork for the three collections above. Click to enlarge.

There are more to follow, so watch this space...

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.

Embassy goes digital

I chanced upon these two CDs while browsing Amazon this week. Readers of this blog will no doubt be au fait with the old Woolworth's label, and the slew of bargain-priced cover records it released. These two CDs are now available for aficionados, providing a comprehensive overview of the years under the spotlight:

The 1960 collection includes hits like You Got What It Takes (Hal Munro); Cathy's Clown (Dick Jordan); Three Steps To Heaven (Rikki Henderson); Only The Lonely (Don Duke); Save The Last Dance For Me (Rikki Henderson)...

1961 features Rubber Ball (Bobby Stevens); Calendar Girl (Don Duke); Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Jean Campbell); Take Five (Gordon Peters Quartet); Johnny Remember Me (Bobby Stevens)...

Of course it's all a far cry from the Technicolor world of 1970s covers albums, but here, in these old tapes made for pressing to 45, are the seeds of the later cover versions we know and love. Some collectors will have heard a clutch of old Embassy singles without realising it - they make up Hallmark's two "Revived 45s" albums, without a sniff of a credit!

On the subject of Embassy, this CD is also currently available:

Some of these cuts are also on "Revived 45s", while the Typhoons themselves are quite highly regarded by those in the know for their work not just on Beatles covers but several 1960s hits by what could loosely be termed 'beat groups'.

Great to see that these recordings are being preserved, as their place in cover version history deserves. Check them out!

Rare Avenue vinyl from 1969

I am grateful once more to record-collecting enthusiast and covers album fan, Declan, for the following LP. It's one you will be very lucky to see 'in the flesh', which is why I thought I would post some images.

The title is "12 Top Hits", and it forms part of the celebrated Avenue series, also known as "England's 12 Top Hits", since it later had a tweak in name. These early albums are extremely rare, a situation exacerbated by the presence on many of them of Elton John and David Byron, both of whom appear here, and who have attracted vinyl junkies like Hoovers to the few copies still in circulation.

The 12-track LP features several lead vocals by David Byron ("Sugar Sugar", "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", "Soul Deep" etc), as well as Elton who sings backing vocals on a few titles and lead on "Don't Forget To Remember".

As with most of their cover version albums, Avenue also released this collection across two 6-track EPs, AVE 84 and AVE 85, which are slightly easier to find than the LP. AVE 84 contains all of side 1, AVE 85 all of side 2.

If you want to hear some of David Byron's vocal slots in glorious modern stereo, we have to recommend again the two Artistry CDs which collect many of his session recordings together. You will find them on Ebay - between them, volumes 1 and 2 include four tracks from this elusive LP and many more from the series. Cover photos and track listings can be seen on my post of August 30.

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