B.C.D. (Before Compact Discs)

Way back in the dim dark recesses of time before the compact disc was the platter of choice for music, there was the Compact 33. The Compact 33 was a sort of hybrid format that combined the speed (and small hole) of the big, full-length LPs records with the smaller size and shorter playing time of the 7" 45's. RCA had invented the 45 a few years earlier in hopes that it would outsell the LP format developed elsewhere. Those discs fared pretty well with the advent of the new 'rock and roll' music. This little promo record I found tries to hype the advantages of such an odd form factor, but the public was not fooled. RCA and others released quite a few EPs in this format, and even occasionally full LPs spread out over two of these records, but they never sold in great numbers. Collectors salivate over some of the tracks released by Elvis in this format, but most everybody else has never heard of these things. If you look close at the back of the sleeve shown below, it appears to have been sent to a Citgo station! I guess in those days, even the gas station sold records.