Sunday, January 20, 2013

Copycat ... er ... Covers - part 2

A little while ago I posted some examples of record sleeves which use the same artwork as the UK covers albums. Part 1 featured examples from the "World Top 12" series - see it here.

This is part 2, which shows sleeves from a range of UK LP series, and overseas counterparts. There are several more examples out there, and we would be grateful for further contributions. Part 3 will follow in due course...

First up, is the Contour label's "16 Chart Hits" volume 12. Below are albums from Finland (left) and Portugal (right). The Portuguese LP reverses the photo, and is part of a series called "Top Pops", from which this is a best-of compilation. Looks and sounds quite familiar to me... 

 

These next two examples are from the UK series, "12 Chart Busters" (or "12 Chart Buster Hits" as it was known for a while). Next to volume 10 is a Brazilian LP with the same photo, in the same rectangular frame. Underneath us UK volume 12, plus a Spanish album on the Olympo label (who issued some Top of the Pops LPs there) which has a photo from the same shoot.

 

The British Rediffusion albums are among the more difficult covers LPs for the collector. Nevertheless, the cover art crops up in unexpected places, as shown in these examples. "Hit Parade Special" volume 8 has an equivalent sleeve from Australia, used on an LP of Simon & Garfunkel covers. The photo is slightly different and has also been reversed, which can be seen from the slope of the sea behind the model.

And "Sounds Like Hits USA", an obscure British release from 1970 is mirrored in this Brazilian album, also containing chart cover versions. 



Lastly, here are two examples from the much later Chevron series, "Parade of Pops". In both cases the covers are from LPs, whereas one of these was only released on cassette in the UK. And in both cases, the photos are different, but clearly taken at the same photo session. Top is an album from New Zealand, and bottom, one from Turkey.




I'll post some more of these at some point. I think a "Top of the Pops" special might be next...

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