EMI’s Music For Pleasure budget label was responsible for a mountainous stack of flavourless vinyl, but scratch the surface and there are spinworthy gems to be found

A quick rifle through the vinyl bins in any non-curated charity shop across the UK, which is most of them, will reveal a vast slew of budget label albums. While dreams are made of Vertigo swirls, unboxed Deccas, and Atlantic plums, reality consists of Hallmark, Contour, Camden, Pickwick and Stereo Gold Award. Music For Pleasure (MFP), our featured label, is one of the bigger culprits.

Launched in September 1965, MFP was the budget arm of the EMI label. Its countless albums were made available at roughly a third of the price of their main label counterparts and distributed in bulk at Woolworths, WH Smith and other non-traditional locations such as train stations, chemists and department stores.

The majority of the label’s cut-price output was made up of albums extracted from EMI’s existing vast catalogue, including its not-insubstantial US affiliate Capitol. More often than not a MFP reissue would be unsubtly repositioned and non-imaginatively repackaged for the broadest audience. The vinyl itself was always of a serviceable quality, but the sleeve artwork often fell on the wrong side of laughably poor.

To the label’s credit, when money was tight, MFP was always able to offer an affordable gateway into acquiring vinyl. To which end, there’s many a brassic schoolboy in the early ’70s who kicked off his glam collection with T Rex’s compilation cash-in Ride A White Swan (MFP 5274). Just one of the reasons why MFP, despite all the MOR dross, is remembered with a degree of fondness by a certain generation of record collectors.

With the price of vinyl currently where it is, surely a half-decent budget label run with a degree of discernment would be welcomed into today’s market. Anybody?

Unsurprisingly, MFP’s cheap ‘n’ cheerful back catalogue doesn’t command big money among collectors, and there’s nothing in our list that remotely nudges the £30 threshold. But if you dig deep enough, past the ubiquitous copies of Geoff Love’s Big War Movie Themes and Pinky and Perky’s Hit Parade, you’re likely to find a handful of glorious, spinworthy gems. Which is exactly what Groovy Times did…

The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood
MFP 1309
£8-£10
The 1969 budget release of the singular singer’s third album features a slightly reworked track listing, but does contain a Nancy-free version of his most famous track These Boots Are Made For Walking. First released in 1966, the album is one of Hazlewood’s more straightforward offerings and predates the wiggy, cowboy psychedelia of his later years.

Stormy Monday
Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds
MFP 1186
£10-£15
The eponymous Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds was released on Columbia (SX 6034, blue/black labels) and VG+ copies nudge the £100 mark. The MFP reissue conjured up a new title and a brand new sleeve. The original cover was an atmospheric black & white portrait of the early Brit blues mod-rocker, the MFP version is a stock photo of some dustbins with an unflattering photo of Farlowe plonked in the top centre. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Way Down South
Bobbie Gentry
MFP 50006
£10
This 1972 reissue is an example of how MFP’s amorphous repackaging can hide a masterwork in plain sight. With its characterless sleeve and cursory cover image Way Down South mayresemble a workaday Bobbie Gentry compilation, but, in fact, it’s a reworking of her swampy country-soul classic, The Delta Sweete (Capitol, ST2842). The MFP repress is worth picking up for close to the cost of a London pint if you haven’t got the rarer original in your collection.

Ride A White Swan
T Rex
MFP 5274
£8-£12
Released at the height of Marc Bolan’s glam fame this engaging compilation comprises of pre-electric boogie material from the Tyrannosaurus Rex incarnation of his band. Early singles Debora and One Inch Rock are among the highlights, as is the great lost Bolan 45 King Of The Rumbling Spires. A big seller for the MFP label, copies still turn up in charity shop bins to this day, fittingly still at budget prices.

Birth Of Success
Jimi Hendrix
MFP 50053
£10
Although you won’t find it stated anywhere on the label or sleeve this questionable MFP release is Jimi Hendrix playing live with US soul singer Curtis Knight as part of his backing band The Squires. With a sound quality that can be rated as DAB (‘Dubious At Best’), Birth Of Success is a curious snapshot of Jimi’s early days, but, ultimately, one for Hendrix completists only. Originally released in Europe as I’m A Man Live.

Rock’n’Roll Music Vol. 1 & 2
The Beatles
MFP 50506/50507
£15
Not even the biggest EMI bands were exempt from the MFP treatment. The 1976 Parlophone compilation Rock’n’Roll Music (PCSP 719) was one of the few Beatles albums to be re-issued on a budget label and sliced a diced into two single LPS. Vol 1 and 2 were reissued with fresh artwork and dispatched to the racks in 1980 in an era when the band’s popularity had temporarily dipped. First released in 1977, live album The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl (EMTV 4) was also reissued on MFP (MFP 4156761).

Mind Games
John Lennon
MFP 50509
£10-£15
A number of Beatles’ solo albums were issued on MFP with John, George and Ringo reissues all appearing on the label. John Lennon’s Mind Games was first released on Apple (PCS 7165) in 1973, and reappeared with a not-so fancy new sleeve in 1980. Lennon’s 50s covers album Rock’n’Roll (MFP 50522) was also available a year later. George is represented by Dark Horse (MFP 50510) and a reissued hits package, The Best Of George Harrison (MFP 50523). With its all-star cast, Ringo’s third album Ringo (MFP 50508) completes the selection.

The Most Of Terry Reid
Terry Reid
MFP 5220
£15-£20
Terry Reid is the man who turned down the opportunity to front Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. His solo career never scaled the heights predicted, but his catalogue does contain a number of noteworthy albums, including Terry Reid (Columbia, SCX 6370) and River (Atlantic, 40340). MFP reissued the former as part of a Most Of recurring series marking the work of prolific 60s producer Mickie Most. The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, and Jeff Beck (Beck-Ola, Columbia SX 6531) received the same treatment.

Relics
Pink Floyd
MPF 50397
£15
Pink Floyd’s endearing odds’n’sods collection features the band’s first two singles, together with some early B-sides and a number of classic early album tracks, including the ever-wonderful Bike. Originally released on the Starline label in 1971, the MFP reissue added a lurid splash of pink to the cover by colouring in the block capitals on Nick Mason’s extravagant cover doodle.

Deep Down Heavy
Bob Downes
MPF 1412
£15-£18
Out there flautist/saxophonist Downes’ second solo album was released in 1970 and is something of a rarity for MFP in as much as it’s an original release rather than a reissue. What’s more, its avant-garde jazz-rock leanings are far removed from the label’s mass market MOR remit. One of those albums that is best defined as ‘of its time’, it features a young Chris Spedding on guitar.

In Concert
The Jazz Couriers
MFP 1072
£15-£20
This 1966 reissue is a prime, if not the most prime, example of buried MFP treasure. The original version of this British jazz post-bop classic (TAP22) was released in 1958 on the crazily collectable Tempo label, and VG+ copies can set you back over £300. The MFP equivalent is available for a lot less. Featuring Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes at their considerable peak, the concert in question was recorded in February 1958 at the Dominion Theatre in London.