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At the same time there was a new, hipper, business model emerging, based on the avoidance of repetition, and you can see it kicking in with the Immediate album. In this setting you didn't put the hit single on the album, dismissing that practice as an exercise in ripping off the fans.

This model tended to be favoured by groups that wrote their own material, since it meant that they were generating maximum royalties as they had a go at the premium end of the market.

You can see this kind of thing emerging with the likes of the Rolling Stones Between the Buttons, Where the preceding album, Aftermath, included Mother's Little HelperLady JaneUnder My Thumb and Out of Time, the twelve tracks on the British Between the Buttons didn't even contain the B-side of a single.

Other examples of the same phenomenon that could be cited include Fresh Cream, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced? and The Who's A Quick One, and the trend was strengthened by the Beatles' failure to include Penny LaneStrawberry Fields Forever or All You Need Is Love on Sgt Pepper.

After a moderate hit with their first Immediate single Here Come the Nice which grooved along nicely without hitting any heights as Marriott looked forward to the impending arrival of some speed (a reference they managed to sneak past the broadcast authorities), and the relatively modest selling album the band hit the top of the charts with Itchycoo Park, followed it with the superb, but marginally less commercial Tin Soldier and just missed #1 in the U.K. singles chart with Lazy Sunday.

Those three singles brought their own issues. Itchycoo Park, with the it's all too beautiful chorus might have gone down well with the public, and Lazy Sunday went down a treat with the general public but as far as the band were concerned the novelty soon wore thin. 

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B© Ian Hughes 2012