What album covers (for LPs) were not of the standard envelope-like shape or make? Off the top of my head, I can think of:
*Rod Stewart’s Sing it Again Rod, cover shaped like a highball glass.
*Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers had an actual zipper in the cover.
*Alice Cooper’s Killer, I believe, had a perforated cardboard panel that could be torn off, and torn into smaller sections that were postcards of the band.
Jefferson Airplane’s Long John Silver album cover could be folded into a grass-cleaning box.
I don’t know if this counts for the OP, but the Rolling Stones had a version of Their Satanic Majesties Request that was a 3D picture for the cover photo. The regular album had the same photo, but without the 3D effect.
Cheech and Chong’s Big Bambu opened like a package of rolling papers, and had a giant rolling paper in it. Yeah, a real one.
Metal Box, by Public Image Limited was first released in a round metal box, and not just special promotional copies - that’s how it was sold to the public, and it was a commercial success. Later releases were in more conventional packaging.
XTC’s The Big Express had a round sleeve in the initial pressing
I sort of remember that, but I can’t remember how it was 3D. It certainly wasn’t a hologram back in those days. But it was like a glued on piece of plastic, right?
Led Zep 3 had a wheel with pictures on it underneath the album cover, which had holes in it. Turn the wheel, the pictures changed.
it was a lenticular image, image changed with viewing position.
Lots:
Public Image Limited, Metal Box – in a can.
Small Faces, Ogden’s Nut Gone flake – Circular cover
Bonzo Dog Band, Tadpoles – die cut cover. When you slid out the inner sleeve, the cover became animated.
Cheech and Chong, Big Bambu – looked and opened like a package of rolling papers, with a giant rolling paper in early editions.
Rolling Stones, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits, Volume 2) – octagonal cover.
Traffic – The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Shootout at the Fantasy Factory – both had two opposite corners cut, to give it the appearance of a cube.
Alice Cooper, School’s Out – opened up like a school desk; instead of a paper liner, it had a paper pair of panties protecting the disk.
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Clear Spot – Record cover made of clear vinyl.
Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick was elaborately packaged in a multi-page, fold-out newspaper.
The Soft Machine’s first album had a picture wheel, pre-dating Led Zep by two years.
The Who’s Live at Leeds was packaged in something like a Peechee folder, with the LP in one pocket and assorted memorabilia in the other.
Gentle Giant’s Octopus (American pressing) was shaped like a jar.
Early copies of the Talking Heads’ Speaking in Tongues on clear vinyl came in a Rauschenberg-designed clear plastic box/sleeve.
Really? My copy was just a plain sleeve.
Monty Python’s Matching Tie and Handkerchief:
What is a grass-cleaning box?
Joe
The Raspberries’ Side 3, shaped like a basket of raspberries. Hello, Cleveland!
Gods, you’re young!
A grass-cleaning box was a low, flat, open-topped box of a size appropriate for de-sticking and de-seeding a lid of marijuana. Gate-fold album covers were the prefered platform to roll on as well.
Rephlex records (Aphex Twin’s record label) had a whole bunch of special items. Some of the more notable that I’ve got:
AFX - Analogue Bubblebath 3 CD in bubble pack Vinyl in brown paper bag with instruction sheet for the 45/33 RPM Left/Right mixed tracks.
Universal Indicator Red/Blue Plain Red/Blue sleeve, with plain red/blue label (track info engraved in the record).
Universal Indicator Green Plastic bag with a map of Cornwall, containing 3 fully green records in 12" 10" and 7".
Caustic Window- Joyrex J9 12" version in heavy cardboard postal envelope, contains packet of “Fizz Wizz popping-candy”. and the 10"~12" 2-track picture disc of a TB-303 on one side and a TR-606 on the other in a clear plastic sleeve. That last one is still one of the coolest looking records I have.
Well, it’s in the nature of these fancy packages that they seldom continue past the inital pressing. Every one of the examples I listed was later repackaged in a normal cover.
Plain brown wrapper department:
Jefferson Airplane’s Bark (actually a large shopping bag)
Led Zeppelin’s In Through the Out Door (also notable for the “magic paint” inner sleeve)
United States of America
John & Yoko’s Two Virgins
I have quite a few of these original covers, including *Their Satanic Majesties Request, Sticky Fingers, *and Live at Leeds.
The Rolling Stones’ Some Girls album had cut outs in the cover; you could move the inner liner to make the Stones’ faces appear in different cut outs.
A box to put your weed in while you cleaned out the stems and seeds.
Oooh! Aaaah!
I think that those definitely qualify as unusual.
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