Long Play Album | ||||
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Studio album by Stars on 45 | ||||
Released | March 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 32:57 (US: 32:04) | |||
Label | CNR Records (NL) Radio Records (US) CBS Records (UK) Melodiya (USSR) Mercury Records (Philippines) |
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Producer | Jaap Eggermont | |||
Stars on 45 chronology | ||||
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Long Play Album was the first album by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45, released on the CNR Records label in The Netherlands in 1981. In the US the album was retitled Stars On Long Play, released on Atlantic Records' sublabel Radio Records and credited to 'Stars On'. In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand the group was renamed 'Starsound' (on certain releases spelt StarSound or Star Sound) and the album itself was listed as Stars On 45 or Stars On 45 - The Album and released by CBS Records. In Spanish-speaking countries both the group and the album were launched under a fourth name: Estrellas en 45. Stars On 45 was also one of the very few Western pop albums to be officially released in the Soviet Union and large parts of the Eastern Bloc on the state-owned Melodiya label, credited to Stars On 45 but the Russian title of the album translates as Discothèque Stars. In the Philippines, it was released and uses "Stars on 45 Long Play Album" as its title on the label of the LP (Manufactured and printed by Dyna Products, Inc. under license from PhonoGram International B.V., Baarn, the Netherlands, using Mercury label [Violet background, silver foreground]).
Following the chart success of the first "Stars on 45" single producer Jaap Eggermont took the original 12" mix of the medley, a re-recording of the Canadian bootleg release "Let's Do It In The 80's - Great Hits" a.k.a. "Bits and Pieces III", which included both excerpts from various hits from the 50's, 60's and 70's as well as the four-minute Beatles cover segment ("No Reply"/"I'll Be Back"/"Drive My Car"/"Do You Want to Know a Secret"/"We Can Work It Out"/"I Should Have Known Better"/"Nowhere Man"/"You're Going to Lose That Girl") and divided it into two separate medleys. The Beatles part was extended to a whole 16-minute medley which took up the entire Side A of the vinyl album, with excerpts from another 21 Beatles titles plus George Harrison's solo hit "My Sweet Lord" being recorded and added plus two reprises of the "Stars On 45" theme.
The remainder of the original 12" mix was re-edited and placed as track one on Side B, coupling recent pop and disco hits like Heatwave's "Boogie Nights", Lipps Inc.'s "Funky Town", Penny McLean's "Lady Bump" and The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" with classic chart hits like Shocking Blue's "Venus" and The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" - both of which had been included on the 7" version of the Beatles medley along with an uncredited musical reference to The Sparks' 1979 hit single "Beat The Clock" -, The Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown", Roy Orbison's "Only The Lonely", Martha and the Vandellas' "Jimmy Mack", The Fortunes' "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling" and Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"—the latter, however, not on the North American editions of the album because of copyright issues. The medley also featured another uncredited instrumental reference to The S.O.S. Band and their 1980 hit "Take Your Time (Do It Right)".