• A cover version of the theme to the half-hour Danger Man series by The Red Price Combo, with a B-side unconnected to the series, Blackjack, composed by Red Price.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• There was also a 1961 release in South Africa (Parlophone, 45-SPD 262), a full 15 years before the country introduced television transmissions!

Notes

• A single release for Philip Green's Ghost Squad main title theme in a version recorded by Tony Hatch and his Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• This single release was issued in the UK with a generic Pye Records sleeve. It was also issued in Canada (Pye, 45-15408) with the same B-side, and Japan, where it became the B-side to the theme to US series Route 66 (Fontana, FON-1 023). The Japanese release came in a picture sleeve, but it depicted the American series on its cover, making a translational error with the series name.

Image: Fontana Records (Japan)

• Trevor Duncan's theme to the BBC series Dr Finlay's Casebook, backed with Edwin Astley's original theme to The Saint.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• Some copies of this record were pressed with The Saint credited to The Les Reed Brass rather than The Les Reed Strings. This uncertain crediting continued into the CD era!

• When this single was released in Norway in 1963 (Pye, also 7N.35080), the two TV themes swapped places, with The Saint taking the A-side.

• A single release for Henry Mancini's Man of the World main title theme in a version recorded by Henry Mancini and his Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• A single release cover version of Ivor Slaney's The Sentimental Agent main title theme recorded by Humphrey Lyttelton with Leon Young and his Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• A single release version of Ivor Slaney's The Sentimental Agent main title theme recorded by Ivor Slaney and his Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• The 1963 HMV demo disc of this single erroneously referred to the series as 'Sentimental Journey', a mistake repeated for the South African retail release.

Tracklisting

Notes

• The English-speaking service of Radio Luxembourg commenced in 1933 and was one of the earliest commercial radio stations to broadcast to the United Kingdom and Ireland. The station offered UK listeners a way to circumvent British legislation which until 1973 gave the BBC the exclusive right to broadcast radio on UK territory and banned commercials on domestic radio. It broadcasted from mainland Europe using the most powerful privately owned transmitter on the Continent (200 kW, broadcasting on Long Wave). In the late 1930s, and again in the 1950s and 1960s, it boasted large audiences across Britain and Ireland with its programmes of popular entertainment, and was an important forerunner of pirate radio and modern commercial radio in Britain.

• Radio Luxembourg was one of few channels through which people living in the Eastern Bloc could listen to rock and other contemporary popular music. Under good weather conditions, and especially at night, people as far as eastern Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus and Leningrad could tune in to the station. Eastern Bloc governments did not use jammers to prevent people from listening to Radio Luxembourg, but did do so for Radio Free Europe and, since the stations used harmonic frequencies (1439 kHz for Luxembourg and 719 kHz for Free Europe), the jamming affected Radio Luxembourg's signal as a by-product. Even though western popular music was considered undesirable by socialist regimes, legal prosecution was rare, and young people listened in enjoying the frisson of engaging in a forbidden activity.

• The Best of Radio Luxembourg was also released in Spain (as Lo mejor de Radio Luxembourg) and Australia, with these versions also debuting in 1963. The Spanish edition (GGPP 7008) was released on Pye Records' Spanish label Serie Dorada. The Australian release (GG 490) - in a country well beyond the transmission reach of Radio Luxembourg - was issued on the Melbourne-based AstorRecords label, demonstrating perhaps that Luxembourg's reputation was global even if its signal was not!

Image: Pye Records Serie Dorada (Spain) with thanks to Bernard Dunne

• A single release cover version of Ivor Slaney's The Sentimental Agent main title theme recorded by Johnny Keating.

• Ivor Slaney's The Sentimental Agent theme with additional lyrics written by Marcel Stellman and performed by Joy Marshall. The new lyrics were not in any way connected with themes or characters from the ITC series.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• Edwin Astley's High Wire theme to the one-hour Danger Man series, arranged and performed by The Bob Leaper Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• Edwin Astley's High Wire theme to the one-hour Danger Man series, arranged and performed by Ivor Slaney and his Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• Edwin Astley's Gideon's Way theme, arranged and performed by Brian Fahey and his Orchestra.

