These aren’t albums but playable discs that came in the back of “PC Lads” magazine, a UK-based monthly that ran from 1977 to 1982. You might have seen the kind of thing, they’re called a flexi disc [link], maybe even have played one or more.

Way ahead of its time, “PC Lads” was a computer magazine aimed at the intelligent reader wanting to delve deep into topical cumputing issues. The magazine each time followed the format: letters, an editorial, an article that went for thirty to two hundred pages, some advertising, swap pages, a careers section, hacker tips, video game reviews, and at the back, a comedic yet serious Help Page with a flexi disc on the topic of the month.

PC Lads attracted a mostly male readership, but there were others who enjoyed it as well. This can be seen in the range of intructional relationship topics, as can be seen here. The Okra Eaters was exceptionally popular, for obvious reasons. Obvious. That’s all I’m sayin’ there.

“Lovin’ a big fat woman” saved many a reader when a lady asked “Does my ass look fat in this/these”? Nothing like a hearty slap to punctuate that tricky one.

“Music for newlyweds?” You’d be surprised how common the scanario pictured was, literally, in those days. This was right when MTV was starting with their own brand of instructional video (which cut into this format greatly, too), you see.

“Serenade for love” was all about how blow-up dolls could be surprisingly tender if you treated them right, and “Boys” was about making a commanding presentation in the says before powerpoint could do all that hard work for you.

“I’ll drink your bath water, baby”. Look at her face. More men ought to say that, and follow through. I’ve done it, and let me tell you that really fluffed those depleted bath bubbles back up again through sheer … quivering.

James Gosling, the man behind Java, has the world’s only complete collection of these flexi disks, that he devoured while working on Java. Now, that’s saying something about how informative, excelllent and useful they are, isn’t it?

Did I mention I’m a programmer as a kind of side-interest, so can make these comments legit? Oh, yeah, mhm, when I’m not on spy missions for the Estonian government. Or was that Canadian, hmm, I can’t be sure.

[I really missed a few of these, didn’t I?]