Discoscene, July 1968

A Monday morning edition of Darwin Scans -  Twas a nice weekend with much scanwork and yardwork along with at least a little bit of maxing and relaxing.  I've been stacking up mags to post here, new and old, as I'm getting them up to the Internet Archive.  I can tell already it's gonna take a while, but it's been a great opportunity to take a second look at some of the mags and the scan work.  

Here is a fun music magazine from the 60s up for our enjoyment and perusal today, a Tiny Tim covered edition of Discoscene with the usual absolutely excellent edit from McCoy.

 Tiny Tim, what a freak.  

 High res scan with joined pages - Discoscene (1968-07.Discoscene)(D&M).cbr

 or you can view the issue at the IA here.

Discoscene is a bit of an oddity, as figuring out issue numbers and such is a little tricky.  The production is top notch, though that may apparently vary according to the printing.  The Zappa Books page on the magazine (and leave it to Zappa fans to do such a nice job cataloging his appearance in the mag) takes from eBay that:

Discoscene was a monthly magazine published approximately 1966-1969. In October 1968 the magazine was renamed to [disco]Scene II. The magazine had regional variants and was printed with different names for radio stations in different cities.
Some of the original Discoscene magazines came with a Pepsi flexidisc.
Discoscene did not have wide distribution. Thus, any issues are now few and far between. Even though printed on a much higher quality paper than your average fan mag, surviving magazines are extremely rare and even weak issues are much sought after by serious collectors.

There's a ton of musical history in just this single issue of Discoscene.  Music mags can be mostly commercial tripe but not Discoscene.  And even the commercial music mags have a ton to offer in terms of the history of American music.  We tend to forget about so much or never really notice the real magic when it's happening because the whole business of hype and promotion can get in the way of the music.

 Contents

You could purchase this issue at the stores below 😁

The Evolution of Richie Havens

Discoscene of_____________   / Subscription Card.  Leave this stuff in your mags when you scan them in the place you found it.  It's a part of the magazine, and they often have some fun content.  There are all sorts of clues on cards and inserts about publishers, distribution, etc., too. 

Joe Tex beats James Brown in a Soul King Battle?  Incomprehensible.

I'll bump some Joe while I type just to see if he can really step to the Godfather.  Let's try Papa Was Too

Yeah, baby, grooving, some nice breaks in there.

I know I'm gonna wanna spin one off that, though that North MS drone might space me out -

 

 

The Electric Prune

Fashion, stripes and polka dots, brave.  Oh, sixties 

A few gag pages in here like Help! or other humor mags of the era

 Didn't quite expect to see Glen Campbell in here

Earth Opera

Another card, survey info in exchange for a 45.  Old school magazine and music marketing.

Contemporaneous review of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

Blue Cheer, let's go with the full article for this one

One pick up at 24.95, not sure what this beastie is

Really a great ish. I'll keep a look out for other Discoscene scans or issues!  You might see a disproportionate number of music mags represented on the blog, as I seem to like looking at these, typing and playing tunes...