A Few Words In Defence Of Cliff Richard

by Stuart Penney

As far back as I can remember I’ve always loved records. I realise that sounds like the opening line from the movie Goodfellas but it’s true. When I was growing up in the 50s, we had piles of pre-rock & roll 78rpm singles in the house (the fragile, shellac kind) by the likes of George Formby, Johnnie Ray, Mario Lanza and Guy Mitchell which my grandmother would play on an ancient, clanky, wind-up gramophone (sans horn, unfortunately). 

Even before I could properly read, I was able to distinguish one record from another by the colour of their labels and/or the logos and font style: Yellow MGM? Must be Connie Francis. Dark blue Philips? That would be Doris Day. Light blue HMV? Probably Alma Cogan. Green Columbia? Tricky. Possibly the Mudlarks or perhaps Michel Holliday. Purple Capitol? It could only be my dad’s favourite “Tennessee” Ernie Ford. And so on. It became quite the party trick, and my parents would wheel me out to impress visiting relatives with my pre-school record spotting.

Then, in 1958, just about the time rock & roll hit Britain, a cousin gave me a carrier bag full of 7” singles by Elvis, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers etc and that, most assuredly, was that. I was off and running.

In over 65 years of collecting since then, I’ve amassed untold thousands of records (and parted with almost as many, sad to say). I even ran a second-hand record shop for 30 years which helped feed my vinyl addiction no end. But enough of that. Allow me to tell you about the very first long-playing record I ever called my own.

You won’t find it in any of those trendy “Greatest Albums” lists we see in the dad rock magazines such as Uncut or Mojo, and today it’s largely forgotten (or worse, derided) by collectors and critics alike. My inaugural album was (drum roll, please) Cliff Sings, the second LP by Cliff Richard.  

No, wait! Come back!  I know what you’re thinking. With his goody two-shoes image and cringeworthy Wimbledon tennis rain break singalongs, the Peter Pan of Pop may have been hopelessly, desperately, terminally uncool for more than half a century, but it wasn’t always that way. 

I’m not ashamed to say that before the Beatles and Dylan; before discovering electric blues, folk, jazz and psychedelia, in fact before just about every other kind of music I grew to cherish, Cliff was my guy. The infatuation didn’t last much beyond late 1962 and the arrival of the Fab Four, it’s true, but his early records, some of which were (and remain) excellent slabs of well-produced early 60s pop, will always have a special place in my heart.  Allow me to explain.

It started in the best way possible in August 1958 with “Move It!” Cliff’s debut single was a #2 UK hit and is now unanimously regarded as one of the first great British rock & roll records. Together with “Shakin’ All Over” by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates (UK #1 in 1960), it was the equal of almost anything coming out of America at that time. “Move It” was absolutely the real deal and light years away from the Cliff Richard of “Congratulations” and Eurovision.

The song was penned by Ian Samwell, a 2i’s coffee bar regular who played guitar for Cliff before being edged out by Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. Samwell wrote or co-wrote around a dozen of Cliff’s early songs plus “What’cha Gonna Do About It” for the Small Faces. In 1972 he co-produced the debut album by the band America, including their first hit single “A Horse with No Name” and, in 1970, he escorted Frank Zappa around London while the Mother Superior recorded at Trident studios. From Cliff to Zappa is a mighty long stretch, but Samwell was up for the task.

I already owned some of Cliff’s singles and 7” EPs at that point, but Cliff Sings was a giant first leap into the adult world of long-players.  Released in November 1959 when I was still a sub-teen in short pants, it arrived under the Christmas tree nicely gift wrapped a month later. It’s looking a little tired and dog eared now, and the back cover is yellowed with age, but after more than seven decades and what seems like a million plays, I still have that very same copy (pictured here). Considering the stone age hi fi equipment it’s seen for much of its life (mainly Dansettes of variable age and quality, often with styli blunted by age and misuse) I’d say it has survived remarkably well.

With its heavy-duty laminated cardboard sleeve, this unfeasibly thick slab of vinyl with antiquated green and gold Columbia labels really does look like something from a bygone era. EMI didn’t standardise the designs of their three main labels - Columbia, HMV and Parlophone - until early 1963 and the old-style designs seem quaintly antediluvian today.  As was the custom, no artist is credited on the labels. There’s just the album title and track listing, together with composers and music publishers, all in tiny, hard to read gold-on-green type.

On the front cover we see a photograph of the man himself in moody semi profile against a soft-focus background.  His hair is piled high in a magnificent, greased pompadour and the collar of his corduroy jacket is turned up, James Dean style, in an approximation of teenage rebellion. His face, although on the cute side of handsome, still shows a hint of puppy fat. In April 1962 Cliff’s “chubby appearance” was remarked upon by the Minnie Caldwell character in an episode of TV soap Coronation Street, something which prompted a mortified Cliff to embark on a lifelong diet.

Nobody would create a record sleeve like this today unless they were seeking to be ironic or aiming for a look of pure nostalgia. But in 1959 this cover design probably seemed as modern as tomorrow.

It was Cliff’s second LP, but it might just as well have been his first, since his early 1959 debut album titled, simply, Cliff was a scrappy affair of rock & roll covers recorded live before an invited audience at EMI Recording Studios in St. John's Wood (later renamed Abbey Road, of course.)

The world was a very different place when Cliff Sings was released.  It was a world where rock & roll was just coming of age. John, Paul and George were scuffing around Liverpool as The Quarrymen looking for a permanent drummer while playing lunchtime gigs at the Casbah club. In America Elvis was halfway through his enforced stint in the army and Chuck Berry was about to be arrested for that most bafflingly American of offences “transporting a minor across state lines.” In the UK we had very little idea what that meant at the time, but Chuck ended up in clink so, clearly, it was a serious business.

It was a world where Harold MacMillan (“You’ve never had it so good”) was British Prime Minister and Dwight D. Eisenhower (“I Like Ike”) was midway through a second term as US president.  Alaska and Hawaii had recently become the 49th and 50th states respectively and Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, where he would stay until 2008.

US album of the year in 1959 was Henry Mancini’s The Music From Peter Gunn and the song of the year was “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)” by Domenico Modugno (of which more later).

In the jazz world the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out became the first long player of the genre to sell a million copies.  Over in Britain, who else but Cliff Richard had the biggest hit single of 1959 with “Living Doll” which sold 800,000 copies in the UK and almost two million worldwide.

In sport, Bill Shankly of Huddersfield Town took over as manager of lowly Second Division Liverpool FC in December 1959 and the last Football League games to be played on Christmas Day were held when Blackburn Rovers defeated Blackpool 1-0. Back in May, Nottingham Forest had won the FA Cup and Wolverhampton Wanderers topped the First Division, then the highest tier of English football.

