Vanguard - selected discographies

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VANGUARD TWO-FER SERIES

Launched in 1970, originally, this was a budget-priced ($5.98 - two LPs for the price of one...) series of double disk "best-of" recordings in gatefold sleeves, instantly enlarged to include several originals and spoken word reissues from their backlist. The design was Vanguard's rote Colonel Parker marketing ("Give 'em a picture of the boy and his name") file-shot/name formula which nonetheless looked better than most at the time and gave Vanguard a distinct look. There was generally no text inside, the center fold being a collection of small photos or a grainy enlargement of a single photo.

VSD-21 / 22 : The Best of Mimi and Richard Fariña - released 1971

( originals on Vanguard gold label, with white label promos )

In the case of the Fariñas, theirs was released in 1971 as VSD 21/22.

It was a straight reissue of the first two albums with all 26 songs accounted for. Not so on the CD reissued in 1988 ( VCD-21/22), which had 20 songs (lopping off 6 instrumentals), although the earlier cassette (1982, CVSD-21/22) had both albums intact, though was edited down in later issues to mirror the CD content.

This Two-fer's cover featured an unused Daniel Kramer color photo from the spring, 1965 Kingston, New York session that yielded the cover for their second album, Reflections in a Crystal Wind, this time with Dick wearing a striped tank-top (which may be the one that appears in numerous other photos, including one with Mimi from Paris two years earlier), while Mimi wears the same patterned blue dress. Whether from carelessness, marketing savy or a bad day in the office, this time Vanguard flipped the shot backwards so Dick is on the left inside the frame and Mimi on the right, making it look similar enough to Reflections to ring a bell in the consumers' minds, but not making it similar enough to give anyone second thoughts that both albums were one and the same. They've also reverted back to the original "Mimi & Richard" name arrangement on the front, while listing Dick's altered "Richard and Mimi Fariña " on the spine. The inside's 17 previously unpublished photos by Kenneth Van Sickel all appear to be from or mostly from, the same Central Park shoot as his Celebrations for a Grey Day cover.

Vanguard Two-fers - the First 40

1970-1976

Catalog #	artist	title	year
VSD- 1/2	(various)	The best of Chicago blues	1970
VSD- 3/4	Sainte-Marie, Buffy	The best of Buffy Sainte-Marie	1970
VSD- 5/6	Ian and Sylvia	Ian and Sylvia's greatest hits	1970
VSD- 7/8	Andersen, Eric	The best of Eric Andersen	1970
VSD- 9/10	Watson, Doc	Doc Watson on stage	1970
VSD- 11/12	Hammond, John	The best of John Hammond	1970
VSD- 13/14	Kweskin, Jim & the Jug Band	Greatest hits!	1970
VSD- 15/16	Weavers	The Weavers' greatest hits	1971
VSD- 17/18	(various)	The greatest folksingers of the sixties	3/72
VSD- 19/20	Hurt, Mississippi John	The best of Mississippi John Hurt	1970
VSD- 21/22	Fariña, Mimi & Richard	The best of Mimi & Richard Fariña	1971
VSD- 23/24	Ian and Sylvia	Greatest hits, vol.2	1971
VSD- 25/26	(various)	The great blues men	3/72
VSD- 27/28	Country Joe and the Fish	The life and times of Country Joe and the Fish: from Haight Ashbury to Woodstock	1972
VSD- 29/30	University of Michigan Band	Great college football marches	1972
VSD- 31/32	Olmstead, Nelson	Tales of terror narrated by Nelson Olmsted	1972
VSD- 33/34	Sainte-Marie, Buffy	Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie , V.2	1972
VSD- 35/36	(various)	The greatest songs of Woody Guthrie	3/72
VSD- 37/38	de Plata, Manitas	Manitas de Plata	5/72
VSD- 39/40	Morath, Max	The best of Scott Joplin & other Rag classics	5/72
VSD- 41/42	Baez, Joan	The Joan Baez ballad book	9/72
VSD- 43/44	Odetta	The essential Odetta	9/73
VSD- 45/46	Watson, Doc	The essential Doc Watson	9/73
VSD- 47/48	(various)	From Spirituals to Swing/Carnegie Hall concerts, 1938/39	1/74
VSD- 49/50	Baez, Joan	Contemporary song book	1973
VSD- 51/52	Karmon Israeli Dancers & Singers	The best of Karmon Israeli	9/73
VSD- 53/54	Clancy Brothers	The Clancy Brothers' greatest hits	1973
VSD- 55/56	Fahey, John	The essential John Fahey	6/74
VSD- 57/58	Robeson, Paul	The essential Paul Robeson	7/74
VSD- 59/60	Bull, Sandy	The essential Sandy Bull	6/74
VSD- 61/62	Feyer, George	George Feyer plays the essential George Gershwin	7/74
VSD- 63/64	Montand, Yves	Yves Montand in his last "One man show"	1974
VSD- 65/66	Rushing, Jimmy	The essential Jimmy Rushing	11/74
VSD- 67/68	Rebroff, Ivan	Sings 25 greatest Russian melodies	1975
VSD- 69/70	New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra	New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra	1975
VSD- 71/72	Perrey-Kingsley	The essential Perrey-Kingsley	10/75
VSD- 73/74	Babysitters	The best of the Babysitters	8/75
VSD- 75/76	Coryell, Larry	The essential Larry Coryell	8/75
VSD- 77/78	(various)	The great bluesmen - Newport	6/76
VSD- 79/80	Baez, Joan	The Joan Baez lovesong album	3/76

Ó 2010 Greg Pennell

last updated - 8 feb'10