• This record was issued in a generic sleeve.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Notes

• Edwin Astley's record version of the High Wire theme to the one-hour Danger Man series, backed with his original theme to The Saint.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• In 1966, an LP of theme tune cover versions by a group calling themselves The Revengers was issued in the USA on Metro Records, a subsidiary of MGM. Entitled Batman and Other Super Men (stereo MS-565; mono M-565), this compilation included renditions of Edwin Astley's main title themes for ITC series Danger Man ('High Wire'),  The Baron and The Saint alongside familiar American genre fare of the period such as Batman, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Our Man Flint. The recordings were also issued in Canada and Japan. 

Notes

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Notes

• A record version by Ron Grainer of his theme to Man in a Suitcase.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• The A-side of this single was stated as 'A Man in a Suitcase', hailing from the TV series of the same name. Presumably this is the title that composer Ron Grainer's publisher's registered.

• Erle Music was Ron Grainer's own company, its name being taken from Grainer's middle name.

Notes

• A single release version of Ron Grainer's The Prisoner main title theme recorded by The Ron Grainer Orchestra.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Tracklisting

Notes

• An Easy Listening collection, but Ivor Slaney's Carlos' Theme from The Sentimental Agent is there in the mix with standards like It's Not Unusual, The Last Waltz and Strangers in the Night!

• Les Reed is also known in ITC circles for his cover version of The Saint, credited inconsistently as The Les Reed Strings or The Les Reed Brass. Clearly by 1968 he had tired of all the confusion around his identity and had opted for the catch-all The Les Reed Sound!

• This album was pressed in Mono (DML 709) and Stereo (SML 709) versions.

Notes

• This was a cover version of the Department S theme by Cyril Stapleton and his Orchestra, albeit an excellent one.

• The B-side, Theme from the W. Somerset Maugham TV Series, is a Wilfred Josephs composition that has no connection with Department S. The series aired on BBC Television at around the same time as Department S was showing on ITV.

• Early UK copies of this 7" single were issued in a picture sleeve, though these were soon replaced with generic equivalents. As a bonus feature, we have also included the picture slip cover that accompanied the 1970 Japanese release (Pye Records, made by Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd, catalogue number LL-2326-Y). Perhaps understandably, the English title on the Japanese edition was misspelled Depertment S.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• A single release version of Tony Hatch's The Champions main title theme performed by The Tony Hatch Orchestra. The theme appeared on the B-side.

• The A-side, (Theme) Who-Dun-It, is a Tony Hatch composition from the ATV television series of the same name. Created by Lewis Greifer, it was a 1969 drama anthology series with the accent on murder.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Tracklisting

Notes

• The cover photograph was taken at the Lyceum Ballroom, London, by Richard Stirling.

Tracklisting

Side A:
A1. Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

Side B:
B1. Summer Place

Notes

• A single release cover version of Edwin Astley's Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) main title theme recorded by Norrie Paramor and his Orchestra. A Norrie Paramor Production by Peter Vince.

• The B-side, Summer Place (also known as Theme from A Summer Place), was a Norrie Paramor composition for the 1959 feature film A Summer Place and has no connection with Randall and Hopkirk.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• Although the rare picture sleeve for this single gives the B-side title correctly as "Summer Place", it is stated as "Summer Palace" on the record label.

Notes

• Something of an ITC novelty, a rather impressive vocal version of the Man in a Suitcase theme, recorded by Alexander Stone. The lyrics, written by G. Henderson, were created long after the series production had completed.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• A month after this record was issued, Department S star Rosemary Nicols also had a single published on the Gemini label. Jaby / Once Upon a Time was released as GMS 013 on 26 June 1970, produced by Harry Roberts, who also co-wrote the B-side song with Frank Kinsella. The A-side Jaby was composed by Don Black and Denis King and would appear to be linked to the book written by Nicols, The Loving Adventures of Jaby (Hale, 1970).

Tracklisting

Notes

• An album of music played on hammond organ, accompanied by guitar and drums. Among the guitarists featured was Vic Flick, a leading session musician of the time to famously played the guitar riff on the James Bond theme for Dr. No (1962).

• This album was issued simultaneously on vinyl record (TWO 326), audio cassette (TC-TWO 326) and 8-track cartridge (8X-TWO 236). The tracks were arranged differently on the 8-track and cassette, and one track - Abergavenny - was split in two for timing reasons on the 8-track.

Notes

• The UK release was issued in a generic sleeve.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Notes

• In chart terms, Theme from The Persuaders proved to be one of John Barry's most successful compositions as a solo artists. According to OfficialCharts.com, the single entered the British Singles Chart on 11th December 1971 and remained in the Top 100 chart for 15 weeks reaching a high of #13 on 23rd January 1972. It even had an unofficial pop video shot to accompany it on the BBC's Top of the Pops featuring the programme's resident dance group of the time, Pan's People.