Volare

Cliff Sings may have been my first LP, but it wasn’t the first record I was proud to call my very own. That distinction goes to a version of “Volare” released on a 7” single in September 1958. This song started life in the Eurovision song contest of that year with the title “Nel Blu Dpinto di Blu” (translation: “In the blue, painted blue".) It became popularly known as “Volare” (which means “to fly") and went on to be covered no less than 16 times within a couple of years, eventually selling a combined total of 18 million copies. I wanted the Dean Martin recording but was fobbed off with a soundalike version by someone called Rikki Henderson on Woolworth’s cheapo Embassy label.

Stereo EPs

Cliff Sings was initially available in mono only as a 12” LP.  Yet, in what appeared to be a brazen attempt at upselling by EMI, all16 tracks soon appeared on four individual 7” EPs in mono or stereo. These were designated Cliff Sings No.1-4 and released between February and September 1960.  A similar thing had happened with the debut mono-only Cliff LP, although in that case only 12 of the 16 tracks were issued in mono or stereo on just two EPs. 

Dozens of stereo EPs were issued by EMI during the 50s and 60s, including several by Cliff and the Shadows (separately and together).  They didn’t sell as well as the mono versions because few record buyers had the equipment to play them at the time and they now command a premium over the mono versions on the collectors’ market.  Stereo EPs appear to have been phased out by the mid-60s followed by mono EPs around 1970. 

A total of six UK Cliff Richard albums were split into 7” EPs.  Along with Cliff and Cliff Sings the others were: Me and My Shadows (3 EPs in 1961), Listen To Cliff (2 EPs in 1961), Cliff Richard (2 EPs in 1962) and Wonderful Life (3 EPs in 1964).  All were available in stereo or mono.

The Shadows

One of the most significant things about Cliff Sings is that it marked the first appearance of the Shadows’ name on an LP (the Cliff debut album was initially credited to Cliff Richard and the Drifters, although this was changed to the Shadows for later pressings).  There it is on the back cover, the legendary first line-up: Hank B. Marvin, Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Bruce Welch.

The enforced change from Drifters to Shadows came in mid-1959 to avoid confusion with the “Save The Last Dance For Me” US hitmakers. The new name first appeared on Cliff’s “Travellin’ Light” single in October and the first Shadows’ record without Cliff under this moniker was their single “Lonesome Fella” in December 1959. Before this, they had released two singles as the Drifters and appeared on almost a dozen singles and EPs backing Cliff with the old name, including his first big hit “Living Doll” in July.  The Drifters also had three tracks to themselves on the Cliff album.

Because Cliff and the Shadows came from an earlier era of showbiz to the Beatles, we assumed they must be older. They were established stars years before the Fab Four arrived, it’s true, but their ages are very similar. In fact, of the original line-up, all except Jet Harris were younger than John and Ringo, while Tony Meehan (born 1943) was younger than everyone except George Harrison. 

In 1961/62 both Jet Harris and Tony Meehan left the Shadows within six months of each other to pursue solo careers.  Jet was replaced by Brian “Licorice” Locking on bass and it was he who brought religion into the band.  Locking was a devout Jehovah’s Witness, and he got Hank and his first wife interested in the movement. Cliff resisted however and it’s thought this is when he embraced Christianity.

Jet and Tony scored a trio of top 5 hits in 1963 with the singles “Diamonds,” “Scarlet O’Hara” and “Applejack.” Jimmy Page played on “Diamonds” and all three featured John Paul Jones.  The duo parted ways following a car crash, Meehan moving into production and Harris continuing as a solo artist.

After Cliff jumped the shark and drifted off into the nightmare world of Eurovision, sappy pop and Christianity, there was still Hank, of course. Hank was always there. Apart from Lonnie Donegan and maybe Chris Barber, I think it’s fair to say that no one was more influential in pre-Beatles British music than Hank. Virtually every big-name British guitarist who came to fame in the 60s/70s – Clapton, Beck and Page; Brian May; Ritchie Blackmore; Peter Green, the list is endless – has said it was Hank and his fiesta red Fender Stratocaster who inspired them along the way. 

Cliff and the Shadows never sold too many records in America, but in the vestiges of the British Empire the sun has never set on their popularity.  Fans in Australia; New Zealand; South Africa; Canada and beyond bought their records in huge numbers with the same fervour we in Britain did. Neil Young was a Shadows fan in early 60s Canada and the "Hank" in his song “From Hank To Hendrix” from the 1992 album Harvest Moon refers to Marvin and/or Williams, both of whom inspired Neil.

There can be no greater accolade than becoming the subject of cockney rhyming slang and Hank achieved it in 2012 when “You must be Hank Marvin” went into the language as a rhyme for “Starving” following a wonderful TV ad for Mattessons sausages. I even heard the expression used on a 2025 episode the aforementioned TV soap Coronation Street.

Norrie Paramor

“Cliff Sings…and he certainly does!”  So runs the opening line of Norrie Paramor’s sleeve notes giving the listener some idea what’s in store, as if the front cover photo hadn’t already provided a clue what to expect. 

Norrie Paramor was EMI’s most successful producer of the 50s/60s.  He worked on nearly all of Cliff and the Shadows records, along with hits by Frank Ifield, Helen Shapiro, Billy Fury and countless others. Paramor and George Martin – his opposite number (and nemesis) at EMI sister label Parlophone – jointly held the record for having produced the most UK Number 1 hit singles until 1997 when Martin nudged ahead with "Candle in the Wind 97" for Sir Elton John, 18 years after Paramor died.

Norrie was also a songwriter and, using more than 30 pseudonyms, regularly placed his own songs on the B-side of the records he produced for Columbia, thus earning himself the same royalties as the composer of the A-side hit.  George Martin believed this practice to be unethical, and it was he who eventually blew the whistle on Paramor. 

In 1962, Norrie was the subject of the David Frost sketch "A Tribute to Norrie Paramor" on the premiere edition of the satirical BBC TV programme That Was the Week That Was. The skit asserted that Paramor was taking undeserved songwriting credits and royalties, and it was generally assumed that Frost got his information from Martin. 

It was this antipathy to their star producer, plus George’s adulterous affair with his secretary (later his second wife Judy Lockhart Smith), which led EMI to pressure Martin to sign the Beatles to Parlophone, by way of retribution. The chain of events was a little more complicated than this but for the full story refer to Mark Lewisohn’s 2013 book All These Years Vol.1.

When the Beatles arrived, tastes changed, and I became a little self-conscious about my Cliff records. So, I hid them away in a cupboard out of sight, lest visiting school pals (or, even worse, girlfriends) saw them and deemed me to be uncool. But significantly, I refused to part with them, even in the swinging 60s when obsessing over Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart or the Incredible String Band. But then, when the 70s arrived it seemed OK to bring them out again. 

