Just as the lozenges seemed to appear on sleeves like clockwork, exactly as 1972 began, 1973 LP releases all got the same memo and on January 1st another update occurred. Now, both sleeves and labels declared that BBC Records was ‘The Best of BBC TV & Radio’.
The more significant change was the label design. The new navy blue and white was to remain as the defacto LP label design for another 10 years and beyond.
The singles were just as keen to get a new look for 1973 and although they didn’t all have a sleeve as snazzy as Doctor Who (RESL 11) they wore the blue and white labels with pride. All four that were released in this era, anyway. The DW sleeve is looking to the blue and white future but with a nod to the past as it reuses the harmonograph design as a symbol of the time vortex.
There has to be exceptions though, and Adventures of Parsley (Roundabout no. 18) has the sleeve right but the label was still in the old yellow style with 1960s logo. It’s these sort of discrepancies which cause much confusion for collectors, especially if you have only seen a reissue with a later style label design.
