Record is cut backwards?

"Monty Python's "previous record" is a three sides single disc."

That was "Matching Tie and Handkerchief"...and even then, just the first pressing.
"Previous Record" was supposed to have 4 separate grooves on the b-side...but that apparently didn't work out, so the tracks were amalgamated into a single groove for release.

I believe Mad Magazine's flexi-release "It's a Super Spectacular Day" with 8 different grooves is still the king of that genre.
I owned a copy at one time. I found it very difficult to get it play all 8.
Thnx, haven't played either in decades.
 
Back in the days before tape recording became commonplace, radio stations used transcription disks (sometimes 16" in diameter) to play back pre-recorded material (a new thing in those days). Most of them were recorded normally, but some of them were cut in reverse, if the louder portions of the recording were near the end of the program. Such transcriptions were labeled "inside start" or somesuch to alert the DJ to place the stylus in what would normally have been the lead-out groove. Here is the label from such a disk; note the legend "START INSIDE" printed near the center hole, and the 'tail' on the bottom of the label:
Electrical-Transcription-Disc-detail.png


As for backwards records, my favorite example is the original 45RPM single of Napoleon XIV - They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! The flip-side is exactly that, the same song played in reverse. They even mirror-inverted most of the label:
R-409243-1394942104-6977.jpeg.jpg
 
In the case of the transcriptions, the inside start sides were to keep the sound consistent from side join to side join. One side would be inside start, the other side would be outside start. Also, notice the fact that the World transcriptions were Vertical cut (instead of the mono standard Lateral cut used by most everyone else).
 
That Bangles record came in handy when I was fooling around with a cheap turntable and discovered that when I reversed the polarity of the voltage going to it, its DC motor would run backwards. Unfortunately its speed regulation was ineffective with reverse polarity, so it played too fast. But it was still cool to see and hear a record playing backwards!
 
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