• The UK release was issued in a generic sleeve. As a bonus feature, we are presenting the picture sleeves that accompanied the contemporary Dutch, German, Spanish and Swedish releases (all CBS, catalogue number CBS 7469).

• The track name on the label omitted the series' famous exclamation mark so here's one to compensate!

• The UK release was issued in a generic sleeve. As a bonus feature, we have included the picture sleeve that accompanied the 1971 Netherlands release (Philips, catalogue number 6073 514).

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Tracklisting

Notes

• Strictly for the Birds was a Dudley Moore composition, Spanish Eyes written by Kaempfert / Singleton / Snyder, and Come to Me by Beveridge / Prior.

• The ITC track was a cover version of Edwin Astley's memorable Department S theme.

• A single release of Laurie Johnson's Shirley's World main title theme recorded by Johnson and his Orchestra.

• The B-side, Rickshaw Ride, is another Johnson composition that - unusually for a theme single - was also taken from the series in question.

• Issued in a plain / generic sleeve.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• A single release version of John Barry's The Adventurer main title theme arranged, conducted and produced by the composer.

• This Polydor single release of John Barry's theme to The Adventurer failed to emulate his success in the British Singles Charts with The Persuaders!, which had peaked at #13 in January 1972. The Adventurer did not sell sufficiently well to enter the Top 100.

Tracklisting

• The Top of the Pops series - which wasn't affiliated in any way with the BBC's music show of the same name - commenced in June 1968, offering listeners LPs of cover versions of chart hits for affordable prices.

• The albums could be found in high street shops such as Woolworths and by 1971 Hallmark's series was the market leader among the many others offering similar bargain-price imitations. Titles such as Hot Hits, Pick of the Pops and Pye Chartbusters competed for space on the vinyl racks and each - including Top of the Pops - sported photographic covers depicting attractive women in alluring poses.

• The cover girl on this particular volume was Penny Irving, an actress who appeared in several TV comedy series, most notably as Young Mr Grace's secretary Miss Bakewell in the BBC's Are You Being Served and as Mary, one of Hi-De-Hi!'s yellowcoats. She also made feature film appearances in Pete Walker's House of Whipcord (1974) and the big screen version of The Likely Lads (1976).

• The Top of the Poppers were a loose collection of session musicians that famously in the early days of the series included none other than Elton John prior to his solo success.

Notes

• The UK release was issued in a generic sleeve. As a bonus feature, we have included the picture sleeves that accompanied the contemporary releases in Spain (MCA, catalogue number SN-20.698) and Austria (MCA, MCS 6333).

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this Avenues & Alleyways 7" single spent four weeks on the British Top 100 Singles Chart, first entering on 10 February 1973. It achieved a high of #37 on the chart.

Tracklisting

• Many online sources including Discogs and 45worlds give the release year for With Loving Feeling as 1972, this despite the record sleeve clearly stating a 1973 patent date.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that With Loving Feeling spent two weeks on the British Top 100 Album Chart, first entering on 17 February 1973. It achieved a high of #19 on the chart. This information leads us to suggest a 9 or 10 February 1973 release for this LP.

• This album was released simultaneously by MCA Records on vinyl record (MUPS 468) and 8-Track Cartridge (EMUPC 468). Each format presented the tracks in a subtly different order.

• Interestingly, considering that the standard presentation of the title is Avenues & Alleyways, here on its first appearance on an album it is shown as Avenues And Alleyways.

Notes

• MCA UK reissue of Avenues & Alleyways with alternative B-side.

• Mention of the song's connection to The Protectors was dropped for this re-release.

Notes

• This was a cover version recorded at the behest of Lew Grade by session musicians at Pye Studios in London. It was rush-released to coincide with the first transmissions of The Zoo Gang.

• The session was produced by Tony Hiller and Colin Frechter played keyboards. The other musicians are not known. The cover version is so accurate that some fans have attested that 'Jungle Juice' was a pseudonym for the McCartneys, but this was not the case.

• The B-side, Monkey Business, is a Hiller / Frechter composition that has no connection with The Zoo Gang.

• The UK release was issued in a generic sleeve.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Notes

• This record version of The Zoo Gang main title theme was recorded on 25 April 1973 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London, and mixed on 14 May 1973 at Air Studios, also in London.