Cliff will never be cool, that ship sailed decades ago. But 60 years or more after the event, his early poptastic singles with the Shadows such as "The Young Ones," "Summer Holiday," "On the Beach," "In the Country" and others still sound fresh, vital and eminently listenable. As for Hank and the Shadows, their early records are bulletproof and timeless. I've included a handful of their best loved work on this Spotify playlist.

 

Track Listing

By the time his second album hit the shops Cliff had already chalked up six top 20 hits including two number ones. None of those early hits appeared on the LP, however. That’s not how they did things back then. Not in Britain, at least.

Recorded in July 1959, all 16 tracks on Cliff Sings were previously unreleased, and each side of eight cuts followed the same formula.  Starting with four up-tempo rock & roll/pop songs backed by the Shadows followed by four easy listening standards with the Norrie Paramor Strings. Shadows drummer Tony Meehan also played on some of the orchestral tracks as a session man. 

Side One

1. Blue Suede Shoes

Written and recorded in 1955 by Carl Perkins. A year later Elvis immortalised it as the opening track of his first LP. Taken faster than both the Elvis and Carl Perkins versions, Cliff’s recording employed an extra beat in the intro which Elvis omitted, so is closer to the Perkins version in that respect, although at just 1:46, it is shorter than both.

Perkins’ record became the first million-selling country song to cross over to both the rhythm and blues and pop charts.  Today Paul McCartney owns the rights to the Carl Perkins song catalogue, including “Blue Suede Shoes.”

2. The Snake and the Bookworm

There are only four known recordings of this Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman novelty song.  The first came in early 1959 by obscure US artist Pat Shannon and this was followed within months by Richard Barrett’s version. In 1962 (as Richie Barrett) he recorded “Some Other Guy” a song much beloved by Merseybeat groups, including The Beatles during their early days. In fact, the first recorded film footage of The Beatles shows them performing “Some Other Guy” at the Cavern.

The Cliff Sings version of “The Snake and the Bookworm” arrived almost a year before the Coasters tackled it on the B-side of their single “Shoppin’ for Clothes.” Recorded with an infectious Bo Diddley beat and featuring some tasty guitar licks from Hank, Cliff’s recording is the pick of the bunch.

3. I Gotta Know

Written by Paul Evans and Matt Williams, Cliff gave us the world premiere recording of “I Gotta Know.” A year later Elvis covered it on the B-side of “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” (with some quite bizarre backing vocals by the Jordanaires) and in 1962 Bobby Vee included it on the album Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets.  But Cliff got there first with his country flavoured version.  Hank shines again with his distinctive whammy bar fills.

Paul Evans is probably best known for his 1959 hit “Seven Little Girls Sitting In the Back Seat” (which he didn’t write), plus “Roses Are Red (My Love)” and “When” (which he did).

4. Here Comes Summer

Jerry Keller’s recording of his self-penned “Here Comes Summer” reached number one in the UK singles charts only weeks before Cliff Sings was released. It was Keller’s only British hit although he went on to major success as a writer of film soundtracks and TV jingles.

Cliff’s version is just as lightweight as the original, but Keller’s recording suffers from some intrusive backing vocals.  Many versions followed, including a Beach Boys-flavoured recording by the Dave Clark Five in 1970. 

5. I’ll String Along With You

Written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, this song originated in the 1934 film, 20 Million Sweethearts where it was sung by Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. The first record release was also in 1934 by Ted Fio Rito and His Orchestra. Since then, there have been countless versions ranging from Max Bygraves to B.B.King and Coleman Hawkins to Don Estelle. Almost all of them omitted the introductory verse as heard in the film. These introductions were commonplace in pre-war songs, and the opening verses had little in common with the familiar tune itself. The Beatles tried to revive the practice with songs such as “If I Fell” and “Honey Pie” which had opening verses which were not repeated during the song.

6. Embraceable You

“Embraceable You” was written by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1930 stage musical Girl Crazy where it was sung by Ginger Rogers. Making her stage debut, Ethel Merman also appeared in Girl Crazy singing “I Got Rhythm.” No less than three film adaptations followed in 1932, 1945 and 1954, plus several stage revivals in later years. “Embraceable You” became a jazz standard with dozens (if not hundreds) of versions, including one by Billie Holiday in 1944.  

7. As Time Goes By

One of the most important songs of the 20th century and probably the only one recorded by Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry and Cliff Richard. Written in 1931, it achieved immortality in the 1942 film Casablanca where it was performed by (“play it again, Sam”) Dooley Wilson. Composer Harold Hupfield (1854-1951) wrote many songs but none of them has endured like “As Time Goes By.”

Although it must be said, Hupfield also gave us the wonderfully titled “When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba Down in Cuba.” Dating from 1931, this novelty foxtrot was hugely popular on both sides of the Atlantic with notable versions by Rudy Vallee (1931) and Billy Cotton and his Band (1932). I first heard it by Bonzo Dog Band sax player Roger Ruskin Spear on his 1973 album Unusual.

8. The Touch Of Your Lips

Written by New York-based Englishman Ray Noble, this song dates from 1936 with early versions by Al Bowlly and Bing Crosby. Noble also gave us the standards “Love Is the Sweetest Thing,” “Goodnight, Sweetheart” and “The Very Thought of You.”

Side Two

1. Twenty Flight Rock

Written by Nelda “Ned” Fairchild and Eddie Cochran, this song first appeared in the 1956 rock & roll movie The Girl Can’t Help It and it was a hit single for Eddie the following year. If Cliff’s vocal lacked the fire of the original, Hank Marvin saved the day with a masterful guitar solo. Both versions are the same length, running out at a brief 1:45.

On July 6, 1957, the 15-year-old Paul McCartney played this song to impress John Lennon at their first meeting at the Woolton Village fete. As history tells us, Paul knew all the words and was henceforth invited to join the Quarrymen.

2. Pointed Toe Shoes

Perhaps the most obscure song on Cliff Sings. This rockabilly number was first released as a single by Carl Perkins in April 1959, so was still current when Cliff covered it. Inevitably, Carl also slipped in a reference to his “Blue Suede Shoes.”

3. Mean Woman Blues

Claude Demetrius wrote several classic rock & roll songs (“Hard Headed Woman” and “I Was the One” among them), but this could be his best. First recorded by Elvis in 1957 for the film and album Loving You, it reached #11 on the Billboard chart when released as a single.

In 1963 Roy Orbison took “Mean Woman Blues” back into the charts on the B-side of his single “Blue Bayou.”

4. I’m Walking

This Fats Domino/Dave Bartholomew penned medium paced rocker was a 1957 R&B hit for The Fat Man. Later the same year Ricky Nelson covered it on the B-side of his debut single “A Teenager’s Romance.” It was a big hit, launching Nelson’s musical career. While Domino’s original was dominated by Herbert Hardesty’s saxophone which takes up a quarter of the two-minute song, it’s the guitar of James Burton which steals the show on Ricky’s cover. Cliff’s version stays true to the Nelson recording and Hank plays a blinder yet again.

