#flexi-disc

Ozarks - Sette Orchidee Machiate Di Rosso 7″ flexi-disc cover

Ozarks - Sette Orchidee Machiate Di Rosso flexi-disc

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During the burgeoning Italian pop scene in the late 1950s, flexi-discs where given away as a promotion for pretty much anything you can imagine: Cheese makers, floor wax producers, toothpaste and calamine lotion companies: pretty much everybody was competing for the ever dwindling attention of consumers, with Easter colored flexi-discs. I found a huge pile of these discs in a Florence record shop, about a 5 minute walk from the river Arno.

After listening and doing some poking around on the internet, it seems the whole Italian flexi-discs giveaway phenomenon took place mostly between 1959 and 1961. Companies would often release a series of discs in tandem with legit records labels: Cera Grey, an Italian brand of floor wax released a series of records along side Rifi Record Company S.p.A.. Other companies put out similar such series: German Toothpaste Chlorodont producer with Red Records, Italian cheese makers Invernizzi teamed up with the Milan label Cellograf-Simp, puzzle magazine Nuova Enigmistica Tascabile with labels Maryland Record and RI-FI Record, and so on. The released records were typically single track, single sided, containing contemporary hits: Italian, English pop songs, public domain tracks or Italian language versions version of well known tunes.

As I mentioned before, the concept of giving away a flexi disc took place primarily between 1959 and 1961. It's likely that by the beginning of the 1960s, vinyl 45s were cheap enough to produce and in some cases superseded flex-discs as a free giveaway.

In any event, please enjoy the 1/2 hour mix of tracks recorded from these records.

Tracks:

Luca Aldi - Il Mare - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1960) [Cera Grey - N. 10095]

Sophia Loren - Bing! Bang! Bong! - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959) [IL Musichiere - N. 20025]

Carla Riva - Suonno A Marechiare - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959-60) Cellograf-Simp/Invernizzi - N° 5016]

Anita Traversi Con L'Harmon-Pells Ensemble - Con Tutto Il Cuor - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959) [Il Musichiere - N. 20001, The Red Record - N. 20001]

Sergio Renda - Stupidella - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959/60) [Dischi E Canzoni - E 3001]

Gabriella Monti - Passion Flower - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1960-61) [Cellograf-Simp/Invernizzi - N° 5021]

Baby Gate - When - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959) [Nuova Enigmistica Tascabile - N°10005] *

* Baby Gate, aka famous Italian pop singer Mina

Walter Benini ,Con I Red Lancers - Al Chiar Di Luna Porto Fortuna - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959-60) [Magic Sound - UP 108]

Silva E Gade - O Feitico Virou - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959) [The Red Record - P. 12]

Paolo Pinti, Vocal Trio, Orchestra Gino Mescoli - Non Partir - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1960-61) [Cellograf-Simp/Invernizzi - N° 5058]

Fernanda Furlani - Les Gitans - Single Sided Flexi-disc 45 (1959) [Nuova Enigmistica Tascabile - N. 10068]

WITHERED Premiere New Song “Somnium Decay” Via Decibel’s Flexi-Series

Photo by David Parham Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker, Senior Writer/Journalist ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway, Owner/Chief Editor

Atlanta, Georgia’s caustically enhanced emitters of blackened savagery, WITHERED, unleashed a brand new track of tumultuous contents. (more…)

Decibel Magazine has done it again! Have you ever subscribed to their magazine? You get these flexi discs and not every issue has a great one imo, but every year, they bust out the goods and here, this Gruesome 7″ picture flexi disc totally rules!

SEPTIC TANK Share New Track Via Decibel Flexi-Series

(By Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker, Senior Writer/Journalist, RiffRelevant.com)

SEPTIC TANK is the long dormant crust-punk/thrash project of Cathedral’s Lee Dorrian and Gaz Jennings, along with Repulsion’s Scott Carlson and drummer Jamie Gomez Arellano. (more…)