LPs with one letter removed

A mildly amusing distraction, courtesy of the ever-wonderful Dangerous Minds...















Now get on with your work.

We've gone Hi-Fi here at Dolores Delargo Towers...

...courtesy of the ever-wonderful Dangerous Minds!







"He let me carry it - it's so light. Chic, too - but then, it comes from France. Dad says I can have one for Christmas. Hurry up Christmas!"

Indeed.

So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye

From The Official Charts Company's website:

60 years ago this month saw the birth of the Official Albums Chart – the UK’s official weekly snapshot of popularity dedicated to one of the most influential art forms of our time.

The first ever chart, which was published in Record Mirror on 22 July 1956, saw Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers landing in the coveted Number 1 slot. Now, over half a century of vinyl, cassette, CD and download-purchasing later, nearly 1,100 albums have hit the top spot in the UK.

And here, in celebration of that 60-year milestone, are the 60 best-selling albums of all time in the UK:

	TITLE	ARTIST	YEAR	HIGH POSN
1	GREATEST HITS	QUEEN	1981	1
2	GOLD - GREATEST HITS	ABBA	1992	1
3	SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND	BEATLES	1967	1
4	21	ADELE	2011	1
5	WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY	OASIS	1995	1
6	THRILLER	MICHAEL JACKSON	1982	1
7	THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON	PINK FLOYD	1973	2
8	BROTHERS IN ARMS	DIRE STRAITS	1985	1
9	BAD	MICHAEL JACKSON	1987	1
10	GREATEST HITS II	QUEEN	1991	1
11	RUMOURS	FLEETWOOD MAC	1977	1
12	THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION	MADONNA	1990	1
13	BACK TO BLACK	AMY WINEHOUSE	2006	1
14	STARS	SIMPLY RED	1991	1
15	COME ON OVER	SHANIA TWAIN	1997	1
16	LEGEND	BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS	1984	1
17	BACK TO BEDLAM	JAMES BLUNT	2004	1
18	URBAN HYMNS	VERVE	1997	1
19	BAT OUT OF HELL	MEAT LOAF	1977	9
20	1	BEATLES	2000	1
21	BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER	SIMON & GARFUNKEL	1970	1
22	DIRTY DANCING	ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK	1987	4
23	SPIRIT	LEONA LEWIS	2007	1
24	CRAZY LOVE	MICHAEL BUBLE	2009	1
25	NO ANGEL	DIDO	2000	1
26	WHITE LADDER	DAVID GRAY	1998	1
27	25	ADELE	2015	1
28	TALK ON CORNERS	CORRS	1997	1
29	SPICE	SPICE GIRLS	1996	1
30	THE FAME	LADY GAGA	2008	1
31	A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD	COLDPLAY	2002	1
32	LIFE FOR RENT	DIDO	2003	1
33	ONLY BY THE NIGHT	KINGS OF LEON	2008	1
34	BEAUTIFUL WORLD	TAKE THAT	2006	1
35	HOPES AND FEARS	KEANE	2004	1
36	THE JOSHUA TREE	U2	1987	1
37	THE WAR OF THE WORLDS	JEFF WAYNE	1978	5
38	SCISSOR SISTERS	SCISSOR SISTERS	2004	1
39	BUT SERIOUSLY	PHIL COLLINS	1989	1
40	X&Y	COLDPLAY	2005	1
41	JAGGED LITTLE PILL	ALANIS MORISSETTE	1995	1
42	TUBULAR BELLS	MIKE OLDFIELD	1973	1
43	THE MAN WHO	TRAVIS	1999	1
44	TRACY CHAPMAN	TRACY CHAPMAN	1988	1
45	PARACHUTES	COLDPLAY	2000	1
46	GREATEST HITS	ABBA	1975	1
47	GREASE	ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK	1977	1
48	I'VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU	ROBBIE WILLIAMS	1998	1
49	X	ED SHEERAN	2014	1
50	COME AWAY WITH ME	NORAH JONES	2002	1
51	GRACELAND	PAUL SIMON	1986	1
52	THE SOUND OF MUSIC	ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING	1965	1
53	LADIES & GENTLEMEN - THE BEST OF	GEORGE MICHAEL	1998	1
54	TANGO IN THE NIGHT	FLEETWOOD MAC	1987	1
55	THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP	EMINEM	2000	1
56	SWING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING	ROBBIE WILLIAMS	2001	1
57	PROGRESS	TAKE THAT	2010	1
58	EYES OPEN	SNOW PATROL	2006	1
59	NEVER FORGET - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION	TAKE THAT	2005	2
60	AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE	REM	1992	1

"The most popular album? Well, I always thought the band showed promise, but this is beyond our boyhood dreams! Thanks folks!" - Brian May

To celebrate this momentous achievement, here is Brian (and Freddie and Roger and John)'s band Queen, and their most momentous achievement [quite possibly one of the most momentous achievements in popular music ever] - Bohemian Rhapsody...

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?"

Indeed.

How to build a music library...

Soft Tempo Lounge - The Easy LP collection

...the Soft Tempo Lounge way!

Ah, that's better.

[ Music: Sao Salvador Da Bahia by Joss Baselli and Armand Canfora]

PS Over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, we have amassed quite a collection of such weird and wonderful LP covers...

Hands up, who still has a Walkman?

One in 10 young people has bought a music cassette tape in the last month, a new survey done to coincide with Record Store Day suggests.

The research suggests that physical formats are still more popular than digital downloads.

"There's definitely a novelty value with cassettes at the moment, particularly as we suspect a high proportion of them are collectibles sitting on a shelf and never played," said Maurice Fyles, who worked on the research ahead of Record Store Day.

Over half of the people who do this bought a vinyl record, 48% a CD and 23% an audio cassette tape that they have no intention of ever listening to.

"Perhaps it's a reaction to the digital world, but physical formats that we might have thought were relegated to history are being revived as fans and collectors opt for limited editions and promotional copies of their favourite music across a range of formats."

Read more on the BBC

And here's an appropriate song from the marvellous Avenue Q - it's Mix Tape:

Avenue Q - Mix Tape

By way of coincidence, Avenue Q - which we went to see back in 2007 - returns to London for a limited run next week at the Greenwich Theatre.

I Like Plastic

The seven inch single is officially sixty years old this month, and that news set me thinking about early record purchases.

Way back in about 1973, my parents gave me a Dansette for Xmas - allegedly a portable record player, although I recall it weighed a ton (all those valves!) - covered in fetching pink and white vinyl. How trendy. I thought it was fab at the time, and you could stack all your records up to play in turn (and scratch the surface of each).



As well as the inevitable Top of the Pops albums (1974's [pictured above] came complete with free calendar of some tart in a leopardskin bikini), they bought us kids such gems as Thank You Very Much for the Aintree Iron by Pinky & Perky, and O'Malley the Alley Cat from Disney's Aristocats cartoon.

But I was determined to buy my own music with my pocket money. And what was the first single I bought? This...

Donny Osmond - The Twelfth of Never

Good grief. However, at the time I was in love with Donny - the teeth, the hair, the velvet jackets. I was only ten years old, so I have the perfect excuse, honest, guv!