5. I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do)

Another pre-war standard, with innumerable versions over the years ranging from Frank Sinatra (1945) to Country Joe McDonald (1973). In 1927 Lyricist Roy Turk wrote the words for “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” 33 years later it was a massive hit for Elvis.

6. Little Things Mean A Lot

A huge US hit for Kitty Kallan; Billboard ranked this the top song of 1954. Alma Cogan scored a UK top 20 hit with it in the same year.

7. Somewhere Along The Way

Dating from 1952, this one was written by Jimmy Van Huesen (under the pseudonym Kurt Adams) and Sammy Gallop. Like most of these pre-rock & roll ballads, it has been covered countless times by big name artists, most notably by Bob Dylan on his 2017 album Triplicate.

8. That’s My Desire

Yet another much-covered song dating back to 1931, with a big hit version by Frankie Laine (1946). Later pop recordings included Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Hollies and even, in 1961, The Shadows. It was a favourite of 50s doo wop groups with versions by the Flamingos, Dion & the Belmonts and the Channels. Eddie Cochran recorded it in 1956, but his version wasn’t released until 1962 in the UK and even later in America.  

A Gallery of Guilty Pleasures - Peculiar Records With Interesting Sleeves

by Stuart Penney

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. That’s equally true of records, of course.  A 12” LP sleeve is the perfect size to display artwork of all kinds, but it’s not always an indication of the quality of the music (or otherwise) inside. Sometimes the covers are much better than the contents. 

I should emphasise, this is not one of those lazy, threadbare internet lists showing a collection of willfully egregious or risqué LP covers. Not at all. These are some of my favourite album sleeves and although many of the records have seen very little turntable action, I find their artwork irresistible, which is why I treasure them.  And, as we shall see, if you dig deep enough, every one of them has a story to tell. 

Despite my best efforts I couldn't restrict this list to only 10 LPs. So, here are 11 oddities pulled from the dusty end of my record collection where only the brave or foolhardy dare to venture. Most of these were purchased cheaply from flea markets, record fairs or charity shops where I’ve found so many interesting and unusual records.

1. The New Vaudeville Band - Finchley Central (Fontana) 1967

I lived in London for the best part of 20 years, and the Underground train system was not only a major part of daily city life but an endless source of fascination and wonder. So, whenever I see artwork or memorabilia relating to the Tube, I generally snap it up.  That’s why I have this LP.

Paul E. Garbutt’s 1964 map takes up the entire front cover and it is quite different to the network we know today.  This is before the Victoria, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines were built and stations such as Trafalgar Square, Strand and Aldwych, once so familiar, no longer exist with those names.  That only adds to the appeal and makes this sleeve a charming period piece and a slice of London history. 

The New Vaudeville Band were assembled in 1966 specifically to promote the novelty single “Winchester Cathedral.” Session players had recorded the song, but a real group was needed when it began to climb the charts. The Bonzo Dog Band was approached but only their trumpet player Bob Kerr was persuaded to jump ship. John Carter of “Funny How Love Can Be” hitmakers the Ivy League sang on the single, but a new vocalist arrived in the shape of Alan Klein (no, not that one). Billed as 'Tristam, Seventh Earl of Cricklewood,' Klein had previously written hits for Joe Brown (“What A Crazy World We’re Living In”) and others. “Winchester Cathedral” eventually reached #1 in America and #4 in the UK. 

The New Vaudeville Band was the brainchild of songwriter/producer Geoff Stephens (1934 - 2020). He was Donovan’s early manager/producer and a songwriter of note with hits by Dave Berry, Hermans Hermits and the Hollies to his name. 

“Finchley Central” - named after a station on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line - was the NVB’s fourth single and their last top 20 hit. After which their 20s style dance band revival music fell out of favour.

London Transport, as it was then called (Transport For London or TfL today) have always been fiercely protective of their copyrights, and the record cover carries the credit “By Permission of London Transport.” The sleeve shows only the central part of the 1964 map. The full thing is reproduced below.

Play count: I must have listened this at least once, but the hit singles are really all you need. 

2. The Bachelors + 16 Great Songs (Decca) 1964

I was never a Bachelors fan (honest) but there are two important reasons why I own this record: the car and the location. The cover photo was taken in Old Compton Street, Soho where I worked in the late 60s/early 70s, so it has huge nostalgic significance for me. I like to imagine I can even see my old workplace down the street on the left at number 30. It was the home of a long-established music publisher back then, but it's the G-A-Y Nightclub today.  The bottom part of the sign for famous Italian grocery store Parmigiani on the corner of Frith Street can be seen above the letters "CH" of Bachelors.  

We know it’s Old Compton Street by the distinctive domed building in the distance visible over Con Cluskey’s shoulder. This curiously shaped landmark sits at the divergence of Old Compton Street and Moor Street close to Charing Cross Road. In the 60s the De Lane Lea recording studio was located on the top floor and there was a Wimpy Bar at street level.  In later years a string of eateries came and went including Ed’s Easy Diner and Slim Chickens.

The car is a 1930 Austin Seven convertible which, 95 years after leaving the Longbridge factory, is still alive and well today with the same registration number PG 7811. The last I heard (2017) the Austin was living in Wales with long term owner Martin Christie. 

At the time of the cover photo shoot (April 1964) the Bachelors were appearing at the London Palladium in a four-week season sharing a variety bill with Lena Horne, Des O’Connor (described in the programme as "The Debonair Comedian"), The Three Monarchs (comedy harmonica trio), jugglers, dancers and ventriloquist Arthur Worsley with his dummy Charlie Brown. Arthur was a TV favourite in the 50s and 60s and remained mute throughout his act while Charlie did all the talking (you had to be there). There are several other shots of the Bachelors in this car which they appear to have driven around the West End in order to drum up publicity for the Palladium shows.

The Dublin trio - brothers Conleth (Con) Cluskey, Declan (Dec) Cluskey and their friend John Stokes - were hugely successful in the early 60s, scoring seven UK top ten hits between 1963 – 1966. Four of them are included on this record: “I Believe,” “Charmaine,” “Diane” and “Ramona.” 

The album sleeve notes are courtesy of Decca head of A&R Dick Rowe, the fellow who will be forever remembered (perhaps unfairly) as “the man who turned down the Beatles” (he’s listed here as “executive producer.”) This LP reached #2 in the UK album charts and stayed there over Christmas 1964. 

The US LP Back Again pictured here showed the group in the same Austin Seven outside the Palladium on Argyll Street.

Play count: Nil. It’s the cover first and last with this one. 

