New finds: Archive August 2011 - August 2012
For current news and finds, visit our BLOG
23/08/12
BRAND NEW FIND This "new-look" website went live just over a year ago, and since then we have not added to our UK discography, assuming it to be complete. However we have just discovered a new compilation album by the Poppers, released in 1978 on cassette only: It's called Disco Machine. Amazing!
12/08/12
We have discovered and uploaded a photo of the Telstar box set, "Disco Classics". It contains 15 tracks from the Top of the Pops discography.
11/08/12
We have added three more 8-track cartridges: Volumes 72, 75 and 77. We now have continuous run of images for all of the last 20 cartridges issued.
11/08/12
More finds have been made from Argentina.
- We have added a strange compilation LP called "The Music Of The Owl", with a topless photo inside.
- We have also found some decent images of what we thought was an Argentinian pressing of Volume 67 - which in fact turns out to be another compilation LP, from 1978.
11/08/12
We have discovered some very interesting Mexican LPs which have added considerably to what we know from that country.
- We have discovered two editions of a series called "Onda Pop" which precede what we now think is a fairly lengthy run of the series "La Ola Inglesa".
- And, we have located a Poppers-filled Volume 13 of the afore-mentioned series.
05/08/12
New finds continue to come in thick and fast. We have added a Norwegian edition of Volume 8 to the site, extending our known activity in that country by one more LP.
04/08/12
We have added some more information and images concerning the Belgian gold discs.
04/08/12
24 hours after adding South Africa to our database, we are able to introduce another new territory: Thailand. The connections are a little tenuous at present, but we hope that more data will come to light from that country.
03/08/12
We are please to add a brand new country (and indeed continent) to our discography, with the discovery of a Top of the Pops LP from South Africa.
03/08/12
We were kindly sent a photo of the French LP, Chansons Succes Volume 1, which has a familiar Top of the Pops photo on the cover.
28/07/12
Three new Australian LP covers have come to light, which we have added in. None are really new discoveries, but all have some interest:
Australian Volume 19: Better resolution front, and a back image with catalogue number
Australian Volume 20: New to us (although we previously supposed that it existed)
Australian Volume 21: Alternative cover, with Summit logos
These three finds all have the unusual 'long' catalogue numbers, confirming to us that they were used only on volumes 19, 20 and 21, plus Best of 1971 which was released during the same mini-era.
28/07/12
We have added another French compilation LP to our listing, which there is good reason to believe contains at least one Top of the Pops recording.
13/07/12
We have discovered and added an image (incomplete) for volume 2 of the Spanish edition of "Red Hot Black Music Hits" - and also discovered a cassette edition!
13/07/12
We have added a second Spanish single on the RCA-Victor label. This also confirms that the first is indeed a Poppers spin-off.
04/07/12
Yet another version of the the USSR LP, Variety's Orbit has turned up, this one an alternative edition from Uzbekistan. It has a different, unique cover.
30/06/12
The endless variety of the Soviet editions never ceases to amaze us, and yet again we have been able to add another edition of the Variety's Orbit EP, this one a second Tbilisi flexi with a striking geometrical cover.
28/06/12
We have been sent yet more images of the USSR Variety's Orbit LP - this time cover shots and a label scan for the a third Latvian pressing. And, we have added another incarnation of the Variety's Orbit EP, although we have it under 'unknown factory' at present, since we are not sure which part of the Soviet Union it was manufactured in.
28/06/12
We have added a label scan for the rare promo copy of West Germany volume 10.
18/06/12
Images of the cassette editions continue to trickle in. We have now added images of volumes 44 and 51, and in terms of getting photos of all the cassettes ever released, are probably now past the half-way mark.
13/06/12
We have added images of two newly dicovered pressings of the Soviet EP, "Hot Love": A blue-label Latvia pressing; and an alternative Leningrad edition.
13/06/12
Another edition of the USSR Variety's Orbit EP has been found, pressed at the Moscow Aprelevka factory. It has been added to the page.
13/06/12
Thanks to information sent in, we have been able to determine that the black and white version of the Bulgarian LP, World's Variety, is the main edition, while the red and black version was probably for sale in the USSR. In addition, we have been sent an alternative cover photo with song titles in English, which has been added.
