Just yesterday my brother-in-law, Sven the LP-man, showed me some flexi discs he found recently. On my searches in and around 'old stuff', I never noticed these thin 7" EPs. I simply don't look at LPs or EPs in general... But what weird pieces of art these are! Let's dive a little deeper together.
Krugozor — And the thin blue records that opened up musical horizons
Funny coincidence: as my brother-in-law showed me his new weird 7" EP an article comes up on thevinylfactory.com. Excerpt: "Between 1964 and 1992, a monthly music magazine called Krugozor (Кругозор; ‘Outlook’) had young people in the Soviet Union queueing around the corner for every new issue. The magazine covered music, art, history and literature, but was cherished and is perhaps best remembered for the selection of flexi-disc inserts – wafer thin, and an iconic light blue – between its pages. Kateryna Pavlyuk recalls the history of the magazine and explores the impact those blue records had on Soviet youth." So these weird thin blue 7" EPs have a whole history. The EP pictured above is in fact not a Krugozor flexi disc, but nevertheless it is a flexi disc.
Check out "The thin blue records that opened up musical horizons for Soviet youth" on thevinylfactory.com as it is a very informative and interesting read.
Vladimir Vysotsky
Hold up, who's the guy on the front of this weird blue disc? Vladimir Vysotsky was, as I found out a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet and actor who had a massive influence in Soviet culture back in the day. To this day many popular musicians and actors are influenced by his work, so I have read. Check out this extensive article on Wikipedia about Vladimir Vysotsky.
If you're a fan of this type of stuff, let us know. Perhaps we can make an offer to my brother-in-law he can't refuse...
