# Unusual album covers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802>\
**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:** 3

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**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/41 "2010-09-24T07:48:01Z")

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> [@kidneyfailure](#):
>
> Some of these are completely creative and awesome. Cool packaging is a dead art : (

Well, there are a lot fewer creative and eye-catching things you can do to package an audio cassette or 12 cm compact disc than a 12" LP. And digital downloads can’t really be “packaged” at all.

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**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/42 "2010-09-24T08:20:06Z")

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> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> > [@kidneyfailure](#):
> >
> > Some of these are completely creative and awesome. Cool packaging is a dead art : (
> 
> Well, there are a lot fewer creative and eye-catching things you can do to package an audio cassette or 12 cm compact disc than a 12" LP. And digital downloads can’t really be “packaged” at all.

There is (was?) cool cd packaging as well. Like the [Spiritualized album _Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space_](http://www.flourella.net/strangelove/pictures/spiritualized-ladies-ltd.jpg) that was shaped as a pillbox. You even had to pop the disc out of the blister packaging the first time you heard it.

And even nowadays when nobody buys cds anymore: For instance [this cover](http://jonasr.com/pics/cover.jpg) for Jonas Kierkegaard’s _Quiet works for Cello & Commodore 64_.

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/43 "2010-09-24T08:52:01Z")

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> [@tdn](#):
>
> \*Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers had an actual zipper in the [cover](http://rustnbones.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/rolling-stones-sticky-fingers.jpg).

And underneath the zipper, inside the jacket, there was another picture of white briefs. (Presumably the same person.)

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**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/44 "2010-09-24T10:46:32Z")

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> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> And digital downloads can’t really be “packaged” at all.

Not in the traditional way, no. But I should think that if anything could be adapted creatively it should be digital downloads. Animated gifs? Interactive touch screen features?

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**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/45 "2010-09-24T10:55:36Z")

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> [@kidneyfailure](#):
>
> > [@psychonaut](#):
> >
> > And digital downloads can’t really be “packaged” at all.
> 
> Not in the traditional way, no. But I should think that if anything could be adapted creatively it should be digital downloads. Animated gifs? Interactive touch screen features?

One could argue that creative “packaging” of downloadable/streamable music already exists in the form of weird webpages and myspace profiles. I can think of at least one example where a band published a song as the soundtrack to a flash game. A downloadable version of the song was only available after having finished the game. (not linking since the site is no more) It might not be “packaging” in the traditional sense of the word, but creative distribution efforts definitely still take place.

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**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/46 "2010-09-24T11:43:06Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> 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.

_Old, but not wise._

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/47 "2010-09-24T11:58:13Z")

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> [@tdn](#):
>
> > [@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.

My copy did not have the real tie and handkerchief, but did have the inner liner art. This album also had three sides, both labelled B (or 2, it has been a long time since I looked at it)..

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**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/48 "2010-09-24T12:01:56Z")

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> [@lawoot](#):
>
> Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery:
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _from [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Salad_Surgery)_ The album cover features distinctive Giger monochromatic biomechanical artwork, integrating an industrial mechanism with a human skull and the new ELP logo (created by Giger). The lower part of the skull’s face is covered by a circular “screen”, which shows the mouth and lower face in its flesh-covered state. In the original LP release, the front cover was split in half down the center, except for the circular screen section (which was attached to the right half). Opening the halves revealed a painting of the complete face: a human female \>snip\<, with “alien” hair and multiple scars, including the infinity symbol and a scar from a frontal lobotomy. The two images of the woman are very similar, but the outer image (in the circle) contains what appears to be the top of a phallus below her chin, arising from the “ELP” column below.

The N.M.E. (UK weekly music paper) issued an advance taster for the album free with every copy one week. It was a 7" flexi-disc in a minature glossy paper version of the sleeve, with the fold out flaps, etc.  
Somewhere I still have mine!

The sleeve of **Curved Air** ’s _Second Album_ was several layers thick (5 in front of the record, and 1 behind it), each a different colour, with a smaller 1/4 circle shape cut out of each layer as they went down, giving a rainbow effect. And then you could unfold the entire sleeve, resulting in a single piece of card 2’ x 3’ with pictures and info on it.  
I can’t find a very good picture of it, only ones where the [cover is closed](http://www.curvedair.com/Directions.htm).

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/49 "2010-09-24T13:07:31Z")

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> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> > [@ftg](#):
> >
> > My copy’s tearoff was a foldout calendar for 1972 with Alice hung from a rope at the top. It was set up sort of like a double album cover except the one half was meant to be torn off and itself unfolded.
> 
> I think it was _Billion Dollar Babies_ that had the postcards, wasn’t it?

You may be right. I didn’t own either album, but my sister did. She already had the tearouts taped to her wall before I confiscated the albums.

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/50 "2010-09-24T13:15:04Z")

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The Beatles _Yesterday… And Today_ has a pretty cool album cover story.

The infamous “butcher cover” looks pretty tame by today’s standards.