3. Peter and Gordon - In Touch with Peter and Gordon (Columbia) 1964

Nothing says 60s Britain like a red telephone box, and this splendid sleeve shows a pair of the iconic K6 boxes illustrating the album title (“In Touch,” geddit?) Like some earlier UK telephone boxes, the K6 was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880 – 1960) a man who gave us countless UK buildings, many of them churches and university structures. In 1930 he also acted as consulting architect for the Battersea Power Station, still one of the most remarkable and recognisable buildings in London.

The K6 was introduced in 1938 and was by far the most prolific design until the K8 box arrived in 1968. Telephone box numbers in Britain peaked at about 100,000 in 1990 but due to the advent of mobile phones, the number has fallen drastically and today less than 21,000 remain in use.

At the time of this cover photo (1964) the cost of using a UK payphone was 3d or 6d for untimed local calls. That’s in old money, of course, and it converts to 1.25p and 2.5p today.

Peter and Gordon got off to a flying start in February 1964 with their Lennon-McCartney penned debut single “A World Without Love” which topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It didn’t hurt that Paul McCartney was dating Peter Asher’s sister Jane at the time.  Paul then donated their next two singles in quick succession: “Nobody I Know” (May 1964) and “I Don’t Want to See You Again” (September 1964). These were followed by “Woman” (January 1966) written under the pseudonym Bernard Webb.

The duo split in 1968, and Asher went to work for the Beatles’ Apple label before moving to America, becoming a successful record producer for James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. He still performs live today as a duo with Albert Lee and others. I hardly need mention that the bespectacled Asher was the blueprint for the Austin Powers character in the late 90s movies. Gordon Waller sadly passed away in 2009. 

Released in December 1964, this was the second Peter and Gordon album. Despite containing the aforementioned McCartney cast-off “I Don’t Want to See You Again” it failed to chart. Brian Jones played harmonica, uncredited, on three tracks: “A Mess of Blues,” “My Babe” and “Love Me Baby.” The same “telephone box” photo was used on the duo’s US Capitol LP I Go To Pieces released in 1965. 

Producer Norman Newell’s name is usually associated with film soundtracks and MOR artists such as Russ Conway, Shirley Bassey and Ken Dodd. Despite hundreds of production credits to his name, Peter and Gordon were one of the few pop/rock acts Newell worked with. 

If anyone knows the location of this cover photo please comment below.

Play count: Moderate

4. The Triumph of an A.4 Pacific (Argo) 1963

Before the internet, before YouTube and all the rest of it, if you wanted to enjoy the sound of a powerful steam locomotive running at full throttle (and why wouldn’t you, eh ladies?) other than the real thing, almost your only option was on a vinyl record such as this.

I confess that before falling hard for rock and roll, I was a fully paid-up train spotter (You don’t say! Ed.) The arrival of the Beatles in 1963 put a swift end to all that nonsense, but my love of steam trains endures to this day. So, when I stumbled across this album, showing a compelling image of Mallard, the world’s fastest (that 126mph record still stands after 87 years) and surely most beautiful, streamlined steam locomotive, I just had to take it home.   

But although Mallard (LNER number 60022) is on the cover, the sound we hear on the record comes from a different A4 Pacific loco: Sir Nigel Gresley (LNER number 60007). This engine was named in honour of arguably Britain’s most famous railway engineer, the eponymous Sir Nigel himself. Gresley designed not only the A4 Pacifics, but also the A1/A3 Pacific class, which included undoubtedly the world’s most famous steam locomotive Flying Scotsman (LNER number 60103).

These recordings were made during a record-breaking journey between Kings Cross and Doncaster on 23 May 1959. The train, headed by Sir Nigel Gresley and driven by Bill Hoole, reached a speed of 112 mph on the return journey.

Although the locomotive on the cover is Mallard, the entire train is called The Elizabethan.  This was a British Railways non-stop passenger train that ran between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. The daily service, which operated for ten years from 1953 to 1963, took just over 6 hours. It was hauled by steam engines until 1961 when they were replaced by diesel units.

In 1954, a quite wonderful short film Elizabethan Express was made by British Transport Films to promote the train. Watch it HERE

This wasn’t the great locomotive’s only appearance on a record cover.  In 1975 there was the eponymous group Mallard featuring ex-members of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band and in 1993 a populist oil painting of the famous engine was used on the cover of Modern Life Is Rubbish by Blur (complete with 1951 Festival of Britain style lettering).  On both sleeves the loco was shown wearing its post-war livery of garter blue.

After less than 30 years in operation Mallard and Sir Nigel Gresley were withdrawn from service in April 1963 and February 1966 respectively. Of the original 35 A4 Pacific locomotives built between 1934 and 1938, six survive in preservation. That’s a high percentage compared to other, less glamorous engines.

The Argo label was formed in 1951 before being absorbed by Decca in 1957. Initially specialising in “British music played by British artists” it then became a label primarily concentrating on spoken word recordings and other esoteric or commercially marginal material. Argo also released many classical recordings, focussing mainly on choral works.

Amazingly, this album was reissued on CD (with a different cover) in 2000.

Play count: Nah. It's a big fat zero from me.

5. Dave Clark Five – Catch Us If You Can (Columbia) 1965

There are countless LP sleeves featuring E-Type Jaguars, but this is by far my favourite. If you’ve got it, flaunt it seems to be the theme here and the business savvy Dave Clark was not afraid to do exactly that.  The car really is the star on this sleeve, and it features just as prominently as the Dave Clark Five themselves. Keen-eyed car spotters will notice that the motif bar across the air intake is slightly dislodged on the Jaguar, but 60 years later we can perhaps overlook that. 

The cover photo showing Clark draped across the bonnet is the work of Bruce Fleming, an eminent 60s snapper who became the DC5’s personal photographer.  Fleming also took the picture on the cover of the 1967 debut Jimi Hendrix album Are You Experienced (UK version). The very same E-Type also appeared on the cover of the 1966 DC5 US LP Try Too Hard.

I was almost 11 years old when Jaguar unveiled the E-Type and it instantly seemed like the most desirable object on Earth. Enzo Ferrari, no less, apparently called it "the most beautiful car ever made" and he should know. 

Launched in March 1961 at the bargain price of £2,000 (half the price of the contemporary Aston Martin DB4) the E-Type took the world by storm, becoming an immediate sensation and the ultimate fashion accessory for royalty, pop stars and footballers alike.

Poring over E-Type brochures and spec sheets as a schoolboy, I noted in amazement that the car was capable of 55mph in first gear on its way to a claimed top speed of 150mph. That’s 55 in FIRST GEAR! At that time my dad’s old Wolseley could barely reach that speed in TOP gear. No wonder I was so impressed.

In production for 13 years, the car went through many design tweaks and specification upgrades until 1974 when it went out in style with a 5.3 litre V12 engine as the Series 3 model. 

