Music for Pleasure (record label)

Notable releases

Music for Pleasure, or MFP, was a budget label that handled reissues and compilations for a wide range of artists. Pink Floyd’s compilation Relics came out on MFP as MFP 50397, after first appearing on the UK’s Starline label, a sister imprint. In 1967, an Adamo collection titled The Number One Continental Singer was pressed in the UK as MFP 1332. Kenny Rogers’ second solo album found its way to MFP in the late 1980s, following the deletion of many albums by United Artists and Liberty; it was one of the few from that label to stay in print.

Roger Whittaker put out a children’s record called The Magical World of Roger Whittaker, which featured his well-known take on “Puff the Magic Dragon.” The Beatles’ double album Rock ‘n’ Roll Music was split into two separate single albums for its 1980 MFP reissue (MFP 50506 and MFP 50507), while The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl got an MFP reissue in 1984. Several solo Beatles albums also appeared on the label: John Lennon’s Mind Games and Rock ‘n’ Roll; George Harrison’s Dark Horse and The Best of George Harrison; and Ringo Starr’s Ringo and Blast from Your Past.

Down in Australia, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds was released on MFP as The Fabulous Beach Boys (MFP A8090), and Smiley Smile came out the next year as The Beach Boys or Good Vibrations (MFP A8138). In 1971, MFP issued two compilations tied to producer Mickie Most: The Most of The Animals (MFP 5218) and The Most of Herman’s Hermits (MFP 5216). Both hit the top 20 in the UK, with the Herman’s Hermits set becoming the group’s highest-charting album there.

The 1972 MFP compilation Spirit Of Rock: The Probe Sampler pulled licensed tracks from the Probe label, most notably Steely Dan’s “Dallas,” a song that never appeared on any album or compilation. It was only available as a promo single at the time and later turned up on the EP Plus Fours. The cover of Spirit Of Rock claims “Dallas” came from Steely Dan’s debut Can’t Buy a Thrill, but it was ultimately left off that album when it arrived later in 1972.

The version on the compilation is a fake stereo mix made from the mono single, and that mix remains exclusive to this release. In 1973, Telltale issued a full-length version of their intro song from Thames Television’s Rainbow.