1960 British Hit Parade - Part 1 (January to July) 6CD Boxset [Box set]

There's a bit of a story here! Acrobat Music originated the British Hit Parade series which originally featured the charts from the New Musical Express. Each year, as the material came out of copyright, another collection was added to the series - this continued up to the set for 1957. Acrobat Music and a group of their investors then had a bit of a falling-out which resulted in legal action preventing further releases by Acrobat.

During this period the investors continued the series on their new Fantastic Voyage label producing sets for 1958 and 1959 in the same style as the previous Acrobat releases. Also during this period many of the earlier Acrobat releases went out of print and gradually became unavailable. However, in 2010, Acrobat were successful in court and have now won back some of the rights to the disputed material. I don't know all the ins and outs or rights and wrongs of the dispute but it leaves us this year with BOTH labels producing sets for 1960!

Acrobat Music continue their previous format of four CDs in an expanded jewel case - but because of the inclusion of more material 1960 will be issued as three sets of four CDs. Fantastic Voyage have opted to change to long-box presentation and have produced two collections of six discs each. I had pre-ordered the Acrobat series as they were due to be the first released - but the release was delayed so I now have the Fantastic Voyage version instead. I can't compare the two as I have not seen or heard the other collection, but this version from Fantastic Voyage seems better value, is nicely presented with each CD in its own slip-case within the long-box and a comprehensive 76 page booklet with full track information and news stories from Stuart Colman is provided with both parts one and two.

Although I have not had time to play all the tracks I have dipped into a few of the CDs to check the sound quality and what I have heard so far is pretty good. It must be remembered, though, that these are not official releases from the original record companies so the source material is not going to be the master tapes! However, modern remastering techniques can bring out the best from the sources available - and they should all be the original recordings rather than re-recordings.

It is difficult to recommend one labels release over the other without being able to directly compare them, or without knowing more about the details of their dispute - but I am very pleased with the quality and value offered by this version from Fantastic Voyage.

Ve-e-e-e-r-r-ry interestink...

But stoopid.

Appologies to any of you who don't get the reference, but I figure if you're considering buying this, then you will. The point is, there are two identically named versions of this collection from two different companies. This one is from Fantastic Voyage, the other is from the company that started the series, Acrobat.

...And they're not the same.

You'd think that a hit parade was a hit parade, wouldn't you? Well, first of all this album is one track longer. That track is 'Jimmy Brown The Newsboy' by Lonnie Donegan, and to start with that should be 'Jimmie'. It's the B-side of Donegan's 'I wanna go home' and it didn't chart in own right so it shouldn't really be here, but it's a pleasant enough bonus.

The other differences are Cliff Richard's 'Expresso Bongo EP', FV have gone for the first track, 'Love', whilst Acrobat have gone for 'The shrine on the second floor' which was the radio plug track. There are no rights or wrongs here (I think they should both have put all four tracks on but hey... there's only so much space on a CD), but the track in the Acrobat set is going to be the most familiar.

Elvis Presley's 'Strictly Elvis' EP'. This one is far more clear cut. FV have gone for the 2nd track 'Anyplace Is Paradise' for no clear reason. Maybe it was shorter and allowed for an extra track on the CD. Acrobat have gone for the 1st track, the one that features in large letters on the sleeve, and also the one which was Radio Luxembourg's "Most requested Elvis song", 'Old Shep'. Acrobat is the clear winner here, unless (Like me) you can't stand the song!

'Heartbeat' by Buddy Holly. This is only on the FV version. It definitely charted, so the only reason I can think of for Acrobat not featuring it is that it's a re-release which is already available on the '1958 British Hit Parade' set.

'Chattanooga Choo Choo' by Ernie Fields Orchestra. This track isn't on this FV version, and since it spent 2 weeks at number 30 on the NME charts 30/4-7/5, it should be, and this time I can't think of any excuse. Naughty Fantastic Voyage.

The 'Elvis Is Back' LP. This album contained several hits, so quite why FV chose to go with 'Dirty Dirty Feeling' and Acrobat with 'Make me know it', neither of which rate amongst Elvis' best or best known songs, I have no idea. No points to either side here.

'Quatermassters Stores' by The Shadows. Another mis-spelling from FV here (Assuming that the spelling mistake isn't Amazon's) It should be 'Quatermasters' (And there should be an apostrophe before the final 's', but let's not get picky). This is another FV only track, and again it's a B-side. It's the flip of 'Apache' and yet again didn't chart in its own right. But it's another nice bonus so who's going to complain?

'Angry' by Marty Wilde. And so he should be. This is another omission from the FV package. It spent 2 weeks from 16/7 in the NME charts peaking at number 25. It's not an overwhelmingly rare track, so I'm not sure why FV couldn't find a copy while Acrobat clearly could. The points go to Acrobat I think.

'Tell Laura I Love Her' by Ray Peterson. Now this one's interesting. It didn't chart in UK, but I think FV have a valid reason for including this track. The reason it didn't, or rather, couldn't chart was that Decca smashed all their copies of the single, declaring it to be in bad taste (A sentiment that I can't argue with...). Acrobat are, of course, quite correct in not including it, because it wasn't a British hit, but I think FV get the moral high ground all the same. To be fair, no points to either side.

