Not sure if this has been done before, but as I’ve just seen a copy of one of my favs from my collection get listed on evilB thought I’d start a thread . 

What interesting,  special vinyl do you have or remember ... when I say special/interesting , stuff like interactive LP covers - Motown Chartbusters Vol 7 .. which was the movable one arm bandit cover .

What prompted this was I saw a copy of my Fat Boys “ Pizza Box “ edition listed for auction on line . Not Northern of course but great early Hip Hop ... with really interesting way to sell it .

What do you have or remember ?

Its one of the things I love about vinyl .

Never heard of that Pizza Box release before. Looks great!

Jack White's Third Man Records are experimenting with all sorts of vinyl gimmicks. Like, LP in clear vinyl with liquid inside.

 

Picture discs were very much in vogue in the 70's (& later), so there's all sorts of strange looking soul 45's & Lp's out there (both US, UK & Euro issues). There's also limited edition coloured vinyl 45, Italian Jukebox 7" releases, 7" releases that tied in with soul acts appearing at Euro Music Festivals (such as Midem), different promo copies of singles (some on different national labels to the original local label issue) and other similar oddities ...

Then there are all the records pressed up in strange countries or on 78 in the Philippines / India, etc. when everywhere else they were on 45. A few examples ... some of those below are original / old releases, others more modern reissues ...

 

 

Edited July 28, 20186 yr by Roburt

Other oddities of sorts I missed off my list above ... US / UK acetates & test pressings, 7" Mini LP's / Little LP's (for juke box use in the US).

No need to post any 'funny country' vinyl as there's already a long running thread for such items.  

On 27/07/2018 at 23:50, Benji said:

Never heard of that Pizza Box release before. Looks great!

Jack White's Third Man Records are experimenting with all sorts of vinyl gimmicks. Like, LP in clear vinyl with liquid inside.

 

I’ve seen some of the different gimmicks in vinyl production , like the various artist blood filled vinyl , or ice and chocolate productions ...but I was kind of thinking more along the album cover itself .. the artwork and interaction .

https://coloredvinylrecords.com/blog/25-unusual-and-creative-records/

I don't own this, but here's an Orange Aluminium Acetate (it's been on on eBay for years) I've never seen anything like this before.

Cheers
Mick

Not strictly the vinyl, but I've got this Durutti Column album (The return of the Durutti Column) in the loft in a plastic bag on its own.

Cover was designed by the great Peter Saville and is made of sandpaper!.... designed to destroy the sleeve of any record it is stored with. Bloody arty farty designers. I love the album and the sleeve btw!

Edited July 30, 20186 yr by SoulStu

Wonder what the preceding 13 facs were?  

So if you stored all your factory records together you'd knacker your valuable joy Division 12in!

BTW FAC 8 is a classic!

Sorry - going off topic a bit - not soul

Edited July 30, 20186 yr by SoulStu

On 27/07/2018 at 17:45, stevegods said:

What do you have or remember ?

 

I picked this up a few years ago.

Pink Floyd -Dark Side Of The Moon picture disc 1978 (U.S.)

 

I collect compilations of tracks with Drum Breaks for sampling, both official and unofficial releases,some of them aren't particularly valuable but there's loads I can't even find online anymore as so few copies were pressed which is a shame as they're rammed with amazing grooves.

Things like this mostly,although both of these are actually available on Discogs.

Beyond The Valley Of The Beats.

 

Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrabeats.

 

I've got the two original pressings of The Cenobites (Kool Keith & Godfather Don) EP's  The Cenobites & Demented Thoughts, limited to 300 & 200 copies respectively,both are highly sought by Hip Hop collectors now.

I have a massive collection of 70s & 80's Porno film Soundtracks (but no actual porn,alas)...

I also own a copy of 'Call Me !, I'm Hot, Horny and Barely Legal Breaks' by The Wax Fondler which is  2 sides of just sounds of women 'moaning' and is rather excellent for scratching  on the decks with (when the missus has gone out obviously)..

Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) I cant show the cover of that one on here....you can Google at your own risk !.

@Stevegods, the Fat Boys Pizza Box is wicked , never seen that one before!.

Edited July 30, 20186 yr by Soulsides

A few interesting LP covers (+ a 12") ...

Edited July 30, 20186 yr by Roburt

You  need to calm down mr smith,get your girt to chuck a bucket of cold water over you.

 

 

 

The cover is boring but the vinyl isn't- there's a 

lead in groove in the dead wax so you can start 

the record there and watch it play backwards

or play it like a normal album - 

Promo only picture disc for the "Street Player" 

album- 

Another promo only disc- this one's for "Niecy" -
 

...not soul,I’m well aware,but the TWO TONE scene was my “springboard” into the NORTHERN SOUL pool....

              ...first album by...                       

                    MADNESS     

            ...and the first by...

               THE SPECIALS   

...along with a “demo” album of the Coventry Automatics(AKA THE SPECIALS)....picked these up a couple of years ago,along with a big boxful of other pic albums,like Nirvana,Motörhead and god knows what.....,    

          

This Egyptian Lover 7" is on triangular vinyl with a magnetic sleeve that can be formed into a pyramid

The star wars soundtrack which projects a hologram over the vinyl is quite cool

and although not vinyl, this Spiritualized album packaging is in the style of pill form medicine with each track on mini CD having to be popped out of the blister pack to be played 

Edited July 31, 20186 yr by Modularman

I bought this on the day it was released in November 1979.

it's also one of the very few albums I've ever queued up to buy before the store opened for business.