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**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/51 "2010-09-24T13:16:19Z")

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The original issue of _A Date with the Everly Brothers_ had a gatefold cover and an insert of photos that could be cut apart like baseball cards. The second issue had the gatefold cover but no insert, and the third issue had no gatefold, and the picture that had been inside the gatefold was on the cover. The uncut cards are collectible today because people would cut them apart and tack them on walls.

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**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/52 "2010-09-24T13:23:32Z")

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The original US release of _Jesus Christ Superstar_ came in a two piece box. They had to switch to a standard gatefold cover when the demand got too greast to keep making the box (I setill got mine).

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/53 "2010-09-24T13:34:34Z")

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> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> The original US release of _Jesus Christ Superstar_ came in a two piece box. They had to switch to a standard gatefold cover when the demand got too greast to keep making the box (I setill got mine).

Oh yeah, I remember that! I was going to mention that in the OP, but I was thinking it had a gatefold cover. It was unusual in that it included a separate booklet with the libretto.

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/54 "2010-09-24T16:17:42Z")

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> [@wheresgeorge04](#):
>
> > [@silenus](#):
> >
> > 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.
> 
> Not that young - I’m 36, and have smoked a LOT of weed in my time. “Grass,” however, is not a term that I think I’ve ever used. I honestly thought you were talking about your lawn.
> 
> Joe

Interesting. I’m not young either, never heard the term “grass-cleaning box” (I’ve never smoked pot, but I had friends who did), but “grass” was a common term for the stuff around where I grew up (southern California). There’s even a [card game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_%28card_game%29) about it!

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**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/55 "2010-09-24T16:43:15Z")

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> [@tdn](#):
>
> The Beatles _Yesterday… And Today_ has a pretty cool album cover story.
> 
> The infamous “butcher cover” looks pretty tame by today’s standards.

If the Jonas Brothers or someone like that did something similar, I’m guessing it would raise a pretty big stink.

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**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/56 "2010-09-24T16:43:58Z")

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[Monty Python Instant Record Collection](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monty_Python_Instant_Record_Collection)  
It featured packaging that folded out into a cardboard box resembling a large stack of record albums (all containing spoofs of popular album names).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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 24, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/57 "2010-09-24T18:36:45Z")

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> [@Panurge](#):
>
> There is (was?) cool cd packaging as well.

Absolutely. Like the Ozric Tentacles disc that was packaged in a liquid-filled clear plastic sleeve with plastic fish swimming in it. But where CD packaging really shines is in box sets. For example:

Girl Group Sounds: One Kiss Leads to Another

> **[Various Artists - Girl Group Sounds: One Kiss Can Lead to Another - Amazon.com...](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Group-Sounds-Kiss-Another/dp/B000B5KRV6)**
>
> No box no booklet

Brain in a Box (with 3D lenticular)

> **[Various Artists - Soundtracks - Brain in a Box: The Science Fiction Collection -...](https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Box-Science-Fiction-Collection/dp/B00004ZDX9)**
>
> Amazon.com It doesn't take much rhetorical muscle to argue that science fiction was one of the dominant genre artforms of the 20th century, from the Lumiere brothers to Spielberg, from Wells and Conan Doyle to Asimov, Bradbury, and...

Life Less Lived

> **[Various Artists - Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box - Amazon.com Music](https://www.amazon.com/Life-Less-Lived-Gothic-Box/dp/B000GIWS4M)**
>
> Various Artists - Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box - Amazon.com Music

AC/DC box set packaged in a working guitar amp

> **[Amazon.com: ETSYG? 4pcs Newborn Infant Baby Girl's Headband Romper Leg Warmer...](https://www.amazon.com/Newborn-Infant-Headband-Romper-Warmer/dp/B00JROOBXW)**
>
> ETSYG? 4pcs Newborn Infant Baby Girl's Headband Romper Leg Warmer Shoes Outfit (M)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/58 "2010-09-24T19:17:11Z")

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And then there’s the cover for [Blind Faith](http: [//a1.vox.com/](https://a1.vox.com/) 6a00c22522e470549d00e398a041e90005-500pi).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/59 "2010-09-24T19:29:20Z")

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> [@mack](#):
>
> And then there’s the cover for [Blind Faith](http:// [a1.vox.com/6a00c22522e470549d00e398a041e90005-500pi](http://a1.vox.com/6a00c22522e470549d00e398a041e90005-500pi)).

Uh…I could make a case for requesting that be a broken link. That’s not the sort of thing people should really be looking at on their work computers these days–or am I just overreacting?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-album-covers/554802/60 "2010-09-24T19:45:12Z")

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> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> > [@mack](#):
> >
> > And then there’s the cover for [Blind Faith](http://a1.vox.com/6a00c22522e470549d00e398a041e90005-500pi).
> 
> Uh…I could make a case for requesting that be a broken link. That’s not the sort of thing people should really be looking at on their work computers these days–or am I just overreacting?

Yes, you are. Not all nudity is pornography.

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