In the 1960s and 1970s, Japan saw an explosion in the popularity of sonosheets -- cheap, flexible phonograph records printed on thin sheets of vinyl. Widely available from a variety of publishers, the most popular sonosheets featured theme music from TV anime, manga and tokusatsu, and they often came packaged inside booklets featuring colorful artwork. The sonosheet boom was short-lived, though -- many companies went under as the market became flooded in the 1970s, and the phenomenon all but disappeared by the 1980s. Here is a small sample of the vast array of sonosheet cover art from that era.
Batman vs. Iceman
Batman (front cover) [+]
Batman (back cover) [+]
GeGeGe no Kitaro (front cover) [+]
GeGeGe no Kitaro (back cover) [+]
Falcon of Shidenkai [+]
Kaiki Daisakusen (front cover) [+]
Kaiki Daisakusen (back cover)
Daikaij?sen
Space boy Soran [+]
Tetsujin Tiger Seven/ Inazuman/ Diamond Eye
Ultraman (front cover)
Ultraman (back cover)
Henshin Ninja Arashi
Frankenstein [+]
Robot Detective (front cover)
Robot Detective (inside) [+]
Space Monsters
[More]
Aeron Alfrey
Great collection, I posted an assortment of bizarre science fiction / horror themed Japanese book covers earlier this week that I'm sure you'll appreciate. http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2009/09/science-fictionhorror-japanese-book.html
[]Mike
Any idea how to play these sonosheets? I found a few linguistics-related sonosheets and they are essentially dust-gathering Japanese Frisbees.
[]Wmabradley
Put them on a turntable? Also known as a "record player." That's what they were designed for.
[]jeffree
i'm so glad i found this blog!
[]Justus Rambaldi
All these covers remember when I was a child, and watching a TV Black & White maded in wood case.
[]These TV series Japanese and American, good times, good memories, an age of innocence, and the things was more black & white, more simple.
Greats remembers Ammbassador Magma (Goldar), Ultra Seven, UltraQ, Batman & Robin (Adam West and Burt Ward), Ultraman Jack, Space Boy Soran, Fantaman, Shadow Boy, Astroboy, Giant Robot, Sawamu, Kimba, G-force, Tetsujin, National Kid, Godzilla, Gamera, Montra, Rocket-man, Flash Gordon, and others... Golden Years that not come back