Foreword
Clearly this Post is under construction but I thought I would make it available. More images and info will be imported as I get 'em/it.
Non World of LPs with SPA Catalogue Numbers
There appear to be at least 17 LPs on the DECCA label which are not part of the WORLD OF collection but DO share the SPA catalogue system.
CAT.: SPA 73 CAT.: SPA 88
WHO: Johann Strauss WHO: Bruch, Mendelssohn
WHAT: Tritsch-tratsch Polka etc. WHAT: Concertos pour Violon
WHEN: WHEN:
WHERE: France WHERE: France
CAT.: SPA 97 CAT.: SPA 113
WHO: Borodine, Ponchielli, Gounod, WHO: Beethoven
Smetana
WHAT: Danses Polovtsiennes etc. WHAT: Symphonie No. 6 'Pastorale'
WHEN: WHEN:
WHERE: France WHERE: France
CAT.: SPA 120 CAT.: SPA 123
WHO: Haendel WHO: Beethoven
WHAT: The Water Music WHAT: Symphonie Heroique
WHEN: WHEN:
WHERE: France WHERE: France
CAT.: SPA 129 CAT.: SPA 152
WHO: Vivaldi, Bach, Gabrielli, Corelli, WHO: Stravinsky
Pergolese
WHAT: None WHAT: L'Oiseau de Feu Petrouchka
WHEN: WHEN:
WHERE: France WHERE: France
CAT.: SPA 234 CAT.: SPA 235
WHO: Gerrard Tomasso WHO: Michele Delfosse
WHAT: Legende de la Guitare WHAT: Recital de Clavecin
WHEN: 1973 WHEN: 1972
WHERE: Sweden WHERE: France
SCANDINAVIAN DECCA SPAs
CAT.: SPA 332 CAT.: SPA 341
WHO: Sten & Stanley WHO: Finska Dragspelskungar
(Finnish Accordion Kings)
WHAT: En god och glad jul WHAT: None
(A Merry and Happy Christmas)
WHEN: 1973 WHEN: 1974
WHERE: Sweden WHERE: Sweden
CAT.: SPA 359 CAT.: SPA 511
WHO: Axel Sjöholm med Orkester WHO: Erik Frank
WHAT: Musik vid Sjugare by WHAT: Accordion Boogie
(Music by Sjuger Village)
WHEN: 1974 WHEN: 1977
WHERE: Sweden WHERE: Sweden
CAT.: SPA 518 CAT.: SPA 540
WHO: Sten & Stanley WHO: Yngve Forsells Orkester
WHAT: Jambalaya WHAT: Så Gick Det Till När Farfar Var Ung
(How It Was when Grandpa Was Young)
WHEN: 1977 WHEN: 1978
WHERE: Sweden WHERE: Sweden
CAT.: SPA 541
WHO: Ann-Kristin Hedmark
WHAT: En Sällsam Sång
(A Singular Song)
WHEN: 1978
WHERE: Sweden
Ann-Kristin Hedmark made her first public performance at the age of ten, entering, and doing well in, several singing competitions for the next four or so years. At age 14, Ann Kristin, now known as AK, joined a pop band called The Strollers and then Qvintett-61, a dance band. And now we have a problem ... entry to Sweden's dance halls was permitted to 15 year olds and over so how could we have performers who were younger? Sorry, no clever punch line here - the plug was pulled for six months!
She re-appeared with The Stars 8, a jazzy pop band who AK delivered a sixties soul sound for and she was pretty busy for a number of years subsequently but it was at the start of 1965 when things began to get serious for 16 year-old Ann-Kristin Hedmark. At this time, and for the following eight years, AK was invited to sing for Yngve Forsséll who, you'll remember from the previous short discourse. During her installation in front of this popular dance band, she performed around four concerts a week - that is a lot of singing! Plenty good practice so when the Sandvig Big Band came a-calling, she was ready to jump ship in 1973, aged about 24. Within a few short months, she was singing with Lee Hazlewood, Still, don't take my word for it - check out the picture on the back cover of our LP ...
... proof if proof was needed. Or, I should apparently say, 'were' needed. Huh! Like there were several proofs! Cuh! I'll tell you what it is proof of. It's proof that it isn't only the law that's an ass! That's what it's proof of!
Eh? Oh, yes. Ahem! So what were doing so rudely before we were interrupted? Ah, yes.
