They’re not LPs, they’re 78 rpm singles, and they were US only releases, but The Art of The LP seems the best place to put them. There is an Association of Vogue Picture Collectors.
This is a record label, working from Detroit and releasing 78 rpm discs between May 1946 and August 1947. They were part of Sav-Wav Industries.
From US Santa-Barbara Library online:
Sav-Way primarily recorded lesser known big band, popular and country artists of the late 1940s. Regardless, Vogue discs were a hit with the public and sold in large numbers, due to the colorful and risqué pictures and the fact that Sav-Way’s superior technology resulted in better sounding records than from conventional shellac discs. The discs were manufactured by sandwiching the printed artwork between a piece of aluminum and a clear vinyl coating and then stamped with the record’s grooves. Nonetheless, the novelty wore off and the company went bankrupt a little over a year after the introducing the discs … Long the interest of record collectors, Vogue discs are prized primarily for two reasons. Despite Sav-Way’s inability to attract big-name talent, the colorful pictures make the discs more interesting artifacts than the drab black shellac records that had dominated the market since the invention of the flat disc at the turn of the 19th century. Second, the limited number of different titles (74) makes it possible for collectors to find all of the records.
See above- so they’re an early form of vinyl disc. They sold at $1.05 for single discs, double the price of shellac competitors. Double sets were $3. RCA had tried picture discs back in 1933, but these were better.
Discogs list 74 releases, and these are 10″ picture discs. You find all 74 illustrated on Discogs, this is a teaser.
I don’t own one. I first saw one in a glass case in the C&W museum in Nashville. It has no connection to the Vogue label from France.
Basin Street Blues / Sugar Blues: Clyde McCoy & His Orchestra 1947, both sides R-707
Each side is different. I’d love one to put on the wall. This example has completely different artists on each side.
This was a two disc album:
I’ve Been Working On The Railroad / I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do): Art Mooney & His Orchestra, 1947. One side is numbered R-713-32, the other reverses the number groups R-732-13
All Through The Day / Piper’s Junction: Art Mooney & His Orchestra, 1947 both sides R730
This may be the one I saw in Nashville:
Out Where The West Winds Blow/ Wo’s Gonna Miss You When I’m Gone: Kenny Robers / The Down Homers, R736
For country, they often had different artists on each side:
Don’t Tetch It: Nancy Lee & The Hilltoppers / Flat River, Missouri : Judy & Jen, 1947, R744
All By Myself / Sniffle Song: Frankie Masters & His Orchestra, 1947 R772
Another with totally different art styles on each side.
They did photographic too:
Miserlou / Tales of The Vienna Woods: Don Pablo Orchestra, 1947, no visible number
They did children’s shellac multi-disc albums. This is a two disc set:
All these are collectible, with median prices of around £15, and “highest” prices of £30 to £40 each. Is this dependent on the performing artist or the illustrating artist? If I saw one, I’d definitely be buying the art work not the music.
The art style range is wide. I have a sense the C&W is priced higher than the jazz.
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