Lovely guitar riff opening. Didn’t know it was produced by… no I won’t mention the name but thinking about it I should have realised there was a certain ‘wall of sound’ vibe too it.
It is interesting how Vinyl is having a resurgence. As one of the earlier correspondents, I did not have many LP’s. as I did not have a deck until I was about 18 - before that I had cassette tapes, as I had a tape player. When I started being able to afford more music, CD’s were the thing. However, with a CD collection of over 600, now I never listen to them at all as I use a music streaming service on my phone. This gives access to everything instantly. The quality is acceptable.
However my 21 year old daughter, who went straight to streaming also has about 50 LP’s, which she listens to from time to time. I must get her a better deck to play them on…
Which means I will probably look on fleabay and see if I can start from scratch again. My dad had some great stuff, but I gave it all away 20 years ago when he passed away. This included some KEF reference speakers, which would now sound fantastic I bet…
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Never really got “into” tapes, the format and I never got on. Reel to reel, the tape invariably broke/wrapped itself round the recording/playback heads, cassettes jammed/broke/shredded. The main downer to me as a vinyl fan was the necessity of shunting backwards and forwards to find the track you wanted. Yes I know that tape machines had counters, but it was still a pain compared with lining a p/u stylus with a groove and lowering it. Then CD’s came and they were as easy to use as vinyl, so I’ve stuck with both those formats.
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I agree it was a pain, but as a teenager I managed to use my dads “cast off” Sony cassette player in the house and it was actually very good (at least I thought so then)…
I did only have 3 cassettes for about 2 years:
Tangerine Dream - Exit
Meatloaf - Bat out of Hell
Queen - greatest hits
At the time you did not get to know what a new album was like until you bought it and as they were about 6 weeks pocket money i remember looking in the music shop at albums but never buying more in case they were rubbish. I know you could ask to hear them, but I was too shy!
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Give you an idea of my age, 
when I went with my friends to buy the “latest” hit single (they bought them I didn’t have a record player!) unless you specified “45”, (if they were available!) the shop assistant would invariably give you the “78” acetate version 
, and this was quite common until about 1958/9 
. Happy days 
, unless you dropped them on the way home! 
PS: I seem to remember that a single cost 6/8d (6 shillings and 8 pence old money) so you could get 3 single for £1.00, which was bloomin’ expensive as the average wage was only about £7.00 per week, and we were still at school getting “pocket money” from Dad!
That’s a pretty good three cassettes to be honest. Bat out of Hell was one of my first LPs and is brilliant driving music.
And as for Queen. How can you go wrong?
Well I’m not quiet your age Roger but I started buying singles or having them bought for me from around 1962 when I was five. I certainly remember them being ‘six and eight’ but I think they were five shillings in the early 60s. Some of my early singles had a small ‘X’ in Biro on the ‘A’ side label. I couldn’t read the titles so that’s how I knew which side to play. I could tell which one was which as I already knew who recorded on which record label. OK The Beatles and Cilla both on Parlophone caused a bit of confusion.
Anyone remember the ‘Embassy’ record label singles sold in Woolworths? Two hits, one on each side and for less money than normal singles. So two ‘A’ sides for less money. Result! The only problem was they were recorded by session singers who nine times out of ten sounded absolutely nothing like the original artists.
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Woolworths was great for all manner of compilations. What a brill shop to mooch in when younger.
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I believe that the Woolworths “Embassy” records, especially the “78’s”, have become collector’s items!
It’s always the things that people throw away as worthless that turn out to be collectable because… erm… there aren’t many left because… people threw them away.
Cant remember them but just before my time perhaps. Listening to this lot at the mo. 
Weren’t some of the “Top of the Pops” albums performed by session singers/musicians too… Or is my memory shot??..!!
Yes they were. Variable quality performances, some close to originals, some miles off. Session musicians and singers including Tina Charles and Elton John before they had hits in their own right.
A quick Google comes up with this list where Elton sang vocals, some possibles, some certain. The tracks were recorded for various budget labels.
