Russian flexi discs

KandyKorn_flexi

A bit of a curious phenomenon these discs began appearing in the late 1990s (as far as I know – does anyone have a more precise date?). The Zappa discs were made between 1989 and 1995 but I have no information about the Beefheart ones.

They are six inch square single-sided flexi discs. Made of very thin plastic they include one song, which may be edited to fit the disc. The plastic comes in many, often vivid, colours including clear. Each disc may be available in three different colours.

The covers are simple black and white designs which may or may not include something Beefheart-related.

There doesn’t appear to be a pattern to which tracks are being issued.

These are a potential collector’s nightmare if the plan is to release all Beefheart and Beefheart/Zappa recordings! I did see a comment a few years ago from a seller of these that he had 32 different titles.

I found some information about the origins of these discs from a Zappa collector’s point of view –

http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/misc/russian-flexis.html

Just to make things a bit more confusing there are some Polish flexi-postcards that include a few Zappa/Beefheart collaborations. More about them can be found here –

http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/misc/postcards.html

Here are some of the Beefheart ones I have come across. If you know of any others, please let us know, preferably with a scan of the cover.

200 Years Old

200YearsOld_flexi

Alley Cat (but credited to Frank Zappa)

AlleyCat-flexi

Avalon Boogie

AvalonBoogie_flexi

Beatle Bones n Smokin Stones

BeatleBones_flexi

Bellerin Plain

BellerinPlain_flexi

Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy

CarolinaHardcore_flexi

Dachau Blues

DachauBlues_flexid

Debra Kadabra

DebraKabadra_flexi

Drink Paint Run Run

DrinkPaintRunRun_flexi

Evening Bell

EveningBell_flexi

Frownland

Frownland_flexi

Gimme Dat Harp Boy

Thanks to Adam Cavanaugh for these scans

Kandy Korn

KandyKorn_flexi_cover

Man with the Woman Head

ManWithWomanHead_flexi

Observatory Crest

ObservatoryCrest_flexi

Old Fart At Play

OldFartAtPlay_flexi

Sheriff of Hong Kong

Sheriff_flexi

Skeleton Makes Good

SkeletonMakesGood_flexi

Space Age Couple

SpaceAgeCouple_flexi

Tiger Roach

tigroach_flexi_cover

Well

Well_flexi

When Big Joan Sets Up

BigJoan_flexi

When It Blows Its Stacks

Stacks_flexi

Willie The Pimp

WillieThePimp_flexi

Yellow Brick Road

YellowBrick_flexi

tigroach_flexi

Help us

If anyone is able to complete or update any of the information above, then please do get in touch.

2 Comments

  1. Perhaps earlier than these flexidiscs, I heard that some music was issued in Soviet Russia on re-cycled X-ray film.

    1. Author

      Yes, I’ve heard that too

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