It was hard to avoid the Dave Clark Five in 1963. Their two biggest UK hits “Glad All Over” and “Bits and Pieces” were everywhere, but their simplistic, drum heavy approach soon wore off, in Britain at least.  Proponents of the so-called “Tottenham Sound” (whatever that was), they enjoyed far greater success across the Atlantic, scoring 17 US top 40 hits and appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show 18 times, more than any other British Invasion group. This was their second LP and, excluding compilations, their final UK album chart entry.

The 1964 E-Type Jaguar shown here was Dave Clark’s own car. It passed to DC5 singer Mike Smith around 1970 and in 1978 it was sold via the Exchange and Mart for £2,500.  HMT 598B is a Series 1 OTS (open two-seater), with a 3.8 litre engine. The car was also available as a fixed head coupe (FHC). Unusually, both variations of the early E-Type models looked equally aesthetically pleasing, a rare thing in the world of car design. Unsurprisingly, E-Types have a high survival rate, and 60 years later this actual car still exists with the same registration number and today it lives in the south of England.

This was not the only time the DC5 were photographed in an E-Type. Here they are in 903 CXX, an earlier Jaguar than the LP sleeve car. Judging by the shorter haircuts this was taken some time before the album cover photo.

E-Types have appeared on dozens of LP sleeves over the decades, usually when a touch of futuristic style or glamour is required. But sometimes it’s there for another reason entirely, as with Bob Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. It’s not easy to spot, but there on the couch next to Bob along with a bunch of other enigmatic LPs is a copy of the Impressions’ Keep on Pushing featuring an E-Type coupe in signal red.

At the time of writing (mid-2025) Jaguar was back in the news, but for all the wrong reasons. It was announced that, from 2026, they will make only electric vehicles. They put all their eggs in one basket with a disastrous rebrand ad campaign to promote an expensive and futuristic new EV. The campaign backfired spectacularly, receiving massive negative feedback, and the once-great British company looks to be in a perilous position today.

Play count: maybe once or twice, but with the title track as the only big song, the cover far outweighs the contents.

6. Hank Snow – I’ve Been Everywhere (RCA Victor) 1963

Just look at this amazing cover! I’m always attracted to records with interesting guitars on the sleeve and Hank Snow owned some beautiful examples. Like many old-school country music stars, Hank dressed to impress with his Nudie Suits, fancy cowboy boots and custom-built instruments. In a 60-year career he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the Billboard country charts between 1950 and 1980.

Guitars don’t come much fancier than the 1961 cherry sunburst Gibson on the cover of this LP. It was based on the J-185 model which went out of production in 1959. The book Gibson’s Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars (by Eldon Whitford, David Vinopal and Dan Erlewine) says this about Hank’s guitar:

Gibson made at least one more guitar of this body size after the J-185 had been officially phased out. In 1961 their craftsmen constructed an elaborate custom guitar for “The Singing Ranger” Hank Snow, one of country music’s true superstars. This guitar is a fascinating combination of features characteristic of many other models: back and sides are rosewood; the bridge is in the “open moustache” style of the J-200; the saddle is a Tune-O-Matic (adjustable); the binding is as fancy as anyone would want; the pickguard is borrowed from the Hummingbird; an abalone flowerpot graces the peghead; and of course Hank’s name is inlaid in the fingerboard. If a model has to die, this is the way to do it – in an out-of-this-world custom order.

A few years ago, the Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee had an instrument on display labelled “1966 Hank Snow’s Gibson SJ-200” which looked almost identical to the one on this sleeve, but with a few minor differences. It's possible Hank had more than one of these extraordinary custom-built guitars because the 1966 date doesn’t fit with his 1961 model (or this album which was released in 1963). The one on display also looked like a full-size Gibson J-200, while Hank’s guitar was based on the slightly smaller J-185 body size. 

Unusually for such a globally famous country song, “I’ve Been Everywhere” was written by an Australian, Geoff Mack, and was first recorded down under in 1962 by the Aussie singer Lucky Starr (Festival FK-205). The original version reeled off a list of Australian destinations, such as Parramatta, Wangaratta, Coolangatta and Mooloolaba. Mack later re-wrote the lyrics with American place names and in 1963 Hank Snow took it to the top of the US country charts.

There have been countless adaptations using placenames from countries all over the world.  Rolf Harris (remember him?) released an early version using British placenames and recordings featuring New Zealand and Texas locations also appeared. At the last count there were 180 versions of the song ranging from Johnny Cash to The Simpsons. 

Play count: more than you might think. Hank was a fine singer. And it was co-produced by Chet Atkins.

7. The Spotnicks - Out-A Space: The Spotnicks In London (Oriole) 1962

There’s so much to enjoy here. The location is Piccadilly Circus in the very heart of London, with the Spotnicks in their low rent space suits looking like they’ve just beamed down from planet Zorg - they really did wear those suits, with and without helmets onstage. There’s some questionable pre-photoshop editing going on with the airbrushed spaceship and it’s hard to tell if the policeman is giving directions or ordering the spacemen to move along. There is also an interesting selection of guitars, which we shall examine below.

We see Piccadilly Circus in all its early 60s glory with an array of illuminated neon signs including the famous Guinness clock and ads for Coca-Cola, Skol lager, BP petrol, Player’s cigarettes and Double Diamond beer. Here’s a clearer photo taken the same year and showing the same signs.

The Spotnicks were Sweden’s version of the Ventures (or maybe the Shadows) and they were the first band from the region to enjoy worldwide success, albeit on a modest scale. They took their name in 1961 as a play on the Russian satellite “Sputnik,” which was big news in the late 50s.

The group scored minor instrumental hits in the UK with “Orange Blossom Special” and “Hava Nagila” but were more successful in Sweden and Belgium and, just like the Ventures, they were very big in Japan. This album reached #20 in the UK charts where it stayed for just one week in February 1963.

While the definitive early Spotnicks line-up was Bo Winberg (lead guitar), Bob Lander (rhythm guitar), Björn Thelin (bass guitar) and Ove Johansson (drums), Wikipedia tells us that no fewer than 40 different musicians passed through their ranks before they called it a day in 2019. And almost inevitably, there’s a Beatles connection even here. 

Undoubtedly the most well-known later Spotnicks member was Jimmie Nicol who occupied the drum stool between 1965-67, replacing Ove Johansson. Nicol will forever be remembered for his time as a temporary Beatle. In 1964 he deputised for the ailing Ringo, playing a handful of dates in mainland Europe, Hong Kong and Australia. He also inspired the title of the Sgt Pepper song “Getting Better.” 

At the end of Nicol's brief stint as one of the Fab Four he was given the agreed fee of £500 plus an inscribed gold watch and taken to Melbourne airport by Brian Epstein to fly home alone. He didn’t get to say goodbye to The Beatles as they were still asleep when he left the hotel.

