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.

More cover versions found on the T.A.G. label

Blog regular, Clive Hetherington, has discovered a few obscure additions to our ever-growing catalogue of UK cover versions. His latest find adds another LP to our small T.A.G. label discography:

Catalogue number is TAG 4, from 1976, and the track listing reads:

• Music
• Take Me To The Mardi Gras
• One Of These Nights
• Gonna Make You A Star
• The In Crowd
• December '63
• All Right Now
• Free Electric Band
• He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
• In The Summertime
• Rock & Roll (I Gave You The Best Years)
• That's When The Music Takes Me

Interestingly, four of these titles show up on the other T.A.G. album we have, Request Time.

This one's called 45 Revival: Singles from the Seventies, which is a little misleading in that none of these were singles, at least not as far as these recordings are concerned. They are all cover versions, of course.

The title reminds us of Hallmark's Revived 45s, and it's clear that T.A.G. were well-connected with the cover version world, since Clive has identified several of these tracks as having come from other cover version LPs:

"'In the Summertime' is from Pick Of The Pops. 'The In Crowd', 'Free Electric Band', 'Alright Now' and 'Take Me To The Mardi Gras' are all from the 16 Chart Hits series on Contour."

So a bit of a compilation, really, and another impressive discovery. Thanks, Clive.

UK one-offs part 12: 12 Great Hits For All The Family

Not just a one-off, but two one-offs. So, that's a two-off I suppose.

This pair of LPs appeared in 1974/75 and is another example of drinks companies tapping into the vinyl market for some product promotion. In this case the bubbly is made by Corona, who not content with just releasing a couple of records, have even created their own label.

Mines's a double. Here they are.

Two LPs fizzing with pop. In each case, Corona have attempted to convince the listener that side 1 is somehow different from side 2, with comments like, "Featured on Side One is a selection of the most popular songs ever recorded. With Side Two ... six more dynamic chartbusters plus the added fun of Corona's latest batch of crazy radio commercials between tracks."

Er... run that by me again?

"Corona's latest batch of crazy radio commercials between tracks."

It's true! At least, it's true of LP1 side 2, and quite amusing they are too, at least to start with. (remind you of anything?)

Now, the question always arises with these promo albums - where did they get the recordings? In this instance, we know - they are almost all taken from the Windmill label's "Parade of Pops" albums. LP1 has tracks from various volumes up to and including volume 17...

above, volume 12: "Solitaire"; "Tiger Feet" - and volume 17: "Love Me For A Reason"

Meanwhile, LP2 has tracks from volume 17 again, up to and including volume 23 (from which, no fewer than four songs are taken) ...

above, volume 20: "Goodbye My Love"; "Please Mr Postman" - and volume 21: "Let Me Be The One"; "Bye Bye Baby"

There are three songs which don't show up in the "Parade of Pops" series, these being "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", "Something Stupid" and "Home Lovin' Man". We don't know where they came from, but the betting is, some other Windmill LPs. Let us know, if you know.

Apparently, after releasing their two promotional records, Corona went back to doing what they did best - manufacturing soft drinks - while Windmill pretty much disappeared! Strange business, budget cover versions.

UK one-offs part 11: Everyone Who Had a Hit

This historical item was one of Britain's first cover version long players, appearing in late summer 1964 (the last of the featured hits to make a splash was "Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy", which entered the UK charts in July, on its way to number 1). So it's not the very first - a couple of "Top Twelve" albums beat is to that accolade - but still a nice early example of the format. To our knowledge it was never followed up, making it the latest in our series of featured one-offs.

World Record Club are a slightly unusual name to see in the cover version arena, generally confining their interest to name artists of the day, as well as classical recordings. And while the title of the album is a play on "Anyone Who Had A Heart", the joke doesn't quite work, as it contains nobody who had a hit (at least, not a big one), but instead a bunch of soundalike singers and musicians.

They aren't entirely anonymous - some of the names are written across the back: Ray Ellington, Janie Marden, Sandra Gale, Angela Page, The Young Ones ... and some of these - particularly Ray Ellington - were known radio and recording stars of their day.

Nice to see the cover version idea taking shape, and great to see some Motown, Burt Bacharach and Beatles hits included.

UK one-offs part 10: Pop Concert

This LP appeared on the little-noted Tempo label in 1979, but the clues to its true origins are there - I need not point out to collectors of Chevron's "Parade of Pops" series the act name, The Sound Sensations, nor the credits for Multiple Sound Distributors. For what we have here is, essentially, a "Parade of Pops" compilation (almost - see below) and, to cap it all, it was pressed on groovy green vinyl:

Pretty cool, eh? So the dozen selections can all be heard on "Parade of Pops", on various volumes ranging from CHVP 3 to CHVP 12. (And, since there was track sharing going on, five also turn up on various "Top of the Pops" LPs too.)

