A short-lived label from EMI's budget-priced 'Music For Pleasure' division. The idea of MFP's issuing low-priced singles featuring cover versions of popular songs had been mooted in 1969 ('Billboard', 9th August) but the resulting series, on the 'Surprise! Surprise!' (q.v.) label, was aimed at children rather than grown-ups. 1972 saw the 'Cheap Pop singles' idea finally bear fruit, with the advent of the Double Top label, but while 'Surprise! Surprise!' had flourished Double Top appears to have bombed, and despite being very competitively priced its first three releases were also its last. Double Top records are surprisingly hard to find, for a label which was run by a major company, which comfirms that not many people did what they were urged to do by the blurb on the back of the sleeve, "Look out for the Double Top label and collect this exciting new series." The fare on offer was a pairing of the kind of anonymous cover versions of hits that could be found on MFP's 'Top Of The Pops' albums; in fact several of the tracks were also on the 'Hot Hits Volume 9' LP. Numbering was in the DV-20000s. The single shown above had DV-20002 on the label and DV-20003 on the sleeve, for some reason.
Copyright 2009 Robert Lyons.