Public Image Limited-Metal Box

 

John Lydon had auditioned for the role of Jimmy in Quadrophenia ,he didnt get the part but received a copy of  his audition in a film canister,which is how the idea for the three 12'' records in a metal box concept came about .

Edited July 31, 20186 yr by Soulsides

On 30/07/2018 at 23:55, Modularman said:

This Egyptian Lover 7" is on triangular vinyl with a magnetic sleeve that can be formed into a pyramid

I have a few funny shaped 45's somewhere in the collection (soul related ones too). Think I have a square one & a heart-shaped one + others (can't remember the exact shape of those though). Always did buy funny vinyl (country of origin, shape, colour, piccy discs, etc.) if they were cheap enough.

Edited August 4, 20186 yr by Roburt

Atomic Rooster-Made In England, 1972 Dawn Records.

Limited edition denim sleeve.

 

I found a copy of this record for around a tenner several years ago, tbh its not my cup of tea music wise but it does have a couple of decent breaks on it at least which was the main reason I purchased it, along with a sneaky suspicion that it was probably worth more than I paid for it (which it was) 

I held on to the album and sold it recently for over ten times what I'd originally splashed out for it.

Happy days indeed..

Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd , first Pressing from 1973 with solid blue triangle + posters 😋

Another format I find highly collectable ... strange diameter discs ....

This Etta James on UK Island came as just an ordinary 7" release, but a limited edition version escaped as a 10" disc ...

 

Edited August 1, 20186 yr by Roburt

Laser etched vinyl - 

Early 80's alternative to the standard  45  format that

never caught on- the 3 inch single- 

14 hours ago, the yank said:

Early 80's alternative to the standard  45  format that

never caught on- the 3 inch single- 

Back in the mid to 60's, they also introduced a similar product, hip pocket discs (4" dia). 

Going back to LP covers ... there were always annual Grammy Awards for the best LP cover designs, though until soul labels started taking album cover design seriously (at the end of the 60's), those awards just about always went to pop, rock, classical or jazz releases ... 

some award winning album graphics with a few decent soul covers added in ... 

Edited August 4, 20186 yr by Roburt

7" Little LP's / Mini LP's were made (for jukebox use) from around 1962 right thru to the mid 70's ... maybe in the late 60's, there number tailed off but then returned (due to demand) in the early 70's. A good number of intertesting releases are out there, including a few that were put out in QUADRAPHONIC format ( a short term fad, where you had a stereo system with 4 seperate speakers & you only got the true musical effect in one place in the room). Seeburg badged up their machines as being DUAL PLAY -- EP ALBUM 7"ers being listed in a different window on their jukeboxes to ordinary 45's. 

The list of current releases (well some of them) dates from May 66  -- think it was done especially for venues where jazz tracks were the most popular plays..

Edited August 6, 20186 yr by Roburt

Not soul but I, along with lots of 16 year olds of the day, would have owned Monty Python’s “ Matching tie and handkerchief” which had a double groove on one side of the LP and therefore played a different set of recordings depending on where the needle dropped. Mind boggling the first time I became aware of it

A few more of my bits; some US jukebox 7" albums, Billy Preston UK A&M promo 45 sleeve, London Rec Studio acetate (UK remix of US track), EW&F party invite 45, BBC Gramophone Library 45 & plastic sleeve (more to follow) ... 

Edited August 11, 20186 yr by Roburt

A few more of my bits; some of my High Energy (the group) 45's, 2 x picture cover foreign 45's, 4 x Italian jukebox promo 45's, 2 x 7" album samplers, a rare Caribbean Hi 45 (put out as Hi was going under in the US).

A few more of my bits; UK 7" promo remix, US Atlantic acetate, UK CBS Spec Prods 7", Canadian 45's in DJU sleeves, BGP 45 from BBC Gramophone Library. 

 

 

Edited August 11, 20186 yr by Roburt

A few more (cheating a bit here as some of these scans are of foreign rekkids) ... but still interesting items

.. I've included the Moments French 45 as they sing their hit in French on this version.

As a Marvel comic book collector (vintage silver age 1962 - 1975) as well as a record hoarder I just love these 2 albums, both featuring striking art by Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby (famed Marvel artists for the uninformed) and both in my collection.

 

One Jazz, the other Prog Rock....

 

Playing these would cause a few headaches these days ... 16 rpm rekkids ... 

Back in the 50's, radio was still the main form of home entertainment.

Many US radio stns broadcast plays or dramatic / soap type dramas. Others hosted live musicians in their studios (lots of early doo-wop / blues / R&B tracks were cut in radio stn studios before being put onto records).

Lots of stns were owned by the same big corporations (RCA, etc.), so to cut down on unnecessary expense, some music shows staged at one radio stn would be recorded, transferred to record and then sent around a number of their radio stns in different cities.

Thus, jazz, blues & other forms of music would end up on transmission discs. I've picked up a few blues, R&B & jazz oones down the years.

Curiosities they may be, but I like em (keep meaning to frame a couple up & hang em on the record room wall).

Edited August 27, 20186 yr by Roburt

Robert , 

Thanks for giving me the link to this , I love it and will maybe try and pick up some other small 7” LP’s ..

 

nice one . 

There were some interesting cuts included on the BBC Radioplay album releases (especially in the 80's) ...

... trying to getting hold of copies of the best ones is a difficult task these days though ...