📰 Fly Records Announces New “Flyback” Album - Series: Mar. 1971
- T.Rex
- Mar 26, 1971
- 3 min read
Writer: Evening Post
Date: March 5, 1971
Length: 3 min read
A brief, witty news item introduces Fly Records’ latest catalogue venture: four colour‑quartered compilation albums priced at £1.15, including The Best of T‑Rex, The Move, Procol Harum, and a multi‑artist set titled Big Ones.
A playful press notice heralds Fly’s newest budget‑line experiment.
With a nod to astrology and a wink to the reader, the Evening Post reports the arrival of Fly Records’ new Flyback series — a quartet of low‑priced compilations packaged in bold colour quadrants and featuring some of the label’s strongest catalogue material.
📰 Key Highlights
• News announcement of Fly Records’ Flyback series
• Four LPs priced at £1.15
• Titles include The Best of T‑Rex, The Move, Procol Harum, and Big Ones
• “Big Ones” features Joe Cocker, The Move, and Procol Harum
• Humorous “lucky colours” framing typical of early‑’70s music press tone
📰 Overview
In early March 1971, the Evening Post carried a short but characterful notice about Fly Records’ latest catalogue initiative. The label introduced four compilation albums under the “Flyback” banner, each packaged in a distinctive colour‑quartered sleeve and priced at a highly accessible £1.15.
The tone of the piece is light and humorous, opening with a star‑gazer’s prediction that the week’s “lucky colours” are blue, yellow, green, and red — the exact palette of the Flyback sleeves. This playful framing reflects the era’s fondness for whimsical, slightly psychedelic editorial voice, even in straightforward news items.
The Flyback series includes The Best of T‑Rex, The Best of The Move, The Best of Procol Harum, and Big Ones, a sampler featuring standout tracks from Joe Cocker, The Move, and Procol Harum. The writer notes that the project “deserves to make them a fortune, but at this price, will not,” capturing the wry humour typical of British music‑press reportage.
📰 Source Details
Publication / Venue: Evening Post
Date: March 5, 1971
Format: News Item / Release Notice
Provenance Notes: Based on original newspaper clipping; text and pricing consistent with Fly Records’ 1971 catalogue activity.
📰 The Story
The Flyback series represented Fly Records’ attempt to repackage key catalogue material in an eye‑catching, budget‑friendly format. At a time when compilation albums were becoming increasingly popular, Fly’s approach combined bold visual design with a low price point intended to attract both casual listeners and collectors.
The Evening Post piece highlights the four titles in the series, noting that three are “best of” collections — T‑Rex, The Move, and Procol Harum — while the fourth, Big Ones, gathers some of the label’s strongest tracks into a single sampler. The inclusion of Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help From My Friends” and “Delta Lady,” alongside The Move’s “Blackberry Way” and Procol Harum’s “A Salty Dog,” positions the compilation as a showcase of Fly’s most bankable material.
The article’s closing remark — that the series “deserves to make them a fortune, but at this price, will not” — underscores the tension between artistic ambition and commercial reality. It’s a small but telling snapshot of the British record industry in 1971, where labels experimented with packaging and pricing to reach a rapidly expanding youth market.
📰 Visual Archive
A monochrome newspaper clipping announcing Fly Records’ Flyback series. The text introduces four colour‑quartered compilation albums priced at £1.15, including The Best of T‑Rex, The Move, Procol Harum, and Big Ones, with a humorous star‑gazer‑style introduction.
News item from the Evening Post, March 5, 1971, announcing Fly Records’ new Flyback compilation series.
📰 Related Material
• The Best of T‑Rex (Flyback Series)
• Fly Records Catalogue, 1970–72
• Early 1971 UK Record‑Release Notices
📰 Closing Notes
This brief news piece captures a moment when Fly Records sought to broaden its reach through inventive packaging and accessible pricing. For T‑Rex collectors, it marks a transitional moment — a retrospective issued just as Marc Bolan’s star was beginning to rise.
📰 Sources
• Evening Post, March 5, 1971
• Fly Records catalogue documentation
• Contemporary release‑notice conventions
📝 Copyright Notice
All newspaper scans, photographs, and original text excerpts referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non‑commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.
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