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Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at least partly into the actual playable grooved area,
distinguishing them from picture label discs, which have a specially illustrated and sometimes very large label, and picture back discs, which are illustrated on one unplayable side only.
Curved Air'sAir Conditioning (Warner Bros. 1971) was one of the first modern picture discs. This second edition pressing of the disc differs from the very rare first edition in that the credits have been edited. The album which was designed by Mark Hanau won the NME's (UK) Special Award for Best Album Art in 1971. Only 2000 of both editions were ever pressed.
The beginnings
Layers of a picture disc: the vinyl record puck is sandwiched between two pieces of printed paper and two pieces of thin plastic — the pressing together of these layers results in the finished product
A few seven-inch black shellac records issued by the Canadian Berliner Gramophone Company around 1900 had the "His Master's Voice" dog-and-gramophone trademark lightly etched into the surface of the playing area as an anti-piracy measure, technically qualifying them as picture discs by some definitions.
Apart from those debatable claimants for the title of "first", the earliest picture records were not discs, strictly speaking, but rectangular picture postcards with small, round, transparent celluloid records glued onto the illustrated side. Such cards were in use by about 1909.[1] Later, the recordings were pressed into a transparent coating that covered the entire picture side of the card.[2] This novelty product idea proved to have a very long life. In the 1950s and throughout the rest of the vinyl era, picture postcard records, usually oversized and often featuring a garish color photograph of a tourist attraction or typical local scenery, were issued in several countries. These and similar small novelty picture records on laminated paper or thin cardboard, such as were occasionally bound into magazines or featured on the backs of boxes of breakfast cereal,[3] are usually not classed with the larger and sturdier discs that were sold in record stores or used as promotional gifts by record companies, but a few featured famous performers and are now eagerly sought by collectors of those artists' records.
The first picture discs of substantial size, sold as records meant only to be looked at and played, not put into a mailbox, appeared in the 1920s. Their first wave of significant popularity did not arrive until the start of the 1930s, when several companies in several countries began issuing them. Some were illustrated with photographs or artwork simply designed to be appropriate to the musical contents, but some graphics also promoted films in which the recorded songs had been introduced, and a few were blatant advertising that had little or no connection with the recording. Some politicians and demagogues explored the potential of the discs as a medium for propaganda. Adolf Hitler and British fascist Oswald Mosley were each featured on their own special picture discs.
Most of these records were made of a simple sheet of fairly thin printed cardboard with a very thin plastic coating and their audio quality was substandard. Some were more sturdy and well-made and they equaled or actually surpassed the audio quality of ordinary records, which were still made of a gritty shellac compound that introduced a lot of background noise. In 1933, RCA Victor in the U.S. issued a few typical cardboard-based picture records but was unhappy with their quality and soon began making an improved type. A rigid blank shellac core disc was sandwiched between two illustrated sheets and each side was then topped with a substantial layer of high-quality clear plastic into which the recording was pressed. Like nearly all records being made for the general public, they were recorded at 78 rpm, but one issue was recorded at 33⅓ rpm, a speed already in use for special purposes which Victor was then unsuccessfully attempting to introduce into home use. It was the first 33⅓ rpm picture disc and the only one made until many years later. These were deluxe picture discs, priced much higher than ordinary records, and they sold in very small numbers. In the early 1930s the entire record industry was being devastated by a worldwide economic depression and the proliferation of the new medium of radio, which made a wide variety of music available free of charge. Picture discs of all kinds were among the casualties.
1946 to 1969
With the Great Depression and World War II no longer around to interfere with such modest luxuries, the picture disc reemerged in 1946, when Tom Saffardy's Sav-Way Industries began issuing Vogue Records. Vogues were a well-made product physically similar to RCA Victor's improved 1933 issues except that their core discs were aluminum instead of shellac. The Victor discs had been illustrated in high Art Deco style, often in sober but elegant black-and-white. Vogue's discs featured artwork done in the styles typical of 1940s commercial illustration and pin-up art, most of it gaudily colored, some dramatic, some humorous, some very cartoonish. The audio quality was excellent by contemporary standards and they featured professional talent, most with names known to the general public, but Vogue was handicapped by the lack of any big "hit" names. Top-tier talent was usually under exclusive contract to companies such as Mercury Records, for whom Sav-Way manufactured special attention-grabbing, quiet-surfaced picture discs that Mercury distributed only to radio disc jockeys. Vogue records retailed for US$1.05, about fifty percent more than ordinary ten-inch 78 rpm records. The novelty of the colorful discs attracted interest and sales at first, but success proved elusive and Vogue went out of business in 1947 after fewer than 100 catalog items bearing the Vogue logo had been issued.[4]
More commercially successful and long-lived were some of the children's picture discs marketed by the Record Guild of America from the late 1940s through the 1950s. Their most popular and well-known issues resembled Vogue records in their general style of illustration and use of high-quality materials, but they were only 7 inches in diameter, had no reinforcing core disc, and sold for a much lower price. Other companies such as Voco also made picture discs for children.
