USSR
There are few Top of the Pops releases from the former Communist countries known to us. However we do know that the Soviet Union released at least one LP, and a couple of EPs with Top of the Pops recordings.
The Soviet Union had a monopolised national record producer, one of whose labels was Melodiya - or Мелодия in its native form - which hosted the releases featured here. Each record we know of appeared in several different editions, depending on which part of the Soviet Union it was pressed in.
The locations of the pressing plants tend to fall in the Euopean part of the USSR - two in Russia, one in Georgia, and one in Lativa - but also include the only territory in Central Asia which Top of the Pops is known to have reached - namely, Uzbekistan.
The location where a record was manufactured is given in the small print on the back of the sleeves, and also on the record labels, along with the date of pressing which is encoded in the catalogue number.
CLICK HERE for a guide to decoding Soviet record labels.
We are most grateful to Shumov Konstantin for donating several fascinating records from the USSR, and for information on the Soviet releases.
The Soviet Union had a monopolised national record producer, one of whose labels was Melodiya - or Мелодия in its native form - which hosted the releases featured here. Each record we know of appeared in several different editions, depending on which part of the Soviet Union it was pressed in.
The locations of the pressing plants tend to fall in the Euopean part of the USSR - two in Russia, one in Georgia, and one in Lativa - but also include the only territory in Central Asia which Top of the Pops is known to have reached - namely, Uzbekistan.
The location where a record was manufactured is given in the small print on the back of the sleeves, and also on the record labels, along with the date of pressing which is encoded in the catalogue number.
CLICK HERE for a guide to decoding Soviet record labels.
We are most grateful to Shumov Konstantin for donating several fascinating records from the USSR, and for information on the Soviet releases.
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Possible Soviet export release
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This is a Bulgarian album. The edition with the red and black sleeve (left) appears to have been produced for sale in the USSR. |
