# Unusual album covers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802 "2010-09-23T19:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/1 "2010-09-23T19:31:34Z")
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](http://mp3passion.net/uploads/posts/1266262739_20pdkj8.jpg). \*Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers had an actual zipper in the [cover](http://rustnbones.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/rolling-stones-sticky-fingers.jpg). \*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. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/2 "2010-09-23T19:37:49Z")
Jefferson Airplane’s **Long John Silver** album cover could be folded into a grass-cleaning box. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/3 "2010-09-23T19:41:27Z")
I don’t know if this counts for the OP, but the Rolling Stones had a version of [Their Satanic Majesties Request](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SatanicRS.jpg) that was a 3D picture for the cover photo. The regular album had the same photo, but without the 3D effect. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/4 "2010-09-23T19:45:06Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/5 "2010-09-23T19:45:30Z")
_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. ---
**Author:** ![Mustardseed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mustardseed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mustardseed)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/6 "2010-09-23T19:46:30Z")
XTC’s [The Big Express](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Express) had a round sleeve in the initial pressing ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/7 "2010-09-23T19:46:59Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I don’t know if this counts for the OP, but the Rolling Stones had a version of [Their Satanic Majesties Request](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SatanicRS.jpg) that was a 3D picture for the cover photo. The regular album had the same photo, but without the 3D effect. 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? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/8 "2010-09-23T19:48:59Z")
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. [http://www.artforall.co.uk/cca-led\_zeppelin\_III.htm](http://www.artforall.co.uk/cca-led_zeppelin_III.htm) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/9 "2010-09-23T19:53:19Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > > [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > > > I don’t know if this counts for the OP, but the Rolling Stones had a version of [Their Satanic Majesties Request](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SatanicRS.jpg) that was a 3D picture for the cover photo. The regular album had the same photo, but without the 3D effect. > > 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? it was a lenticular image, image changed with viewing position. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/10 "2010-09-23T19:54:07Z")
Lots: Public Image Limited, _[Metal Box](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Box)_ – in a can. Small Faces, _[Ogden’s Nut Gone flake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogdens'_Nut_Gone_Flake#Packaging)_ – Circular cover Bonzo Dog Band, _[Tadpoles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadpoles_(album))_ – die cut cover. When you slid out the inner sleeve, the cover became animated. Cheech and Chong, _[Big Bambu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys)_ and _[Shootout at the Fantasy Factory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_Out_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. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/11 "2010-09-23T19:56:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/12 "2010-09-23T20:05:32Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > 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. Really? My copy was just a plain sleeve. Monty Python’s Matching Tie and Handkerchief: > [@wiki](#): > > The initial pressings were packaged with a real tie and handkerchief and distributed to menswear stores, the concept being that the record was merely a ‘free gift’ in the manner of plastic dinosaurs with breakfast cereals. It is also notable for its inner sleeve art, which is visible through a cutaway hole in the album’s outer sleeve. It appears to be a simple Terry Gilliam artwork of a tie and handkerchief, but when the inner sleeve is pulled out, it reveals that the tie and handkerchief are actually on a dead man hanging rather graphically from a gallows. Later releases of the album would just have the picture of the clothing on the front cover, and removed the inner sleeve and the unusual hidden artwork. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/13 "2010-09-23T20:06:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Jefferson Airplane’s **Long John Silver** album cover could be folded into a grass-cleaning box. What is a grass-cleaning box? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/14 "2010-09-23T20:12:06Z")
The Raspberries’ _[Side 3](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8e/Side3.jpg/200px-Side3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_3_(album)&usg=__9sllhKEaQBi7K5E2eac0Irqyfw8=&h=200&w=200&sz=12&hl=en&start=35&zoom=0&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=xwA7l5_CgjrgbM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Braspberries%2Balbums%2Bshape%2Beric%2Bcarmen%2Bbasket%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1)_, shaped like a basket of raspberries. Hello, Cleveland! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/15 "2010-09-23T20:12:21Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > Jefferson Airplane’s **Long John Silver** album cover could be folded into a grass-cleaning box. > > What is a grass-cleaning box? > > Joe 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. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/16 "2010-09-23T20:13:41Z")
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](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=28763) [Vinyl in brown paper bag with instruction sheet for the 45/33 RPM Left/Right mixed tracks.](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=4701) **Universal Indicator Red/Blue** [Plain Red/Blue sleeve, with plain red/blue label](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=16817) (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".](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=16824) **Caustic Window- Joyrex J9** [12" version in heavy cardboard postal envelope, contains packet of “Fizz Wizz popping-candy”.](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=19398) 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.](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=19315) That last one is still one of the coolest looking records I have. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/17 "2010-09-23T20:13:49Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Really? My copy was just a plain sleeve. 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** ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/18 "2010-09-23T20:15:51Z")
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](http://vinylzart.com/eshop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=1835&category_id=287) album had cut outs in the cover; you could move the inner liner to make the Stones’ faces appear in different cut outs. > [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > What is a grass-cleaning box? > > Joe A box to put your weed in while you cleaned out the stems and seeds. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/19 "2010-09-23T20:16:03Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > **Caustic Window- Joyrex J9** [12" version in heavy cardboard postal envelope, contains packet of “Fizz Wizz popping-candy”.](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=19398) 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.](http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=19315) That last one is still one of the coolest looking records I have. Oooh! Aaaah! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/20 "2010-09-23T20:19:09Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Rephlex records (Aphex Twin’s record label) had a whole bunch of special items. Some of the more notable that I’ve got: I think that those definitely qualify as unusual. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802.md?page=2)