| released | title | original artist |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1968 | I Heard It Through The Grapevine [possible backing vocals] | Marvin Gaye |
| Mar 1969 | I’ll Pick A Rose For My Rose [possible backing vocals] | Marv Johnson |
| Mar 1969 | Hello World [possible harmony vocals] | Tremeloes |
| May 1969 | Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) [disputed lead vocals] | Peter Sarstedt |
| May 1969 | Snake In The Grass [lead vocals] | Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich |
| Jun 1969 | Soul Deep [backing vocals] | The Box Tops |
| Jun 1969 | Early In The Morning [backing vocals] | Vanity Fare |
| Jun 1969 | What Does It Take [backing vocals] | Jr. Walker and the All Stars |
| Jul 1969 | Too Busy Thinking About My Baby [possible backing vocals] | Marvin Gaye |
| Jul 1969 | Sugar Sugar [backing vocals] | The Archies |
| Nov 1969 | Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye [possible backing vocals] | Steam |
| Aug 1969 | Don’t Forget To Remember [lead vocals] | Bee Gees |
| Aug 1969 | Si Tu Dois Partir [backing vocals] | Fairport Convention |
| Nov 1969 | (Call Me) Number One [backing vocals] | Tremeloes |
| Nov 1969 | Jingle Jangle [possible backing vocals] | The Archies |
| Dec 1969 | Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday [possible backing vocals] | Stevie Wonder |
| Dec 1969 | Hitchin’ A Ride [possible backing vocals] | Vanity Fare |
| Dec 1969 | She Sold Me Magic [lead vocals] | Lou Christie |
| Jan 1970 | Love Grows [backing vocals] | Edison Lighthouse |
| Jan 1970 | My Baby Loves Lovin’ [lead vocals] | White Plains |
| Jan 1970 | Come And Get It [two lead versions] | Badfinger |
| Jan 1970 | Bridge Over Troubled Water [lead vocals] | Simon and Garfunkel |
| Feb 1970 | August October [lead vocals] | Robin Gibb |
| Feb 1970 | Ma Belle Amie [lead vocals] | Tee Set |
| Feb 1970 | United We Stand [lead vocals] | Brotherhood Of Man |
| Mar 1970 | Get Together [backing vocals] | Dave Clark Five |
| Mar 1970 | Wand’rin’ Star [backing vocals] | Lee Marvin |
| Mar 1970 | Down The Dustpipe [backing vocals] | Status Quo |
| Mar 1970 | Young Gifted And Black [two versions: lead and backing] | Bob and Marcia |
| Mar 1970 | Good Morning Freedom [lead vocals] | Blue Mink |
| Mar 1970 | Knock Knock Who’s There [possible harmony vocals] | Mary Hopkin |
| Apr 1970 | I Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top [two versions] | Hollies |
| Apr 1970 | Back Home [possible backing vocals] | Enlgand World Cup Squad |
| Apr 1970 | Travellin’ Band [lead vocals] | Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| Apr 1970 | Question [lead vocals] | The Moody Blues |
| May 1970 | All Right Now [backing vocals] | Free |
| May 1970 | Yellow River [lead vocals] | Christie |
| May 1970 | Spirit In The Sky [lead vocals] | Norman Greenbaum |
| May 1970 | Cottonfields [lead vocals] | Beach Boys |
| May 1970 | It’s All In The Game [backing vocals] | Four Tops |
| Jun 1970 | I Will Survive [backing vocals] | Arrival |
| Jun 1970 | In The Summertime [lead vocals] | Mungo Jerry |
| Jun 1970 | Up Around The Bend [2 versions] | Credence Clearwater Revival |
| Jun 1970 | Goodbye Sam Hello Samantha [backing vocals] | Cliff Richard |
| Jun 1970 | Lady D’Arbanville [lead vocals] | Cat Stevens |
| Jun 1970 | Love Of The Common People [lead vocals] | Nicky Thomas |
| Jun 1970 | Lola [harmony vocals] | The Kinks |
| Jul 1970 | Neanderthal Man [lead vocals] | Hotlegs |
| Jul 1970 | I’ll Say Forever My Love [backing vocals] | Jimmy Ruffin |
| Jul 1970 | Natural Sinner [lead vocals] | Fairweather |
| Jul 1970 | The Wonder Of You [possible backing vocals] | Elvis Presley |
| Jul 1970 | Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours [lead vocals] | Stevie Wonder |
| Aug 1970 | Let’s Work Together [lead vocals] | Canned Heat |
| Aug 1970 | Rainbow [backing vocals] | The Marmalade |
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What a pity, I can’t read any of those, might have brought back fond memories.
Rog,
Save the photo onto PC, then you can expand it.
Shellac, you meant of course. Acetates were the thin, floppy and generally poor quality records sometimes given away with magazines. Shellac 78s can sound almost as good as vinyl though usually quite a lot noisier. And fragile, as you say. I can remember when I was pretty young the shock of dropping one of my mum’s and seeing it break neatly in two. This one: The Stargazers - I See The Moon - YouTube I was surprised at the time how unconcerned she was that I’d broken it, but listening again after all these years it’s just a daft novelty record.
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Ahhh! Thanks Rob! 
Yep! You’re right! 
Old brain box confused!
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So, do you approve of the playlist?
Hi Sean. Unfortunately the more I magnify it, the more grainy it is, and totally illegible.
Sorry! 
But I’m sure I would have approved had I been able to read it!