The album sleeve notes are by respected music journalist and Radio Luxembourg DJ Derek Johnson. During the 1960s he acted as compere at the annual NME poll-winners concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, introducing among others, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Perhaps his greatest coup came in 1960, when he interviewed Elvis Presley for the NME at the Friedberg army base in Germany. When Presley was discharged from the army, Johnson was invited to meet him at the Prestwick air base in Scotland, which turned out to be the only time Elvis ever set foot on British soil. Johnson and Presley went on to be great friends and he visited Elvis at Graceland.

The Spotnicks’ records were released in the UK on the Oriole label. This was a small independent company which operated from the 1920s to 1965 after which it was taken over by CBS. They may not have had too many hits and couldn't compete with the big boys at the major labels, but along the way Oriole made a couple of vitally important contributions to British pop music. 

During 1962 / 63 Oriole was the UK home of Tamla Motown, releasing nineteen singles and seven albums. None were hits and these are now some of the rarest and most valuable Motown releases of all. After a handful of releases on London and Fontana, Oriole was the third UK label to handle the Motown catalogue. Distribution moved to EMI's Stateside label in 1963 and two years later EMI finally gave Tamla Motown its own label identity in Britain.  

Between 1954-65 Oriole ran the budget Embassy label which released soundalike versions of current hits for sale exclusively in UK Woolworth’s stores.  Some of these outsold the original hits.

For an in-depth history of the Oriole label check out the Around and Around blog Here

Now, here are those guitars in full - from left to right:

Bob Lander (1942 – 2020) is playing a Levin “Solid Body” with a wood grain finish.  Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Levin company was active from 1900 – 1978.  The rare Solid Body model (that was its name, unlikely as it seems) was produced in the late 50s / early 60s with reportedly only 139 examples ever made, although this figure seems a little low considering the number which come up for sale on online sites such as Reverb and the like. It is supposedly the only solid body guitar the company ever made. Perhaps Levin’s most famous guitar outside Sweden was the big-selling Goliath acoustic flat top model. These were popular folk guitars in the 60s and 70s. In 1973 Levin was sold to the US Martin company and it became their European headquarters. 

Björn Thelin (1942 - 2017). This one baffled guitar spotters for a long time. It looks like a Vox, a Hagstrom or even a strangely elongated Fender Precision, but Björn’s bass was eventually identified as a custom-built instrument completely handmade (apart from the electronics) by Bo Winberg the band’s lead guitarist. As confirmed by the LP sleeve notes Winberg also made amplifiers, speaker cabinets and a tape echo-machine for the Spotnicks. It’s said this very bass is now displayed in a glass case at a Stockholm music store.

Bo Winberg (1939 – 2020). Compared to the others, Bo’s Candy Apple Red Fender Stratocaster seems the most easily identifiable guitar here.  But even this has an interesting backstory.  Replying to a fan email enquiry about the Fender in 2006, Winberg wrote:

“(It was) bought in Sweden 1961 or 1962. In those days Fender was not too well represented so I bought the only one in the music store and it was red! Since I don’t like red guitars, I painted it white, but that didn’t look too good, so I added the blue colour on it like on the (later) pictures and - voila - a blue sunburst was born. But anyhow that Strat was a terrible one with no sustain at all and it never stayed in tune. I sold it to a Swedish guy in Mexico and went to Hollywood to buy a new one and that is the 1965 I still play (onstage) today. But that one was a sunburst, and I didn’t like that colour either, so I burned the colour away and then lacquered it with 15 layers of cellulose lacquer and that is the best guitar in the world for me.” (reproduced thanks to the Facebook page Old Guitars in B&W).

Play count: Low. Not played this one for decades, but it's a great artifact.

8. Big Brother & the Holding Company – Cheap Thrills (CBS) 1968

This one probably doesn’t belong here. It is, after all, a multi-million-selling album by an artist much beloved worldwide (although to be honest Janis’s sometimes histrionic vocal style has never been to my taste). No, it’s the Robert Crumb designed sleeve which is the main attraction here for me.  

I’ve been a Crumb obsessive since I discovered his cartoons in 60s underground publications such as Zap Comix.  It was here I first saw his famous Keep On Truckin' and Fritz the Cat comic strips. They mostly appeared in black and white back then, so to see his work on an album sleeve, and in colour too, was a dream come true. My bookshelf now contains dozens of items - books, comics, magazines, records and CDs - featuring Crumb's work. 

Ironically, Crumb has never been a rock and roll fan - he much prefers pre-war jazz and blues - and agreed to illustrate this cover as a favour to Janis Joplin, refusing all payment. Aside from the 1995 compilation The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead, almost all the other album sleeves Crumb has designed were for blues and jazz labels such as Yazoo and Blue Goose. The design he submitted was originally destined for the back cover, but Janis insisted it take pride of place on the front, with her own photo on the reverse. 

Cheap Thrills was ranked number nine in a Rolling Stone list of 100 greatest LP covers. It was the second Big Brother and the Holding Company album and their last before Janis left for a successful but tragically short solo career (she died on October 4, 1970). The band made two more albums without her - Be A Brother (1970) and How Hard It Is (1971) - neither of which sold. 

Play count: maybe once a year.

9. Sebring Corners (Riverside) 1961

A dramatic experiment in sound recording, featuring the results of a 6-microphone set-up which guarantees incredible presence. Recorded at Sebring - March 1961

Imagine the scene. It’s 1961 and you’re relaxing in your upmarket bachelor pad, Mad Men style. You pour a whisky cocktail and spark up a Peter Stuyvesant.  A record is spinning on your expensive turntable as you carefully lower the needle down on track one, side one.  But instead of music coming out of those high-end Wharfedales, you hear the high-pitched scream of a V12 engine at full throttle as a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa accelerates out of Cunningham Corner. What’s going on?

Now, I love cars as much as the next man (or woman), but it’s a very keen petrol head indeed who would listen to a record featuring only the engine sounds of powerful sports racing cars. But that’s exactly what we have here: sound recordings of assorted Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin et al negotiating various turns at the famous Sebring Raceway.

The LP itself may be the very definition of esoteric, but more than 60 years later the cars pictured on the cover (photo by Jane Grauer) are some of the finest and most beautiful examples in motorsport history. And, with only a handful of each model made, many of these cars are worth millions of dollars / pounds today – particularly the various Ferraris, Porsches and Aston Martin DB4GTs.

The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida. It is one of the oldest continuously operating racetracks in the US, its first race being run in 1950.

Sitting here today so many decades later, perhaps the most surprising thing about this record is not the outdated concept itself (after all, who enjoys the sound of race cars without the visuals?) but the fact it was released on one of America's most famous and respected jazz music labels. 

