London-based record company Deacon was primarily concerned with the 'budget priced album' market. It issued around eighty albums during the three years of its existence, 1970-72; some contained original recordings, others re-recordings of hits of the time. Initially they were only available through non-music outlets such as supermarkets, but 'Record Retailer' of the 17th of October revealed that owners Industrial Commercial Plastic were to make Deacon records available to the music trade via distributors Keith Prowse and the BIRD group. 'Pick Of The Pops Vol. 4' (DEA-1015) was notable in that it featured a not-yet-famous Elton John singing on several tracks. Eight tracks from that album were issued as two EPs, both of which were called 'Top Of The Pops Vol. 2'. They came out in 1970 and had catalogue numbers in the DEA-5000s. DEA-5022 featured 'In The Summertime', 'Lola', 'Yellow River' and 'Up Around The Bend', while tracks on DEA-5023 were 'All Right Now', 'Natural Sinner', 'Neanderthal Man' and 'It's All In The Game'. There were twelve tracks in all on the LP, which makes me suspect that the remaining four are out there on an EP somewhere, perhaps as DEA-5021. The only other numbers in the DEA-5000 series that googling reveals are 5001, 5002 and 5003, which were LPs of children's stories. Deacon made at least one other 7" record, however: an anonymous promotional single for Top Rank entitled 'Let's Play Bingo'. It had no catalogue number, and it appeared in 1971.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.