• The record version (entitled simply Zoo Gang) runs to 1 minute and 59 seconds, some 49 seconds longer than the standard television theme.

• Musicians playing on Zoo Gang were: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell.

• On the production side: Alan Parsons (recording engineer), Mark Vigars (assistant recording engineer), Geoff Emerick (mixing engineer) and Andy Arthurs (assistant mixing engineer).

• The A-side, Band on the Run, is a famous Paul McCartney & Wings track, but you don't need us to tell you that!

• The UK release was issued in a generic sleeve.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this Band on the Run 7" single spent eleven weeks on the British Top 100 Singles Chart, first entering on 6 July 1974. It achieved a high of #3 in the chart for the week of 3 August 1974.

Tracklisting

• Killer Watts was a synthesiser group comprising Derek Scott, Len Beadle and Barry Leng. Leng also served as producer of the album, with musical arrangment by Beadle and Scott. The album was recorded at De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley.

• The snappily-titled Golden Hour of Golden Instrumental Hits featuring The Many Moogs of Killer Watts was simultaneously released on vinyl record (GH 578) and 8-track cartridge (Y8GH 578). The running order of tracks varied between the two editions, the alterations being made for timing reasons.

• A vinyl edition was also released in 1974 by Summit Records / Astor in Australia (SRA 295-083). Its title was only slightly simplified to Golden Instrumental Hits featuring The Many Moogs of Killer Watts!

• Golden Hour's imprints of this album for Canada and New Zealand carried the full, unexpurgated title and the same catalogue number as the UK edition.

Tracklisting

Notes

• This live album was recorded at the Sheffield Fiesta Club in December 1974.

• Tony Christie Live was issued simultaneously on vinyl record (MCF 2703), audio cassette (TC-MCF 2703) and 8-track cartridge (8X-MCF 2703). Track ordering varied across formats.

• This album was reissued in 1980 on the EMI Music for Pleasure label, retaining its 1975 copyright date. This latter point has caused some confusion resulting in several online databases erroneously stating a 1975 release for the reissue.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this edition of the Band on the Run single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• This 7" EP record included a cover version of the theme to The Protectors. The other tracks were cover versions unrelated to the series.

• This record was issued in a generic sleeve.

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Tracklisting

Notes

• A collection comprising a mix of film and television themes and orchestrations of pop and Easy Listening staples of the time.

• The record labels both carry the header title 'Singalong with Max' (Bygraves, of course), though Bygraves takes no part in the recordings. The In a Romantic Mood title is given in smaller text near the spindle hole. This appears to be because - somewhat unusually - the Cyril Stapleton LP was included as a free gift in some copies of the Reader's Digest Singalong with Max 6-LP box set (GMAX-6A, 1975). This gives rise to the question of whether the Stapleton album was ever released separately since all copies seen by us in the wild have the Singalong with Max branding. We don't currently have an answer.

Image: Reader's Digest / Pye

• Neither the LP sleeve or disc labels provide a copyright date and internet databases don't hazard a guess at the year of release of In a Romantic Mood with the Cyril Stapleton Orchestra... but we do! In fact, it was relatively straightforward as we have been able to confirm via 45worlds and Discogs that the RDS 9048 catalogue number puts it firmly among Reader's Digest's 1975 releases - and coincides with the confirmed year of release of Singalong with Max.

Tracklisting

• This collection of pop songs included Avenues and Alleyways - the theme from The Protectors - and was simultaneously issued on vinyl LP (MCF 2769), audio cassette (TC-MCF 2769) and 8-Track Cartridge (BX-MCF 2769).

Tracklisting

Notes

• This collection of music by Les Reed was simultaneously released by Decca on vinyl record (FOS 25/26) and audio cassette (KFOC2 8062).

Tracklisting

Notes

• For twelve years, radio disc jockey Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart (1941-2016) hosted Junior Choice on BBC Radios 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday mornings, starting in 1968. He was also popular with children as presenter (1975-1979) of the weekly BBC1 variety show Crackerjack.

• This collection was issued simultaneously on vinyl LP record (BEMP 002) and audio cassette (ZCR 002).

• The Super Beeb sub-label of BBC Records and Tapes was set aside for the publication of pop music albums on LP and cassette, particularly linked to the BBC's flagship music show Top of the Pops. There was also a sister label - Beeb - for issuing similar on 7" single. This collection probably just about qualified under Super Beeb's criteria! The Super Beeb branding seems to have been in operation for less than a decade, being introduced in 1974 and fading away in 1981.

