• Year of Release:  1972
• Cover Girl:  Penny Irving

Top of the Pops stalwart Tony Rivers would often claim that if any of these LP’s were played at a party, nobody would notice the difference. Personally, I’ve never allowed myself to agree with that statement. To my ears, the aural differences between the two are even more blatant now than they were almost forty years ago when I first discovered these records. However, listening today to this volume’s opener ‘Clair’, I finally find myself (if only for this one particular track) in agreement with Tony’s bold claim. Not only does session singer Ken Gold* provide an impeccable impersonation of Gilbert O’ Sullivan, but the track also clearly demonstrates what an excellent producer Bruce Baxter was. Despite time and budget constraints, Bruce managed to produce a cover version here which I’m convinced would have fooled me and most others had it been played at a disco party in 1972.
This high standard continues on track two with Lee Vanderbilt* delivering a great vocal performance on the Chairmen of the Board hit ‘Elmo James’. Although it’s unlikely that this version would also have fooled me back then, if It had, the game would have … Click here to read the rest of this post...

• Year of Release:  1971
• Cover Girl:  Unknown

Volume 18 turned out to be a milestone LP for the ‘Top of the Pops’ team when, in August 1971, it became the first one in the series to make it to the top of the UK albums chart. This accomplishment was repeated two issues later with Volume 20. It obviously played a pivotal role in the chart compilers’ decision in January 1972 to exclude all budget priced LPs from the chart from that point on.
The album gets off to a fairly good start with TOTP regular Martin Jay* honing his Marc Bolan impersonation skills on a very passable cover (sans saxophonist) of the T.Rex classic ‘Get It On’. This is followed by an awful version of ‘River Deep Mountain High’, on which session singer Jacqui Baxter* and her male counterpart combine to provide an extremely cabaret version of what was already a poor cover version by The Four Tops and The Supremes. Martin Jay* re-emerges on track three with a very inoffensive cover of ‘Me And You And A Dog Named Boo’.
Legendary record producer, Norman Smith, released his first solo single in 1971 as Hurricane Smith. Hurricane had what can only be … Click here to read the rest of this post...

• Year of Release:  1978
• Cover Girl:  Unknown

It was after listening to this particular album in 2005 that my 33 year hatred of these LP’s finally ended. The musicianship is top notch throughout, the vocals are consistently great, and production wise, this has got to be one of the best albums in the series. It’s not as if I love the songs chosen for inclusion on this LP, in fact, some of them I absolutely hate. But I have to admit that if I’m going to judge this album for what it is (a collection of cover versions of big hits of the day) then I would have great difficulty in faulting it.
The album starts off with a bang. Abba’s ‘Take A Chance On Me’ is spot-on, followed by a very convincing performance of Bill Wither’s ‘Lovely Day’. I don’t particularly like the Althea & Donna song ‘Up Town Top Ranking’ but have to concede that it’s covered very well here.
All of the disco tracks sound great, especially if we consider the big production budget afforded the originals. I especially enjoyed the Odyssey and Bee Gees numbers. Even the cheesy attempt at re-creating scenes from Casablanca on ‘As Time Goes … Click here to read the rest of this post...

• Release Date:  1969
• Cover Girl:  Unknown

Volume 5 of this series was issued in the early summer of 1969. The track-listing for this LP presented quite a challenge for the session musicians enrolled to cover the twelve songs chosen for them.
The LP kicks off with a faithful rendering of ‘Get Back’. The band and singers deliver a note perfect copy of The Beatles’ own version. The track is let down though by the producer, who inexplicably sends the rather prominent keyboard licks right to the back of the mix, rendering them almost inaudible.
There are no other obvious errors on the album and all in all it’s difficult to choose a poor cover version on this particular issue. Session singer Danny Street* in particular, really earned his session fee for his contributions to this LP. He proved without a doubt on this album what a talented and versatile vocalist he was. As well as appearing on the throwaway pop of ‘Dick-A-Dum’ and a faithful cover of Paul Simon’s ‘The Boxer’, Danny also turns in a very passable performance of the highly emotional ‘Man Of The World’ along with the two big production numbers on the album, ‘Love Me Tonight’ and ‘My … Click here to read the rest of this post...

• Release Date:  June 1968
• Cover Girl:  Unknown

So this is where it all began. When this LP was released in June 1968, Easy Listening acts were still enjoying considerable success in the UK single’s chart. It’s no surprise then that the Easy Listening genre is well represented on this album. The first thing that struck me when listening to this LP was that a lot of the keys had been dropped to suit the range of the session singers. I don’t think this practice continued for too long, though I’m not entirely sure. It’s something I’ll be looking out for when I review future issues.
The album gets off to a great start with a rather impressive version of Gary Puckett’s ‘Young Girl.’ It’s followed by a rather disappointing cover of ‘My Name Is Jack.’ the lead vocalist on this track is well respected session singer Roger Cook*. On this occasion though, he comes across rather whiney, and is unable to recreate the warmth of Mike D’Abo’s original. I’m assuming that the very capable crooning on tracks three and four is provided in both cases by the same vocalist. The first track he attempts (Can’t Take My Eyes Off You) is lowered … Click here to read the rest of this post...