This cover is a real gem. The black and white photograph looks like it might be a movie still, and is credited on the back to Universal. It’s a French album on the Vogue label, circa 1957 going by the catalogue number. The image has been cut out and set against a solid red background, and the artist’s name in a grey tint.
I found it in Sheffield’s Rare & Racy shop; they don’t normally carry this sort of vinyl but apparently had been offered a couple of boxes of easy listening albums recently. It had yet to be sorted out when I was in the shop, but they kindly let me wade through it and buy a dozen or so albums (and as many EPs).
These albums all belonged to a local couple, and were kept in great condition. It’s a one piece sleeve, laminated on the front then folded with the flaps glued over.
I don’t know much about Primo Corchia, other than he was an accordeon player, an instrument much loved over in France at this time.
The back cover has a detailed listing for other records in Vogue’s Surprise Partie series (and the inner sleeve continues the theme with illustrations of other groovy covers). The original owner bought it at Sinfonia on the Champs-Elysees; we know this as the store put a discreet rubber stamp on the back with their address on. Which reminds me that Rare & Racy used to also rubber stamp all the inner sleeves of the second hand album they sold. There used to be an old rubber stamp makers down in town in one of the back streets near the city hall, run by an elderly couple. They made stuff for all the local businesses and I had loads done there. The woman ran the counter, and if she needed help from her husband always used to shout through for ‘chiefy’ to come in and cast his eye over the weird artwork I had brought in, to see if it would work.
ST33 