Who ever knew Bird Sounds would be such a big deal on flexi disc? Here we have two different releases filed under the same heading: a 4 disc 9″ set from the National Geographic Society and a tiny 6.5″ x 6.5″ book with six transparent discs held inside, again published by NGS in association with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in New York. Not being any kind of expert on Bird Sounds I confess I bought both of these for their packaging more than the contents held in the grooves although I did give them a listen. I swear that I heard the bird sample that Boards of Canada used on ‘Happy Cycling’ on the 1983-released ‘Guide To’ set. There’s no audio on the web that I can find but it does have an entry on Discogs where someone has actually taken the trouble to type out the extensive tracklist so you can see what you’re missing.

This beautiful ‘singing’ book from 1965 is illustrated by wildlife artist Ron Jenkins and you have to fold back the pages and place the whole thing on the turntable to play the discs – not the last time we’ll see such an practice either as there’s a months worth of audio books coming up later in the year. Again, no audio but there are copies on Am*z*n, Abebooks and more.