Red Raven Movie Records, introduced in 1956, were a very unusual type of children's picture disc. They featured a sequence of sixteen interwoven animation frames arrayed around the center and were to be played at 78 rpm on a turntable with a short spindle, on which a small sixteen-mirrored device, a variety of the praxinoscope, was placed. Gazing into this as the record played, the user saw an endlessly repeating high-quality animated cartoon scene appropriate to the song. Only the earliest Red Raven discs, which were of the coated cardboard type but reinforced with a metal rim and spindle hole grommet, were true picture discs. The more common later issues were larger "picture label discs" made of solid colored opaque, translucent or transparent plastic, with the recording in a band surrounding a very large label that carried the animation graphics. In the 1960s similar products were introduced in several countries under various brand names—Teddy in France and the Netherlands, Mamil Moviton in Italy, etc.
Picture discs of the large and solid Victor-Vogue type were very rarely issued in the U.S. between the demise of Vogue in 1947 and the end of the 1960s, but several lines of picture discs, such as the French Saturnes, were produced in Europe and Japan during these years.
1970 and beyond
A new generation of picture discs appeared in the 1970s. The first serious pictures discs, with acceptable but still inferior sound quality, were developed by Metronome Records GmbH, a subsidiary of Elektra Records. These new picture discs were made by creating a five-layer lamination consisting of a core of black vinyl with kiln-dried paper decals on either side and then outer skins of clear vinyl film, manufactured by 3M, on the outsides. In manufacture, one layer of the clear film was first placed on the bed of the press on top of the stamper, then a "puck" of hot black vinyl from the extruder was placed on top of that. Finally the top print and vinyl film layer was added (held by a retracting pin in the upper profile usually employed to retain the upper paper label) and the press closed. Problems with poor vinyl flow caused by the paper texture and air released from the paper (that had not been removed in the kiln drying process) plagued the process.
The first 'modern' rock picture disc was introduced as an assortment of artists such as the MC5 and The Doors. It was released in 1969 by Metronome of Germany and entitled "Psychedelic Underground - Off 2, Hallucinations".[5] The second release was the British progressive rock band Curved Air's first album, Air Conditioning, a UK issue (1970). One commercially issued American picture disc is To Elvis: Love Still Burning, a collection of 11 Elvis Presley tribute songs by various artists, issued in May 1978. Both sides of the album (Fotoplay FSP-1001) picture Presley.
Initially picture discs were usually promotional items pressed in small quantities, but by the late 1970s they began to be produced as commercial products in large quantities. In the 1980s numerous commercial picture discs were released, but by the end of the decade, the interest in picture discs had declined as consumers began transitioning away from vinyl records towards newer formats such as cassette tapes and compact discs.[5]
Types of picture discs
Culture Club "Move Away" picture disc in the unusual 5-inch format, resting on a 7-inch single for comparison
On some picture discs, the images used were meant to create an optical illusion while the record was rotating on the turntable (as in the B side of Curved Air's Airconditioning), while others used the visual effect to add to the music — for example, the 1979 picture disc of Fischer-Z's The Worker featured a train which endlessly commuted around the turntable, reinforcing the song's message.
Later picture discs included liquid light show style fluids between the vinyl, Rowlux 3D effect film, diffraction rainbow film, metal flake (videexamples here), pressure-sensitive liquid crystals that changed color when the record was picked up, and a real holographic record.[citation needed]
Shaped picture discs became common in the 1980s.[6] These are mostly considered to be collecting items, rather than for listening as the sound quality is inferior to regular vinyl.[7] Shaped picture discs are manufactured at full 12 inch size and then cut in various shapes using a cutting tool. Shaped picture discs are always singles rather than albums and are usually limited to a few thousand copies.[8]
Dreamboat Annie by Heart 1976. Shows Dreamboat Annie cover on front and back with text indicating the side number.
Magazine by Heart 1978. Same as Dreamboat Annie except with Magazine's cover. Both were under the Mushroom Records label.