'Papa Loves Mama' by Donald Peers. This is an Acrobat only track, it's pretty hard to get hold of so I'm guessing that's why it's not on this version. Maybe FV were in such a hurry to get their's out first that they just missed this one, but it spent a whole 1 week at number 28 in the NME charts of 30th Jul.

And finally... Elvis Presley's 'G.I Blues' LP. Once again FV have gone for the more obscure track, in this case 'Shoppin' Around', whilst Acrobat have sensibly (To my mind anyway), gone with 'G.I Blues', the title track of the album. Just tossing in a little tautology there.

So what have we learned from all this then, class? Well, despite being one track shorter, the Acrobat version is the more accurate of the two, it also comes in regular CD sized boxes that will fit in happily with the rest of your collection, BUT, the Fantastic Voyage collection is almost complete, has an extra track, and is a whole lot cheaper.

Hey, I can't decide for you. I've decided which version I'm buying (Count the points...), but basically you pays yer money and you takes yer chance.

Ve-e-e-e-r-r-ry interestink...

But stoopid.

Appologies to any of you who don't get the reference, but I figure if you're considering buying this, then you're probably old enough to get it. Sorry 'bout that. The point is, there are two identically named versions of this collection from two different companies. This one is from the company that started the series, Acrobat, the other is the long-box version from Fantastic Voyage.

...And they're not the same.

You'd think that a hit parade was a hit parade, wouldn't you? Well, first of all the FV collection is one track longer. That track is 'Jimmy Brown The Newsboy' by Lonnie Donegan, and the first niggle to start with is, that should be 'Jimmie'. It's the B-side of Donegan's 'I wanna go home' and it didn't chart in own right so it shouldn't really be here, but it's a pleasant enough bonus.

The other differences are: Cliff Richard's 'Expresso Bongo EP', FV have gone for the first track, 'Love', whilst Acrobat have gone for 'The shrine on the second floor' which was the radio plug track. There are no rights or wrongs here (I think they should both have put all four tracks on but hey... there's only so much space on a CD), but the track in the Acrobat set is going to be the more familiar of the two.

Elvis Presley's 'Strictly Elvis' EP'. This one is far more clear cut. FV have gone for the 2nd track 'Anyplace Is Paradise' for no clear reason. Maybe it was shorter and allowed for an extra track on the CD. Acrobat have gone for the 1st track, the one that features in large letters on the sleeve, and also the one which was Radio Luxembourg's "Most requested Elvis song", 'Old Shep'. Acrobat is the clear winner here, unless (Like me) you can't stand the song.

'Heartbeat' by Buddy Holly. This is only on the FV version. It definitely charted, so the only reason I can think of for Acrobat not featuring it is that it's a re-release which is already available on the '1958 British Hit Parade' set.

'Chattanooga Choo Choo' by The Ernie Fields Orchestra. This track isn't on the FV version, and since it spent 2 weeks at number 30 on the NME charts 30/4-7/5, it should be, and this time I can't think of any excuse. Naughty Fantastic Voyage.

The 'Elvis Is Back' LP. This album contained several hits, so quite why FV chose to go with 'Dirty Dirty Feeling' and Acrobat with 'Make me know it', neither of which rate amongst Elvis' best or even best known songs, I have no idea. No points to either side here.

'Quatermassters Stores' by The Shadows. Another mis-spelling from FV here (Assuming that the spelling mistake isn't Amazon's) It should be 'Quatermasters' (And there should be an apostrophe before the final 's', but let's not get picky). This is another FV only track, and again it's a B-side. It's the flip of 'Apache' and yet again didn't chart in its own right. But it's another nice bonus so who's going to complain?

'Angry' by Marty Wilde. And so he should be. This is another omission from the FV package. It spent 2 weeks from 16/7 in the NME charts peaking at number 25. It's not an overwhelmingly rare track, so I'm not sure why FV couldn't find a copy while Acrobat clearly could. The points go to Acrobat I think.

'Tell Laura I Love Her' by Ray Peterson. Now this one's interesting. It didn't chart in UK, but I think FV have a valid reason for including this track. The reason it didn't, or rather, couldn't chart was that Decca smashed all the UK copies of the single, declaring it to be in bad taste (A sentiment that I can't argue with...). Acrobat are, of course, quite correct in not including it, because it wasn't a British hit, but I think FV get the moral high ground all the same. To be fair, no points to either side.

'Papa Loves Mama' by Donald Peers. This is an Acrobat only track, it's pretty hard to get hold of so I'm guessing that's why it's not on the other version. Maybe FV were in such a hurry to get their's out first that they just missed this one, but it spent a whole one week at number 28 in the NME charts of 30th Jul.

And finally... Elvis Presley's 'G.I Blues' LP. Once again FV have gone for the more obscure track, in this case 'Shoppin' Around', whilst Acrobat have sensibly (To my mind anyway), gone with 'G.I Blues', the title track of the album. Just tossing in a little tautology there.

So what have we learned from all this then? Well, despite being one track shorter, the Acrobat version is the more accurate of the two, it also comes in regular CD sized boxes that will fit in happily with the rest of your collection, bu-u-ut, the Fantastic Voyage collection is almost complete, has an extra track, and is a whole lot cheaper.

Hey, I can't decide for you. I've decided which version I'm buying (Count the points...), but basically you pays yer money and you takes yer chance.