BPI Yearbook No 3: 1978 £2.95
(Distributed through Syston Publishing Co, (Contact Details)).

This is definitely my sort of book. Initially it may seem a little dull — the first 100 pages or so are full of the general sort of articles you'd expect from an organisation like the British Phonographic Industry, including surveys of the previous year's sales in rock, MOR and the classics, all of which seems a little dated since the book comes out at the end of the following year, and thus the '78 edition deals with '77. There are also the usual sort of fillers by company directors.

But press on — in the midst of it all is an article by Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis on sleeve design, with 17 pages of full colour glossy examples. Great. Then back to articles on the problems of tape piracy and the struggle of the independent record retailers etc etc, which we've all seen (but never read) before, and probably won't read this time.

And then suddenly, lo and behold, the most magnificent set of multicoloured music statistics ever, covering the remaining 120 pages. What do you want to know? How many records sold in 1977, how many exported and imported, compared with previous years? What the average person spends his/her money on? How much records cost in 1961? Maybe you don't want to know any of that, but I defy anyone of moderate intelligence flipping through the book not to get hooked on something — like finding out that in 1971 5000 78rpm discs were produced here. (What on earth for?). (Sound effects? —Ed).

Maybe however you are on the verge of getting a record contract — take a quick check on just how many hits your company has actually had recently. Or perhaps you want to advertise in the music press — check out their weekly sales figures. And just when vou think you've got to the end of it all there's a magnificent final section listing every album and single that has gone platinum, silver or gold in Britain, plus, on the very last page a list of all the 7in discs that have sold over 1 million copies in the UK. There are only 20 (including four in 1978), and they represent a singularly sad reflection on the taste of the Great British public. But even if the records listed are not knockouts, the facts and figures are. Did you know that nine records recorded by German artists made the top 50 in 1977 or that in 1958...