To Elvis: Love Still Burning by 11 various artists, including Ral Donner. Produced by Jerry Osborne's Fotoplay label, and distributed by Pickwick International, has 11 songs of tribute to Elvis Presley (1978). Features a portrait of Elvis by Marge Nichols on both sides. The first of many Elvis picture discs, and North America's first commercially issued picture disc album by anyone — an event reported on the front page of Billboard magazine (August 28, 1978 issue).
Elvis: A Legendary Performer, Vol. 3.Elvis Presley (1978). Issued by RCA about six months after the Fotoplay picture disc.
Blondes Have More Fun by Rod Stewart (1978) - Artist is hugging a blonde woman with her back to the camera, and on the B side, the artist has the same pose, but with a brunette.
Hemispheres by Rush (1978) - Contains album cover on both sides of the disc.
"Hard Love" by Shaun Cassidy (1978) - 12" and 7" picture discs from Under Wraps - Contains album cover on both sides of the disc.
Translumadafractadisc (artists include Sid Vicious)
Pieces of Eight by Styx 1978. Has album cover on front side with a picture of the band on the back.
Who Are You by The Who (1978) - has the regular album cover with the band posed amid electrical cables and PA equipment
Living in the USA by Linda Ronstadt (1978) Picture of inner sleeve roller skating pic on both sides. Alison single from Living in the USA by Linda Ronstadt (1978) same picture both sides of 45. Citation of fact Asylum Records.
The Worker by Fischer-Z (1979) - cartoon image of a train arranged around the edge of the record
Light My Fire by Amii Stewart (1979) - photographic image of the singer against a pink background
Oceans of Fantasy by Boney M (1979) inner cover used as front cover back of disc as per standard cover .
Never Trust a Pretty Face by Amanda Lear (1979)Covers As per standard album front & Back cover issued in thick plastic cover with sticker with track list .
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by John Williams (1982): Close up of title character's head on the front and with the bike over the moon shot on the back (both front and back are stills from movie).
Driving In My Car by Madness (1982): Close-up photo of a Morris Minor hubcap.
Monkee Business by The Monkees (1982): A side color photo of band, B side b&w promotional photos and monkey shape.
"Wake Up!" a hit sampler (Bangles, REO Speedwagon, Earth, Wind and Fire...) issued by Honda (the motor people) (1988): Showing a comic style full continental breakfast on the one side, and the "H" logo on the reverse.
The Hearts Filthy Lesson by David Bowie (BMGUK, 1995): Graphically manipulated images from the lyric pages of the 1995 album Outside for the A side and B side songs.
POP by U2 (1997): Front side is the same four-paned portraits on the CD cover, but the back side is different, featuring a rainbow of colors and a picture of each band member taken from the Discothèque video (looks official, some say this is a bootleg).
Heaven by Live (2003): European 7-inch single containing title track plus Forever May not be Long Enough (Egyptian Dreams Remix) as a B-side. An unknown quantity were mispressed with remixes of Let's Get Ill by P. Diddy.
Fine as Fuck by Electrosexual and Scream Club featuring Peaches (2006): Features a collage made by Electrosexual and a logo created by French graffiti artist Tilt. Limited to 500 copies, France Rock Machine Records.
"Wonderful Life (Arthur Baker Remixes)" by Hurts (2010): Side A has a portrait picture of band member Theo Hutchcraft and side B contains a portrait picture of Adam Anderson.
The Final Frontier by Iron Maiden (2010): Double picture disc. Disc 1 contains album cover on disc 1, side one and silhouette of band on disc 2, side 1.
"Remedy" by The Black Crowes (2011): Side A is a live acoustic version of the song while side B is a live electric version. Special release with the band's album "Croweology" for Record Store Day.
Blue Ash and Other Suburbs by Trey Anastasio (2013): Features outtakes from the Traveler sessions that were co-produced by Trey and Peter Katis in Fall, 2011 and Original artwork by Micah Lidberg.
British rock band, Muse have released several picture discs since 2006. They have also notably had much of their work pressed on clear vinyl since 1999.[citation needed]
^ abc"Los Prisioneros ajustan cuentas con los discos de su retorno". La Tercera. August 6, 2020. Pero como una suerte de revancha, ambos son parte de un rescate del catálogo post 2000 que se viene desarrollando con el grupo; ya están disponibles en digital y CD, y este 17 de agosto aparecerán en vinilos y en el colorido formato picture disc (ver fotos), en un ejercicio inédito para un artista local. Mientras en el primer caso se venderán mil copias, en el segundo sólo habrá un tiraje limitado de 300 unidades numeradas.
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