Reaching the summit

Cover version aficionados (or should that be copy-cats) will be familiar with the Summit EP label. But did you know that Summit expanded their horizons in 1965 with a first, and probably only, foray into the album format? No, I didn't think so! Mind you, neither did I until this little beauty popped up on Ebay:

If you didn't know (and you didn't!) you would think from the front cover that this LP was a compilation of original hit recordings - after all, it has the stars of the songs pictured in colour and named in full. But the small print on the back says what it needs to: "Cover versions of top chart successes by..."

So, here's the track listing:

1. Where Are You Now?
2. Stop! In The Name Of Love
3. The Last Time
4. I'll Stop At Nothing
5. It's Not Unusual
6. The Special Years
7. Somewhere
8. Girl Don't Come
9. Keep Searchin'
10. King Of The Road
11. Down Town
12. Help!

This is one of the very earliest anonymous covers LPs to appear in Britain, along with the broadly contemporary Marble Arch round-up of 1965 and a few prior releases on Top Six and one or two other labels. All twelve songs on this disc are, need I say, taken from Summit's 7-inch EP offer, and they span the series from start to finish. Here are some scans of the complete run of EP covers...

 

What's significant is that the backs of these EP covers also have brief biographies (bizarrely described as 'discographies') of famous chart acts on the backs - and full colour photos of them too! And so, guess where the LP sleeve art comes from?...

So there it is - Summit followed the Top Six label in the mid-60s by gathering EP tracks to make up LPs. This is the reverse of later trends, where LPs dominated and EPs were 'pulled' from them (see labels such as Flag, Avenue and (Mr.) Pickwick, for instance) and is a fantastic example of the genre in its infancy. Who knew?

Great find, and well done to the lucky bidder (not me!).

Summit EP - unusual pressing gives us some clues

When I first saw the EP below, and spotted the layout of the label, I assumed I had chanced upon a mis-press. This is the EP I found, Volume 7 of the Summit "Top Pops" series, which happens to be the last one issued:

What's unusual about it? Well this is what my existing copy looks like, and indeed every label I've ever seen from this series (apart from volume 1, which was printed on green paper):

The differences are at once noticeable. There's a lot of extra text on this alternative printing, in particular the "45 rpm" inscription around the play hole, and the words "Rhythm Records" on either side. Those who know their budget EPs will know where these belong - namely, on labels from a different series entirely - "Six Hit":

My first impression was that this was a straight-forward mis-pressing, whereby the "Top Pops" text had been printed onto paper which already had the "Six Hit" text printed on. Using a bit of computer software, I have isolated out the two bits of printing below, so you can see where the various text elements come from. The one on the left just shows the "Six Hit" text, the one on the right the "Top Pops" text:

However, I got thinking about this and realised that this was not in fact an accident; this is an alternative edition of the EP. How can we tell? Well the clincher is the positioning of the words "Top Pops" at the top of the label and the catalogue number DTP 1007. Compared to the standard Summit label, it's clear this writing has been deliberately moved up, so as to fit neatly in the space available. If it were just an accidental overprint, then the two sets of inscriptions would have overlapped each other.

Now this gets intriguing. "Six Hit" issued their fifteenth and final EP around May 1965. This edition of "Top Pops" appeared in August, so was this some sort of formal arrangement to start transfering the "Six Hit" brand across? One can't help but notice the inclusion of the words "Six Hits" next to "Top Pops" on this latest label, and then there is the picture sleeve this EP was issued in:

I must have looked at this sleeve countless times, but never particularly noticed the wording on the back, "A product of Rhythm Records Ltd". Rhythm Records - whose name features so prominently on the "Six Hit" labels.

Apparently, recordings for the Summit "Top Pops" EPs were overseen by David Ede, and according to one knowledgeable contributor to the 45cat website, he was found dead shortly after this EP was released. Had he lived, it is probable that more EPs in this series would have been recorded, and we might have seen a more obvious union of these two series. As it is, there are just these clues in the printing of what I imagine is a somewhat rare edition of "Top Pops" volume 7, which point at what might have been.