Here's the track listing:

• Bang Bang 
• Sunday Girl 
• Mr. Blue Sky
• Lay Your Love On Me 
• Sweet Little Rock 'N' Roller  
• Night Fever 
• Ring My Bell 
• Banana Splits 
• Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick 
• Gotta Go Home   
• You're The One That I Want
• Painter Man

So, what's the odd one out which I mentioned? Well, it's the most ambitious of the lot. "Mr. Blue Sky" never appeared on "Parade of Pops". However Chevron nailed a copy for the album below - an ELO tribute album also from 1979.

Why "Pop Concert" was pressed on the Tempo label rather than Chevron, is unclear, but with the green vinyl to mark it out from the crowd, this is one "one-off" well worth hunting down.

UK one-offs part 9: Sparkling Sounds

When Bill Wellings moved on from mfp in 1973, the label - which had pioneered the cover version format in 1967 - found itself without a product to fill the discount LP racks. "Hot Hits" folded, and mfp either lost interest or couldn't get their act together until the end of 1974, when they set upon a short-lived set of "Chart Choice" albums which never really caught on.

In the gap between "Hot Hits" and "Chart Choice", we were treated to occasional albums like Non Stop Pepsi Party, and this one - another drink promo with a slew of covers recordings:

Just the way you want to hear them, it says. The song selections are reasonable - mostly early-70s pop songs, originally from the likes of Gilbert O'Sullivan, Abba, Neil Sedaka and so on, plus "Hey Jude" - thrown in for Beatle fans out there.

It's not yet clear if this promotional LP was on general sale. It's unlikely that today, a product could be casually sold to kids with a blatant advert for alcohol on it (albeit looking rather like Bambi in a bow). (Bet you didn't know Babycham was also the first alcoholic drink to be advertised on British telly? No, I thought not.)

So was it a mail-order thing? Answers on a postcard please. (Or just leave a comment!)

UK one-offs part 8: Chart Toppers

Another odd one...

Although it's called Vol. 2, I have never seen another in this series, so am treating this as a one-off. The label is Coronet, but that's about as much as we learn from the packaging.

Not having an 8-track player, I've never heard the recordings. My efforts to identify them turned up just one clue, and it may well be right - all tracks on the cartridge may also be heard on the album below (itself something of a one-off), so there's a good possibility they are from the same source:

The LP is part of the Windmill label's output - they of "Parade of Pops" fame. It is in fact a charity fund-raiser, with Miss World, Belinda Green, on the front. The recordings never surfaced on the regular "Parade of Pops", adding to the idea that these were sourced from elsewhere as some kind of special project. It's a fair guess that Coronet made up their 8-track from these same tapes, although who got their hands on them first is anyone's guess.

Who though are Coronet, and did they release anything else?? Leave us a message if you know more.

UK one-offs part 7: Request Time

Odd little album this. Never having heard it, we're only assuming it has some soundalike cover versions on it, so bear with us if this turns out to be a boo-boo.

It certainly looks like it should have some soundalikes on it! Just look at the track listing - 70s pop hits all, while on the cover we have one Beverley Pilkington, stalwart of budget albums from "Top of the Pops" to "Parade of Pops".

So what do we know about the "Request Time" LP? Well, the label is Tag - or to be more precise, T.A.G. - or to be even more precise, the Ten Album Group of Warrington. Odd name, that - the Ten Album Group, and this LP is sub-titled, "The best of our albums in one".

With the catalogue number, TAG 10, there is reason to believe that the Ten Album Group was formed in order to release just a decuplet (look that up, folks) of albums, this being the conclusion to the set. And in fact, it is a compilation from some or all of the other nine. Here are a few of them...

We'd very much like to hear more about this album - whether it's a bona-fide covers LP, a red herring, or part both. In any case, part of a curious project to release ten - and only ten - LPs, each with a little picture of itself in the top corner!


++++++++++++ UPDATE ++++++++++++++

11/09/2016:

We have kindly been sent a copy of this album by reader, Jeff Vagg, and were keen to see if our hunch was right - namely, that these are all soundalike cover versions.

On hearing the album, it seems we were almost right (well, 92.86% right to be exact) in that all bar one are indeed imitations of the famous hit versions. The odd one out? It comes as early as track 2 - a schmaltzy piano instrumental of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire" - it had been a hit for Andy Williams and The Carpenters of course.

We're not sure how or why this crept in - but the rest of the album does a fine job imitating hits the size of "Dancing Queen" and "Love Me For A Reason". Thanks to Jeff for helping us give it a listen at last!