Author: Various
Title: Krugozor. Ezhemesiachnyi Zvukovoi Zhurnal (Horizon. A Monthly Audio Journal)
Description: Moskva (Moscow), Pravda / Melodiia, 1966. Nineteen issues - 7/66, 10/66, 12/66, 4/67, 6/67, 2/68, 3/68, 10/68, 6/69, 10/69, 2/70, 6/70, 8/70, 10/70, 3/71, 6/71, 7/71, 8/71, 6/73; pp. [16] + 6, double-sided, 33 1/3 RPM flexi-discs in white and blue in each issue; laminated, pictorial wraps with comb binding and a central hole, running through every page; illustrated with photographs and drawings; one issue, 10/66, with 5 discs only and another, 8/71, with 7 discs (most unusual); some of the issues with the discs detached, but present; mild wear and rubbing to edges of paper and in a few instances - the comb binding starting to detach; one issue with the corners clipped and rounded; overall in very good condition. An iconic publication for almost 30 years, with no analogue in terms of content and format, the music, art, history, and literature journal Horizon was first released in 1964 and ran until 1992, for approximately 350 issues. Published jointly between the State-run Pravda and Melodiia, its pages featured interviews, propaganda articles, and poems, but the real treasures, for which it would be remembered, were the thin, colorful flexi-discs with popular folk and pop music, which would, in later issues, also feature one Western song each by ABBA, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, and so on. In the midst of sweeping cultural deficit and media backout, the opportunity to acquire even a single performance from beyond the Iron Curtain would result in gigantic queues of young people for every new issue. The most famous authors, poets, composers, photographers, and artists would work on the cover art and the content, including Dmitri Shostakovich, Iraklii Andronnikov, and Boris Tchaikovsky.The production of the discs would be initiated by Nikita Khrushchev, who had been inspired by seeing similar ones in the West. The idea behind the records being attached to the spine and the central hole was that they could be folded out and played without being removed. Being as flimsy as they were, the Russian consumers would have to pull a bag of tricks to achieve the best playback, including weighing them down with coins and placing them on top of standard, sturdier records. In 1990, the magazine would adopt the more-standard, A4 format, with the recordings made on audio cassettes, instead of on vinyl. The publication would cease to exist in 1992, due to financial difficulties. Very good .

Keywords: Russia, Music, Art