Operating from 1954 to 1964, Riverside is primarily known for its jazz, blues and folk releases. But this wasn't the only oddball record the label issued. The back cover of this very LP lists several other motor sport albums recorded at Sebring, plus others featuring the sounds of Grand Prix cars, including interviews with famous racing drivers such as Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio etc. Riverside also released a 1959 comedy LP by Peter Ustinov The Grand Prix of Gibraltar, sub-titled "The Brilliant Humorist Takes a Devastating Look at Sports Car Racing." So, either someone at the renown jazz label was a serious motor racing fan or there must have been an unexpected demand for these things all those years ago.

The Riverside catalogue was reissued many times in later years via the ABC, Fantasy and Milestones labels, although I suspect the Sebring recordings did not see the light of day again.  

Some of the famous drivers at Sebring 1961 included Stirling Moss (Maserati), Graham Hill (Maserati), Bruce McLaren (Maserati), Paddy Hopkirk (Sunbeam Alpine) and Phil Hill (Ferrari). These are the cars I was able to identify from the cover photo. Other suggestions are welcome;

Car #42 - Sunbeam Alpine – finished 17th

Car #16 - Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa – finished 8th

Car #26 - Ferrari Dino 246 S – did not finish

Car #40 - Sunbeam Alpine – finished 34th

Car #46 - Elva Courier - finished 35th

Car #32 - Arnolt Deluxe – finished 20th

Car #44 - MGA – finished 14th

Car #30 - Morgan 4/4 – finished 26th

Car #21 - Maserati Tipo 63 – Did not finish

Car #25 - Maserati Tipo 63 – Did not finish

Car #38 - Porsche 718 RS 60 - Did not finish

Car #56 - Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale - Disqualified

Play count: Maybe once out of curiosity. Mine is a mono copy, but it would probably make a modicum more sense in stereo. 

10. The Golden Gate Strings – The Bob Dylan Song Book (Epic) 1965

I bought this one solely for the fabulous cover photo of Bob Dylan, guessing (correctly, as it turned out) that an album of saccharine orchestral versions of his songs would not be to my taste.

Daniel Kramer was responsible for some of the most iconic photos of mid-60s Dylan, capturing him on the cusp of his dramatic reinvention from acoustic to electric music. This sleeve is adapted from one of Kramer's promotional photos and it’s a powerful image, better than some of Bob’s own early official record covers in fact. Much could happen in a year in the 60s, and Dylan's haircut in this photo can be carbon dated almost exactly to a month in early 1965, sometime after Another Side and between Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, pre-dating the impressive halo of curls we saw on the cover of Blonde on Blonde and the ensuing 1966 tour by several months. 

Although The Golden Gate Strings were probably just a collection of faceless US session musicians, there’s a strong British connection here.  String arrangements on “Mr Tambourine Man,” “With God on Our Side” and “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” are credited to Englishman Brian Fahey.  Fahey is possibly best known for composing the instrumental “At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal” which was the theme to the BBC radio chart show Pick of the Pops from 1961 to 1966 and again from 1970 to the present day.

Tony Osborne arranged “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”  In 1957 he was musical director for the UK’s first pop music television show Six-Five Special and later (as Ozzie Warlock and the Wizards) wrote the theme for Juke Box Jury which was used for early episodes of the show before the John Barry Seven’s “Hit and Miss” took over in 1960.

Composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist Johnny (aka Johnnie) Scott arranged “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “It Ain’t Me Babe.” Scott has countless big-name composer and arranging credits, but perhaps his biggest claim to fame came on the Beatles’ song “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” from the Help! album where he played flutes. Recorded four months before “Yesterday,” it was the first time an outside session musician appeared on a Beatles’ track.  

George Williams arranged “Farewell,” “Tomorrow Is A Long Time,” It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and “When the Ship Comes In.” An American, Williams is better known for his big band arrangements for Gene Krupa, Woody Herman etc. He also conducted the orchestra featured on records by Barbra Streisand and many others.

EMI producer Norrie Paramor is credited with unspecified arrangements on the US Epic pressing, but his name does not appear on the rare UK EMI Columbia version. The track listing is also slightly rearranged on the British pressing.

UK Version

The most interesting song here is “Tomorrow is a Long Time” mainly because it was unreleased by Dylan at that point. Joan Baez recorded it in 1963, but her version didn’t appear until 2002 as a CD bonus track on the album Joan Baez in Concert Part 2. Possibly the only other released version at the time was by Ian & Sylvia on their 1963 LP Four Strong Winds. Dylan’s own version, recorded live in April 1963, did not appear until 1971 on the double album Greatest Hits Vol II (known as More Greatest Hits in the UK).

The Golden Gate Strings released only two further albums, both in 1967: A String of Hits and The Monkees Songbook. The latter was the work of Stu Philips who scored countless films and TV shows including, inevitably, 54 episodes of The Monkees. 

Play count: A couple of times, but for research purposes only, your honour. 

11. Family - Best of Family (Reprise) 1974

In January of 1969 I saw Family play live twice in Sheffield: at the University Students Union and then, two weeks later at the City Hall on a bill with Keith Emerson's band The Nice. 56 years later the memory of those concerts has barely faded. Roger Chapman, comparatively short-haired and smartly dressed amid the loon pants and greatcoats, gave his usual high-octane performance, singing like a man possessed, all the while bashing a tambourine to destruction against his leg, before tossing the wreckage into the crowd.

Then there was Charlie Whitney, quietly impressive with one of the first double neck Gibsons in the country, and Ric Grech, the epitome of cool on bass and violin, only weeks away from quitting the band for a brief taste of the big time with Clapton and Winwood in Blind Faith.

The band hailed from Leicester, so it made perfect sense to show Chapman, Whitney and drummer Rob Townsend in action on the front wearing the Leicester City football strip. The sleeve painting is credited to the mysterious Bryon Harvey, and it appears to be the only album cover he gave his name to, as I can find no other information about him.

Leicester City enjoyed a mediocre season 1974 / 75 finishing 18th out of 20 in the Football League First Division, then the top tier of English football. They reached the fifth round of the FA Cup and round three of the League Cup. Their top goal scorer was the great Frank Worthington, and their average home attendance was 23,765.

This compilation dates from November 1974, a little over a year after Family gave their final performance at the Leicester Polytechnic in October 1973. 

Every track here is a gem, but “Burlesque,” “The Weaver's Answer” and “In My Own Time” shine brightest of all for me.

The inner sleeve features the song lyrics and one of Pete Frame’s family trees (perfectly named in this case) showing five band line-ups from The Farinas in 1966 to the Family break-up in 1973.

This is an excellent album with an equally great sleeve. So not a guilty pleasure at all in this case.

Play count: I have all the Family albums, but apart from Family Entertainment, this one gets the most needle time.