6.02.2006

Fun Vinyl

In case you didn't know, I have a photoset on my Flickr called Fun Vinyl, featuring vintage EP's, LP's, 45's, 78's—you name it—with some pretty fun graphics. For starters, I found a couple of records that were part of an on-going series produced for children called the Children's Record Guild. The graphics are lively, bold and mostly primary, with lots of reds, blues, and yellows:

Come to the Fair
The Chugging Freight Engine
Riddle Me This

The following is a 7" EP that had what I swore up and down was an actual Jim Flora-designed cover. But alas, no, it was only a copycat:

Strike Up the Band: Morton Gould
To see more Flora-copycats, check this page out.

One of my favorite vinyl finds is this Columbia Records collection of 45's I happened upon at the thrift store (setting me back a whopping $1.99). The simple line drawings of 1950's teens swinging to a cool beat wrap around from the front to the back of the cardboard case, making this an absolute joy to behold when fully open. I love how the kids are dancing over the blue silhouette of a pop bottle in the background. Very cool design. Simple and effective. Oh, and what's even better about this set are the artists featured: Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, Kenny Rankin, and Tony Bennett. The records are in pristine condition. I guess no pop party ever took place with this particular set. 'Tis a shame. Here's the cover:

Pop Party
To view this larger, click HERE.

The following covers are actually two different sides to one 12" LP:

South Pacific LP
The Music Man LP

And lastly, here's a cover with some fun graphics by a W. Dugan (not sure I've heard of him/her) for a children's record. Bonus points for that neato redesign of the Columbia Records logo in the upper right-hand corner:

Wish I Wuz a Whisker

There are a couple more covers featured, so come on by and check 'em out: Fun Vinyl.

8 comments:

  1. I have a number of these records and a few others that are all equally good. I think the graphics of the fifties were generally stunning, and these album covers display that well.
    Thanks for posting them. I love your site.

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  2. You want me to digitize any of that vinyl for you?
    I've figured out how to do it ... and it's pretty good.
    Let me know.
    Good stuff, Wardlaw.

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  3. Did you do the painting on the southwest side of the Oz pizza building? It certainly reminded me of some of the vintage things you've posted on here lately.

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  4. Man,where do you keep FINDING these things? You lucky...oh, right, can't use the any words that make you sound like a bad guy or anything cause then I won't get the comment till you check it, ha ha.
    ...goober, yeah..."You lucky goober".

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  5. WOW!! Where do you get all these amazing stuffs?! NEATO!

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  6. Julia, I have some of these up at work for inspiration, but the rest I'm thinking about putting up in my workspace at home.

    Thanks, Michael-- I love your site as well.

    Slim, I'll have to get back to you on that one. Some of these albums are kinda lame, musically.

    anonymous, I did paint that wall behind Oz-- it's for Victory Vintage, which is in the same block of stores. I posted about the illustrations I used for the wall, and briefly mention the wall HERE. I also wrote about the wall HERE. It's almost finished, all I have to do is the lettering. Hopefully I'll find the time to work on it this summer!

    forlackofbetter, ha! That's okay, I know it's you, so it's okay to say what you really wanted to say!

    Alina, I just search in antique stores/malls, as well as thrift stores and yard sales. You'll be amazed by what people are willing to get rid of.

    Thanks for checking out Fun Vinyl, guys! I'll post more soon.

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  7. Great stuff Ward! The South Pacific one is especially fantastic!

    I posted a few record covers up on my blog a while back. Though some are more painterly than illustrative, the lost art of record covers fun to look at.

    http://digitaldreammachine.blogspot.com/2005/05/raiders-of-lost-archive-vol-1.html

    http://digitaldreammachine.blogspot.com/2005/06/raiders-of-lost-archive-vol-2.html

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