Russia's X-ray Records

Apparently, back in the 1950's it was rather difficult to get "Western" music inside the Soviet Union. So, rather than do without, some rather ingenius bootleggers took it upon themselves to press records themselves directly on to discarded X-ray film - the end result is called "roentgenizdat."

This article gives a nice broad overview of the history tactic but the real goodness is over here - complete with photos of the records and recorded samples of such classics as "St. Louis Blues" and "Heartbreak Hotel" - to name but a few. Definitely click over there and have a listen - the lo-fi quality is haunting but there's something optimistic about the smuggled nature of this music making its way into a locked down area.