10/06/12
We have further advanced our page for the Soviet LP, Variety's Orbit, by adding in enlargeable thumbnails of the various record labels. Although we don't usually feature label scans on the album pages, this Soviet LP is unique in having multiple editions, and the label details help to identify each one.
05/06/12
We have added two new 8-track cartridges, albeit rather blurry images. The first is volume 60, which is interesting for the fact that it has a white plastic shell - the series was being issued in black shells at the time. And even more significantly, we now have volume 27 recorded, which becomes the earliest cartridge known from the main series. (We previously had volume 30 as the earliest.)
25/05/12
We have found and added an image of the cassette edition of volume 83.
15/05/12
We have been sent some info on an Australian edition of Volume 4 - which we previously only had listed there as the triple-EP edition. This is the standard LP however, the earliest known from that country.
14/05/12
We have been alerted to a Telstar box set of cover version LPs, which duplicates eight of the tracks on Best of Top of the Pops 1984. A note has been added to that page.
12/05/12
Once again we have been able to added more new images to the page for the Soviet LP, Variety's Orbit.
08/05/12
We have added a (blurry) image of volume 59 to the 8-track cartridge page. We now have a photo for around 80% of known cartridges.
07/05/12
We have found an image of the cassette edition of Top of the Poppers Sing & Play Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits which has been added to the cassette page.
05/05/12
We have added yet more info and another newly discovered LP cover to the page for the Soviet LP, Variety's Orbit.
03/05/12
We have added a recent discovery to the page, Top of the Pops volume 1 - an LP which has nine of the same recordings on - but in stereo!
30/04/12
We have overhauled our Soviet Union section since we have received so much new information lately. It now includes details of the various pressing plants, images of the backs of the LP sleeves, and a guide to decoding USSR record labels.
24/04/12
We have received another edition of the USSR Variety's Orbit EP, now making a total of seven different editions. We have added it to the site, along with images of the flexi-disc pressing in its paper sleeve.
24/04/12
We have been able to add some improved images of the Swiss cassette edition of volume 16.
16/04/12
We have been sent yet another alternative sleeve for the USSR Variety's Orbit EP, making a total of six different editions (so far as we currently know).
16/04/12
We have found some images of a West German export pressing of Volume 27.
10/04/12
Another 8-track cartridge has been added: Volume 34.
07/04/12
A better cover shot of the New Zealand EP, "4 Hits of Abba" has turned up, along with an image of the back of the sleeve, revealing the correct track listing for the first time. We also now have the catalogue number.
05/04/12
We have added an image of the cassette edition of volume 67.
17/03/12
We have been sent an image of the green vinyl edition of the Soviet LP, Variety's Orbit, which we have added to the page. We have also discovered another alternative sleeve for the associated EP.
13/03/12
We have added a search engine which will just scan pages from this site. It can be accessed on the link at the bottom of the menu bar (left).
03/03/12
We have kindly been sent a photo of a cassette edition of the Swiss Volume 16.
15/02/12
We have kindly been sent an image of yet another variant of the USSR album, Variety's Orbit, this time of the rare yellow vinyl edition.
13/02/12
We've discovered another Spanish single which we are 99% sure is a Poppers spin-off. See it here.
11/02/12
We have uploaded a cover image and track listing for the New Zealand LP, Top 20: Twenty Of Today's Biggest Hits.
11/02/12
We have found a number of LP covers with connections to Top of the Pops covers. These can be seen as follows:
- Two variants on the volume 74 photo
- Four new French covers with connections ("Hits Radio", and some variants from volume 67)
09/02/12
We have today loaded up several new images of Soviet releases, having been sent photos and actual records over the past couple of weeks. We have added to our Soviet data:
- A red vinyl edition of the LP, Variety's Orbit, and better photos of a couple of the sleeve variants
- Two alternative pressings of the Variety's Orbit spin-off EP
- Amazing images of the flexi-disc, "Hot Love"
01/02/12
A trawl of the internet has uncovered images of cassettes volumes 37 and 69, and 8-track cartridges volumes 43 and 48.
22/01/12
We have added another album to the 8-track cartridge page: Volume 42.
21/01/12
Having added Turkey to our world map recently, we have discovered another release there, in the form of a single from the Euro 2 LP. Details can be found here.
02/01/12
First find of the new year: a Spanish pressing of volume 9 in a new cover. See here.
02/01/12
We have located a second sleeve for the Spanish single "Goo Goo Barabajagal" / "Baby Make It Soon".
