Dick & Mimi's LPs : Reflections In a Crystal Wind

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(design by Jules Halfant)	Reflections in a crystal wind vrs-9204 (mono- left) vsd- 79204 (stereo)-right) Recorded : Olmsted Studios, NYC, last week in September, 1965 Tape masters : XSV140825/ 6 Released : Nov. 1965 original labels : Orange stereo, silver mono	(photo by Dan Kramer)
Side 1 1. Reflections in a crystal wind 2. Bold marauder 3. Dopico 4. A swallow song 5. Chrysanthemum 6. Sell-out agitation waltz 7. Hard-loving loser	(back cover photo by Suzanne Szasz)	Side 2 1. Mainline prosperity blues 2. Allen's interlude 3. House un-American blues activity dream 4. Raven girl 5. Miles 6. Children of darkness

Produced by Vanguard co-president and house-producer, Maynard Solomon, Reflections was recorded over several days at the end of September, 1965, at Olmstead Studios in Manhattan. The Fariñas had been living in Carmel, California on Mt. Devon Dr., with a recording date scheduled on the east coast; they were able to combine the session with a performance at a Carnegie Hall "Sing-In for Peace" on 24 September when sister-in-law Joan Baez was able to get them a spot along with her, and Vanguard picking up the air tab (economy class) and Joan covering the rest so they could join her in first-class.They don't seem to have recorded anything not used, although some of the songs had been copyrighted much earlier in the year, and were performed in July at Newport.

The front photo is by Daniel Kramer, most reknown for his photos of Dylan used on the front and backs of Bringing it all back home and Highway 61 revisited . This photo is from a May 1 session done in Kingston, NY, near to Poughkeepsie where the Fariñas had gone to drop Joan at the train station following Mimi's birthday party at Cafe Expresso in Woodstock (see Time Line, 30 April). The session photos popped up again on the cover of the two-fer compilation The best of Mimi and Richard Fariña (albeit backwards) and again on the cover and in the pages of The Richard Fariña songbook (some of which made their way into the booklet for The complete Vanguard recordings). The back cover photo was taken at points and times unknown by photographer Suzanne Szasz, who'd done and continued to do a lot of work for the NYC version of Broadside, and went on to author numerous books on the art of photography. The cover was, as always, designed by Jules Halfant: illustrator, painter, former WPA artist, and also Vanguard's in-house graphics designer from the early 50s through the late 70s or early 80s.

Musicians used were Dick (dulcimer), Mimi (acoustic guitar), Bruce Langhorne (electric guitar and tambourine), Russ Savakus (string and electric bass), John Hammond (harmonica), Alvin Rogers (drums) and Felix Pappalardi (electric bass).

	First label mono - silver (1965-1968) : pressings for Reflections didn't follow the normal Vanguard policy of being noted as "1A" on the run-off groove, instead, they were marked " 28.4 12.65 ". The silver mono and orange stereo labels ran on all Vanguards from October, 1964 until about April, 1968.
	First label stereolab *(mock-up only) - orange (1965-1968) :** first stereo pressings were on the orange label, noted as "stereolab" on the bottom right of center, with other details the same as mono, with " 28.4 12.65 " written into the run-off groove. * warning : this is a faux version of the true label, notable by the absence of "stereolab" on the lower right. I'll post a real one when I get one.
	Second label - gold - mono (1968) : The most common label is the second one, the gold, used from April of 1968 until late 1976. Though mono had officially been discontinued by the time this label came into being, it was used (minus the Stereolab notation) until existing stock in the warehouse ran out, or was remaindered. But by the end of 1968, all Vanguard monos had been wholesaled off to discount bins everywhere. This label has been found used on the 1st pressing (etched as "28.4 12.65"), as well as what would normally be marked as using the first stampers (1A) and probably got no higher as mono copies sold much less than stereo and much fewer would have been manufactured. It looks as though two pressings did it for the 28 months mono had left.
	Second label - gold - stereo (1968-1976) : This label is the easiest to find, as it was the one used for the main sales period for Vanguard, the late 60s to the late 70s, after which sales trailed off to a steady quantity but never pushed the numbers of that period. This label went from stamper 1A to probably 1D or 1E.
	Third label - marble (1974-1987) : Used from late 1974 until the end of Vanguard's vinyl LPs in 1985. The one seen here is labeled as 1E on the A side, and 1C on the B side.



Austrian Vanguard single, AVRS-21354 probably 1970s reissue	courtesy Wall Matthews (for enlargement of above text...)

Ó 2002, 2009, 2010 Greg Pennell

last updated 8 feb'10