Been sorting through some boxes of old single 45's earlier today and found a few on the Embassy label. Embassy records were sold in Woolworth's stores here in the UK from 1954 - 1965 and was basically a budget label that produced cheap cover versions of popular hit singles of the day. I remember buying a few, one in particular was by Kay Barry which was a double A side of, "Bobby's Girl" and "James hold the ladder steady". 

                                    

"Bobby's girl" was a 1962 hit by Susan Maughn, and "James hold the ladder steady" was a hit for Carol Deene the same year.

Woolworths didn't sell official release records at this time and so they had many different session singers and musicians record the various hits. All releases came in printed sleeves with the Embassy logo, and the legend "Top in Pops" The one above is by the Typhoons and is a cover of The Beatles, "From me to you"

Aside from the singles they also issued E.P.s. and L.P.s. again featuring cover versions of current hits.

                           

Many of these releases have now become collectors items in their own rights.


In keeping with today's blog and talking about cover versions, the tune of the day is one of my all time favourite cover versions is, Frijid Pink's version of "House of the rising sun" This came out in 1970 and was a heavy version based on the hit by the Animals.