02/01/12
Following an email querying the status of the album "It Takes A Hit Vol 2", which we thought may be an alternative UK edition of volume 11, we have done some research into the Ace of Clubs label on which it is pressed. We now consider it likely to be a Canadian edition, which would be the earliest known there. We have moved it to the Canada section of the site.
04/12/11
We have found an alternative cover for the West German pressing of volume 3.
03/12/11
Hot on the heels of Turkey, who we added to our global listing last week, we have now confirmed Top of the Pops activity for the first time in Brazil, with a pressing of Sing & Play The Beatles. Click here for more info.
03/12/11
We have been sent part of a cover photo for a New Zealand LP on Music World - containing 20 Elvis tracks. The album was completely new to us and we are hoping to obtain a copy shortly. See here for details.
30/11/11
LARGE PHOTOS! We have made all the images of record covers and labels clickable, so that large versions can be seen. In nearly all cases, the small print can now be read.
22/11/11
We are pleased to say that we've added a new overseas territory to our data with the discovery of two Top of the Pops LPs from Turkey. There are probably several more to be unearthed from that country - watch this space!
19/11/11
We've come across evidence of a New Zealand LP which although unconfirmed, would seem to be another TOTP compilation. See here.
05/11/11
A minor find - a rough image of volume 39 on 8-track cartridge.
24/10/11
A cassette edition of Revived 45s from Australia has turned up on Ebay. It's too expensive for us to buy, but we have grabbed an image, which can be seen here.
19/10/11
We have kindly been sent five different alternative pressings of the USSR album, Variety's Orbit. We have photographed the covers here, and scanned the labels here.
28/09/11
Thanks to a Russian collector we know, we've been able to find out about two USSR EPs, one a spin-off from the Variety's Orbit album (here), the other an alternative pressing of an EP which contains Poppers songs (here).
28/09/11
Looking at the South African Springbok LP covers, we spotted one which looks very similar to a Top of the Pops poster. There's no real connection, but we thought we'd add it to the site for interest. See here.
26/09/11
We have found a (rough) cover image for the Australian Volume 24. This now has its own page, and we are very close to completing the Australian sequence.
24/09/11
NEW! We've added the Hot Hits Portal - which takes you to an external site, which does for Hot Hits pretty much what this site does for Top of the Pops...
21/09/11
We have discovered and added in a West German double LP called International Tops Made in London which is a Poppers compilation. It also seems to exist as an abbreviated single album...
16/09/11
We have learned of a couple more alternative cover designs for the USSR album, Variety's Orbit. These have been added in.
09/09/11
More searching on todocoleccion.com has resulted in another Spanish discovery: a spin-off single from Volume 18.
08/09/11
It's been a bonanza day! Courtesy of the webiste todocoleccion.com I have been able to identify no fewer than five additions to the Spanish catalogue:
1. Confirmation of the LP Super Hits which consequently has its own page now.
2. A long-awaited cover shot for the single, "A Boy Named Sue".
3. A brand new addition to the discography: The single, "Honey Come Back".
4. Another new discovery: Volume 36! On cassette only, at the moment.
5. A cassette edition of the Love Story album, which contains three TOTP tracks, although as a Spanish edition of a UK-based album with only peripheral connections, it doesn't warrant its own page.
07/09/11
I have added an alternative cover to the Bulgarian World's Variety album page.
06/09/11
We have found a Yugoslav LP with a photo from the same shoot as Volume 67. An image has been added to that page.
05/09/11
New information has come to light about two New Zealand albums: 20 Smash Hits and 20 Smash Hits Volume 2. We now have rough cover images and a track listing for one of them.
05/09/11
I have learned that the New Zealand album Twenty Golden Hits of the Beatles is indeed part of the "Top of the Poppers Present" series, and now have a track listing confirming the contents. It has therefore been given a full page on the site.
05/09/11
Today I discovered some images of Australia Volume 5 - the earliest LP yet discovered from Australia, and one not previously known to have existed.
28/08/11
Added: A 12-inch EP by the group, Thrilled Skinny, which adapts the packaging from Top of the Pops Volume 28.
16/08/11
Today, I found an LP-sized Harlequin Records bag, with a Top of the Pops advert on it, in Oxfam on Drury Lane. This has been added to the page with a corresponding singles bag.