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Vanguard - selected discographies
 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 The inside's 17 previously unpublished photos by Kenneth Van Sickel all appear to be  from or mostly from, the same  Central Park shoot as his Celebrations for a Grey Day cover.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