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Light Music Club

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Subsidiary label of the [l=World Record Club], which existed (separately) in Australia and New Zealand, releasing the same albums with similar artwork, but different catalogue numbers in each country. In the UK, although the prefix "LMP" (Light Music Programme?) was used for the same releases, LPs were simply issued on the WRC label. LMC LPs often featured stage musicals of the era, recorded by different casts (usually UK-based) than the more famous versions. The label was announced in August 1960 - all releases were to be new recordings, released in mono and stereo (although this only applied to the main body of releases, from LM 7001 onwards) - it had its own magazine, "Showcase", but never quite became a club in its own right, with releases available to World Record Club members. In Australia, some releases fell under the general release schedule of the WRC catalogue, but the bulk of releases came out using the catalogue numbers LM 70 to LM 100, LM 7000 to LM 7123, and LM 8000 to LM 8068. The LM prefix was gradually dropped, however, and by 1968, LPs were reissued with all reference to the Light Music Club removed. For example, "The Sound of Music", made years before the Julie Andrews film version, was released as LM 93, but reissued (with the same cover design) in 1968 as a straight WRC LP (S-2439). Another WRC sub-label, The Record Society, although more of a club in its own right, began to standardise its releases along the WRC style at the same time. The prefix PLE/PLP was also used, with these releases all featuring the same generic cover art on the front of sleeves. The New Zealand branch issued its first releases in February 1961. As with their World Record Club and Record Society LPs, New Zealand releases tended to have the letter "Z" in the catalogue number, a practice which continued until the mid-1970s.