Dead Horses

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Three-sided Records

This one is primarily of interest to antiquarians, as the long-playing 33 1/3 rpm vinyl album is an almost obsolete form.

A long, long time ago, before CDs and DVDs, most new albums were issued on vinyl. Being the primary form, much attention was paid by some artists to the presentation of the vinyl LP. Various gimmicks were used to liven up the boredom of a 12 inch black circle with a hole in the middle.

Some had pretty labels in the middle. Some were pressed out of non-black vinyl: usually, the quality was reduced because the colouring agent made the plastic more brittle, and the stylus tended to carve subtleties off the curves in the groove.

True: "Three-sided" vinyl records exist. There were two spiral grooves on one side of the vinyl platter. In the mid-70s this was considered rilly kool.

As the LP revolved, the stylus followed the track of a spiral groove which ran from the outside edge to the middle, the lateral meanderings of which provided an analogue set of instructions to reproduce the recording.

Another gimmick was employed for "Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief". One side of the album had two spiral grooves interleaved, so it was theoretically random as to along which of the two grooves the stylus would mosey to the centre, depending on which one it happened to slip into when it touched the platter.

Apparently, in years gone by, people used to get all excited about this sort of thing in AFU. Why they did is anybody's guess.

True: There are several "multi-sided" vinyl recordings.