Studio 33 LPs and "England's 12 Top Hits" - overseas
These albums are strongly associated with Alan Caddy, and the fact is, Caddy was actively releasing covers LPs all over the world. A full survey is nigh-on impossible, but we can offer the following, which correspond with his main UK releases. Since the UK LPs on Studio 33 form a continuous run with the Avenue series, some overseas countries issued both in a generally continuous sequence. Hence, we have grouped all together on this page.
Canada
Pictured below are Canadian editions of Avenue AVE 036, AVE 044, AVE 061 and AVE 067. The contents are the same as the UK editions, but notably, the sleeve of AVE 044 is copied from UK AVE 034 from some months earlier (the background colour has been changed). The label here is Avenue of America.
Canada also released copies of AVE 058 and AVE 059 in the same sleeves as in the UK, and likely others were issued there as well. AVE 059 is one of two pictured below, but we have yet to confirm this as the Canadian pressing. It, and AVE 042 (also pictured) are probably Canadian since they change the LP title to "Sounds Top 12 Hits of the 70's", like AVE 067 above. More research is needed however...
Finland
This copy of AVE 017 was offered for sale from Finland, and is presumed to be a Finnish edition. Although the LP itself is the same as the UK version, the front and back covers have gold stickers where the Avenue logo should be printed. The text on the front also appears lighter than on the UK sleeve, although this could be just a photographic effect. |
Greece
One Greek album is known, on the Margophone label. It takes its cover from AVE 061, but none of the tracks are from there. Nine of the 12 tracks feature on the UK volumes AVE 082, 088, 089 and 092 - but the other three are unknown in the UK discography (these being "Move On Up", "What Are You Doing Sunday" and "Maggie May"). Note the second title on the sleeve - "Go.. Go.. Dancing No. 4". This puts the LP into a separate Greek series, although none of the other "Go.. Go.. Dancing" albums we've seen appear to match the UK Avenue series. |
Israel
This LP is an Israeli pressing of the UK Studio 33 album, AVE 10-011. This edition carries the catalogue number AVE 30076. The track listing is the same, and so is the cover - except for the Israeli retail price printed in the car headlamp. The label is Studio 33 (with a different label design to the UK albums) but the record is manufactured and distributed by the Israeli company, Hed-Arzi. The disc is housed in a clear plastic inner sleeve with Hed-Arzi branding and information printed on it in gold ink. |
Netherlands
The Netherlands was quick off the mark with Avenue, releasing some of the label's EP tracks on albums, long before LPs started appearing in the UK. Just to confuse matters, these very early ones were on the Dutch Fontana label! The three known LPs are pictured below (enlarge to read the track listings). Note that one of them is called "Top of the Pops", well in advance of the famous Hallmark series:
At this point, the UK albums started to appear on Avenue's Studio 33 label, so the rest of the Dutch releases shown below have some UK equivalents, as stated.
The two records below are Dutch editions of the Avenue label albums, AVE 042 and AVE 044 respectively. They were released by the Swiss-based label, Elite Special. It is interesting that these are titled "England's Top Twelve 70/4" and "70/6" respectively, suggesting they are instalments 4 and 6 of a Swiss series - although in the UK, they were consecutive - begging the question of what was issued as number 5.
In addition, there was a series of EPs issued in The Netherlands, each one wholly or predominantly made up of tracks from a specific UK album. These use the "Top 6" designation, in a similar way to the Spanish EPs pictured lower down this page. The series itself is called "6 Top Hits From England" but the label is Top 6. (Not directly related of course to the much earlier UK EPs on the Top 6 label.)
The five EPs above make for a series, but to confuse matters there are others in existence which suggest more releases - possibly from different countries. One of more of these could conceivably be from Switzerland, where some were probably issued (see below), although we do not have much information as yet.
New Zealand
We have information on two different LPs which we think are from New Zealand. The album below left is on the Studio 33 label and is dated to 1970. It has the same cover photo as Avenue AVE 032, of 1969, and is compiled from AVE 032 and AVE 034. The catalogue number is Ave 70/3.
The LP pictured below right is an edition of the UK album AVE 042 in a different cover. The artwork seems to come via The Netherlands (see above) but the label logo on the front is different to the Dutch edition, and indicates Avenue were the issuing label in New Zealand by this point. It connects to the other LP by the number 70/4, which is now part of the album title.
Romania
Spain
Pictured left is our only known Spanish album to date. It's the equivalent of AVE 032 from 1969, and gives the group identity as the Top Hits Group. The label is called Pussy, and the LP title translates to something like Almost all the Hits. The cassette edition on the other hand, is called something akin to 12 Big Pop Hits. |
Sweden
These six EPs were released as "Magnus Banck Hit Parade", Banck being a Swedish entertainer. The recording outfit is given as "The Hit Parade Orchestra and Singers". The EPs were made in the UK for export, and are basically re-pressings of the Avenue EPs, AVE 68 to AVE 73 - and so contain all the recordings from the Studio 33 LPs, AVE 10-013, AVE 10-15 and AVE 10-16.
Switzerland
There is some evidence of Swiss releases of the "6 Top Hits From England" EPs (see above, under Netherlands), primarily through label scans which show an alternative label design, bearing the term "Made In Switzerland". The best example we have is the EP numbered 202, matching the Dutch EP with "Lola" as its first track, with an identical sleeve (see left). The issue is, that although the discs were manufactured in Switzerland they were not necessarily being sold there and so we cannot confirm matters at present.
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West Germany
West Germany saw the release of the Studio 33/Avenue material on their Somerset label. They began with four albums called England's Top 12, all compiled from the UK Studio 33 albums. Thereafter, the UK releases moved to Avenue and West Germany continued with a sequence of British-themed collections which dipped into practically all the parent LPs for their contents.
All the UK Studio 33 LPs are sampled in the above mini-series.
All the UK Avenue LPs up to and including AVE 067 are sampled on the above albums, with the exception of AVE 017.