• An interesting point to make concerns the appearance of Jackie Lee's Rupert and The Adventures of Black Beauty (strangely not referred to by its Galloping Home title) on this collection - themes to ITV series appearing on a BBC publication -  a very rare acknowledgement in those times that "the other side" even existed!

Notes

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• A vocal version of the theme, entitled Taking It Easy, was recorded by Oliver Onions and released in mainland Europe in 1978. As a bonus feature, here are the covers of the German (Electrola / EMI, catalogue number 1C 006-77 025) and Dutch (Bovema Negram, 5N 006 77025) releases.

Tracklisting

• This 7" single was issued on blue-coloured vinyl by Casino Classics, a record label that had grown out of a highly-rated northern soul nightclub, Wigan Casino. The club's owner Gary Marshall, manager Mike Walker and founder and DJ Russ Winstanley established the record label in 1978 as a means to re-release a selection of music played in the club as singles. The idea was that the club's devoted followers would be given the opportunity to own them, and it would be a signifier of the nightclub's popularity.

• Both tracks were included on the Casino Classics - Chapter One (Casino Classics / RK Records, CCLP 1001), an album compiling of the first seven singles and a 1978 EP. This LP was released in 1979.

Tracklisting

Notes

• A collection comprising a mix of film and television themes and orchestrations of pop and Easy Listening staples of the time.

• This collection was issued simultaneously in limited editions of 250,000 per format on vinyl LP record (PLE 7017) and audio cassette (PLC 7017). Both were part of Pickwick's Limited Edition series. The size of each limited run serves as an illustration of the popularity of vinyl records and audio cassettes in the 1970s.

• Regarding our dating of this release, neither Discogs or 45worlds gives a release year for Beautiful Music: 20 Popular Favourites. However, the latter states 1978 as the year of release for LPs with neighbouring catalogue numbers, suggesting that this was also the year of release for Beautiful Music on LP and cassette.

• Pressed on thin 100g black vinyl.

Tracklisting

• This 12" single combined Casino Classics' fifth and sixth 7" singles as a 12" 'promo cut'.

• All four tracks featured on the Casino Classics - Chapter One (Casino Classics / RK Records, CCLP 1001), an album compiling of the first seven singles and a 1978 EP. This LP was released in 1979.

Tracklisting

• This vinyl LP brought together all the tracks from the first seven Casino Classics singles and a 1978 EP entitled Three Before Eight (RK 1004).

• In 2015, Cherry Red Records re-released the album on CD as part of the Casino Classics: Complete Collection box set.

Tracklisting

Notes

• This live album was recorded at the Sheffield Fiesta Club in December 1974. It had previously been released in 1975 by MCA Records as Tony Christie Live (MCF 2703 / TC-MCF 2703 / 8X-MCF 2703).

• 20 Great Songs: Tony Christie Live was issued simultaneously on vinyl record (MFP 40489) and audio cassette (TC-MFP 50489).

• This reissued album retained its 1975 copyright date, resulting in several online databases erroneously stating a 1975 release for this 1980 reissue.

Tracklisting

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

Tracklisting

Notes

• A collection comprising a orchestrations and cover versions of pop and Easy Listening staples of the time - with John Barry's theme to The Adventurer thrown in for good measure!

Tracklisting

Notes

• Reissue of two Harry Stoneham hammond organ albums – Solid Gold Hammond (TWO 345, 1971; forming sides A and B), combined with High Power Hammond (TWO 326, 1970; forming sides C and D) – to produce a double vinyl LP and double audio cassette. These were issued simultaneously in 1980.

• The original September 1971 LP and audio cassette of Solid Gold Hammond included no ITC tracks and we therefore do not list this title at Randall and Hopkirk (Declassified). However, the LP cover is so Seventies we could hardly resist...

Image: Columbia / EMI Records Ltd

Tracklisting

• A compilation of contemporary British psychedelic music including The Times' I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape.

• The first track on Side A - Prelude by The Doctor - while noted on the disc label, was not included as part of the tracklisting on the record sleeve.

Tracklisting

• OfficialCharts.com reveals that this single did not enter the British Singles Chart.

• Spelling of Danger Man in the tracklisting is as per the release.

Tracklisting