So, for the rest of the seventies, Ann-Kristen dabbled in a wide range of different styles including big bands, jazz and something apparently known as 'whisper club' music which was performed in churches. And the flitting between styles did not end there. The nineteen eighties saw her singing blues rock, American jazz, Nordic folk and she also sang Swedish words over an African backbeat. One groovy chick, eh?
CANADIAN LONDON SPAs
Whilst we all know (if we've been paying attention) that some of the UK WORLD OFs crop up on London Records, for example, Vera Lynn Vol. 5 SPA and Theresa Brewer SPA , there are some LPs that appear to have been released solely for the Canadian market. Check out the following:
SPA 161 Contributed by Tim Harley SPA 160 Contributed by Tim Harley
SPA 4040 Contributed by Tim Harley
CHAPTER 2
SUNDRIES
Box Sets, Books and A Double LP
There are at least two LP box sets appertaining to the wonderful WORLD OF records, only one of which is officially part of our collection.
First of all is THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES: THE FIRST FIVE VOLUMES, which, with its cover image of an actual Decca record on the familiar blue with large silver logo box WORLD OF label, is clearly part of the collection. The clincher is revealed when we have a look inside and find, ordinarily neatly stacked, but here displayed in all their glory, for your delect ...
'... Oh, get on with it!' Oooooooh, oh, ok. See below ...
I'm still loving the menacing glint in the eye of that horse on the cover of Vol. 5. Don't remember it? Check out Post No. 11 about half-way through. Incidentally, the record on the box cover is SPA 112, the Top Ten LP that lies on the top of our pile.
Now, along with the above we have a box of ten records called simply YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES presented in the famous WORLD OF font but this is no WORLD OF compilation.
Let's open her up ...
Aha! We know Mr Alan Keith by now and here we find his smiling face once again, shining from the cover of his book of the same title as the LP set and, you'll remember, his BBC radio programme. So what we have here is a set in support of the show rather than our WORLD OFs. Still, it is a nice associated artefact. This is its label:
The track-listing mirrors that of the WORLD OF records through the five above up to Vol. 10.
So, back to the book - or should I say books because there are at least three versions and maybe a fourth! I hold the two paperbacks pictured above whilst the hardback to the right was brought to my attention by Mr Tim Harley who you may remember from earlier in the piece on the subject of Lieutenant Pigeon. Tim, who also has a complete collection of the UK WORLD OFs, and lots of bits and pieces besides, is fast becoming an important ally in this silly ol' venture!
Now, I wonder if we can see yet another version in the hands of the mother figure (or grandma - it's a little confusing to me - it could be Mama - it's just that it looks a little like she may just have removed a knee length compression stocking just prior to the photo-shoot which, in my damaged mind anyway, adds a few years). Anyway, she appears to be holding a hardback with an image of our man on the front and, tantalisingly, though it looks like the same picture as the paperbacks, the title is presented in a different shape. So, two hardbacks discovered for the price of one or a third paperback!?
Double LP
There is a double LP which also has a tenuous link to the WORLD OFs via Alan Keith's radio show.
Now, ordinarily, I would feel obliged to point out the near omnipresence of the trusty radio/tape cassette player which rests incongruously in my mind considering we really should have been seeing more record player turntables throughout this fine collection but, in the last two cases, of course, the record is simply the vehicle for transporting the music of the radio programme to eager ears in domesticity. So, whilst the couple on the cover of the box set have a cassette loaded and the young feller on the double LP cover is resting his hand on the top of his machine, we can assume that it is a Sunday evening and they are all listening to the wireless. Either that or the youngster in the latter image is illegally taping the show in order that the older couple on the box set (who are clearly nonplussed with the modern technology in front of them) can listen to a re-run because it looks like the same machine and the same tape! Gotcha, young feller me lad! Resting his hand, indeed.
Catalogues
Here are a couple of catalogues:
The first one is a twelve-page thing which specifically advertises Decca's Wonderful WORLD OF Series.
This pamphlet features images and track listings for LPs SPA 1 to 38 minus, curiously, No. 22. The second catalogue is titled Your Hundred Best Tunes and has an unedited image of the photo used for the cover of SPA 112 on the front and also the actual cover for this record on the inside. On page 3 it even has the track listing headed by the full record title in the WORLD OF font but this is not a WORLD OF catalogue, oh no. It is Decca using the status of the best-selling WORLD OF series to try and shift some units from their general collection of fine LPs.
You'll be able to see below, in red, the hundred best tunes in number order along side a bunch of Decca records on which that particular tune can be found.
There will be more soon ....