...On pages 20 and 21 of this I cover something similar to these " for the hole in the middle or 45s " thing you put up the pix of , however , I mention things that went onto the record-player's turntable , not within the record itself .
Actually , I thought that UK 45s by the mid-/late-70s universally had LP-style small holes in the mddle , actually , I get import UK 45s in the 70s occasionally and IIRC they were always like that , and images I've seen in more recent yyears of 70s Brit 45s always show small holes .
There were some US LPs similar to those " TOTP " budget cover version LPs you show but I guess that they weren't as prominent as the TOTP albums (And they didn't have the girlie covers
! !! !! !! !!) ~ From the mid/late 70s , again , I recall low-priced double LPs with artist credit for the likes of " The Dynamic Sounds " that would be TV-advetised & sold for a while in chain stores such as Woolworths' (And , speaking of " Remember that gone thing " ???????????
, and LPs covering some of the songs from big movie soundtrack LPs with very similar cover art (Like , Star Wars or the Bee Gees-Frampton " Sgt. Pepper " movie .)which appeared to be there to and fool grandmas/aunies/parents that they were getting the real thing ! !! !! !! !!
! As far as thse artist credits on the COVER version LPs I recall a friend of mine , who grw up in a different part of the US , sweaing to hearing adscover version LPs as being " by " The Original Artists ! !!
Right , so they could say " all songs played by The Original Artists " ! !! !! !! !! !
The flexi-discs& cassettes attached to music mags thing , & picture disca=s and colored vinyl as a gimmick things happened here too , but to a lesser extent .
eeeg
ular issued under such a consistent identyu=eg
="Falloy"]Remember these things?

Also flexi-discs and cassettes attached to music magazines.
Coloured vinyl and picture -discs.
Those "Top of the Pops" albums from the 1970s. I don't know if there was a US equivalent - they were cheap albums of chart hits sung by someone other than the original artists and usually featuring a pretty girl on the cover. In this example she seems completely confused as to why she's been given a fur bikini to wear and an umbrella to hold:

The whole idea of a "record shop" is on the way out. I guess kids no longer go on record buying trips on a Saturday,
I think I'm going to cry...[/quote]