10 times vinyl record packaging got creative in the 70s | ALICE COOPER, ZEPPELIN, STONES, KISS

Working zippers, billion dollar bills and paper panties, the 1970s brought us some of the most clever and creative record packaging ever. In this episode, I run through 10 of my favorite examples. What are examples of record packaging from the 70s that you love?
#vinyl #records #1970s
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[@norrieclark5217]

Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick with the newspaper was cool

[@masonmorgan9519]

Man! I was waiting to see jethro tull’s Stand Up with the pop up gatefold

[@norrieclark5217]

@@masonmorgan9519 1969 though

[@masonmorgan9519]

@@norrieclark5217 good call 👍

[@scotthutchens1203]

Yes! Why wasn’t that included? Unless he didn’t have a real vintage LP of it that was complete. I can’t think of any other albums that top that as far as what was included on that album and the number of pages with the connect the dots, I think a crossword puzzle, etc.

[@scotthutchens1203]

The Steel Eye Span album “All Around My Hat” has a special optical illusion effect. The cover pics are distorted to look at from a normal perspective but if you look through pinholes provided on the lyric sheet, it allowed you to see the band correctly. I believe if you looked from the bottom out over the cover at an slight angle instead of it facing you, it can be seen that way too.

[@philovance1940]

Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s was a magical time for teenagers. Who would’ve thought things would get no better.

[@andrewbrown3070]

One of my favorites is Triumph's Just a game album. Inside the gatefold, there was a board game you could play. It's pretty entertaining to see what some of the spaces you can land on say.

[@bryanpeloquin3890]

Because I was a teenager, I liked the fold-out mini poster of the nude bicycle race inside Queen's Jazz album.🤣👍

[@sdavifcom]

My vote goes to Electric Light Orchestra's Out of the Blue. It was possible to build a flying saucer on an actual stand out of a cardboard insert. Pretty cool, I think.

[@chrismcgovern1647]

Yes, I loved that one too!

[@dongordon4464]

Oh wow I can't believe never saw that one that is - cool - far out - and all that

[@portsidebear]

I have that album complete with the unassembled saucer model all in excellent condition!

[@sdavifcom]

@@portsidebear Lucky you. As a teen, I assembled it as soon as I got home. It was on display on one of the loudspeakers for maybe a year. Being made out of cheap cardboard, it did not survive frequent dusting and moving. It eventually got tossed... Oh well... Live and learn.

[@1171karl]

Oh wow you've just jogged my memory about this, I remember it being in with the album my mum bought and she was like, ' I don't want all this rubbish!' I was only about 6 at the time so didn't really care!

[@markpocock183]

Thanks Frank! I loved the Traffic hexagonal cover for Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys

[@1171karl]

My dad had a Rolling Stones compilation with an ocatagonal cover - Through the Past Darkly, That's the only album I knew of like that.

[@magnuswettermark8293]

My favorite from the early 70's was Grand Funk Railroad's "E Pluribus Funk" with that coin cover. Also a killer album btw!!

[@VegasAlien1]

The artwork, lyrics and other writings were an essential part of the entire experience. Checking it all out while the music is playing for the first time, cleaning weed on gatefolds...

[@jameslanclos568]

2:55 - When Sticky Fingers came out. I went to the record shop and and very many of the albums had been ripped and unzipped. I had to search for one that wasn't violated. For those of you that don't know what a records store is, well it was a place that sold primarily record albums and 45 rpm single records. There are so many album covers you didn't mention, like the Rolling Stones "Their Satanic Majesties Request", which was sort of their equivalent of the Beatles' "White Album". It had a 3D plastic photo on the cover.

[@FuturePast2019]

Yes, you mean Sgt Pepper.

[@EverythingYouKnowIsWrong]

I used to have all those original album covers you featured, minus the KISS albums. I totally forgot that Muscle of Love came in a cardboard box. What a great trick that stain was at the bottom of the box. I remember going through at few copies of the album at the store before realizing all of the stains were identical. The St. Cleave Chronicle cover of the early 70s release of Thick as a Brick is the cover I was always fondest of. I still love that album and wish I still had the original cover. I was only around 13 or 14 years old when it came out. I couldn't tell you the number of times I read every word of that paper. Most of the covers you featured sucked me back to my teen years. Thanks for reigniting some very distant memories!

[@cibbis]

I always liked Grand Funk Railroad's E Pluribus Funk album was very cool idea to make the cover shaped to look like a silver coin

[@bobby666666]

When I was at school the desks we used were the same as the Alice Cooper Sleeve. There are two albums I can think of. The Return Of The Durutti Column by The Durutti Column just missing the 70s as issued in January 1980. The front cover was a 12" X 12" piece of Sandpaper. Other Record Sleeves got damaged. The second is Metal Box by Public Image in 1979. The album was issued in a 16mm Film Canister. Later editions were issued in a gatefold sleeve.

[@Channel33RPM]

We had those same desks as well.

[@merlin5476]

Thanks for clearing that up.. whilst watching this video I've been racking my brains to try & remember what band had a sandpaper cover, designed apparently to scratch other albums in the rack. 👍

[@bobby666666]

@@merlin5476 No problem.

[@sketchbookscheming]

For sure, Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" and "III" are at the top! I marveled over those endlessly as I listened to the albums! I've never seen Alice Cooper's school desk one -- that looks really cool too!

[@vinylterry]

The Who Live At Leeds. Came to look like a press kit with a bunch of photos, clippings and a copy of the Woodstock contract. I managed to find a complete copy a few years back at a good price. Most are missing something. I have the two Stones albums and modern represses of the Zep albums.

[@chrismcgovern1647]

I was blown away by the discovery that Leeds had a gatefold, a poster, lyrics, photos, memo and document mock-ups, I believed for the longest time all it was was just the MCA 2nd pressing bare bones LP until the 80's when I got the import and that had all the stuff plus the concept label.

[@tempeff8670]

The gatefold for Tommy folds out to be a pinball machine.

[@scottroberts3011]

Someone took the reproduction Woodstock contract onto the tv show Pawn Stars and they actually bought it thinking it was the real thing. I believe they paid a few hundred dollars for it. The store owner Rick found out about it and was not very happy with the sales guy that bought it. It was on one of the episodes.

[@nmarks520]

Such a fun video, Frank. Brain Salad Surgery by ELP is one you missed, but like you said... so many good ones from that era! Your channel is amazing, and keep up the good work.

[@tomfurgas2844]

Yes, that H.R. Giger cover predated his designs for the film "Alien". I bought two copies of the album so that I could hang the inner cover art on my wall.

[@Channel33RPM]

Thanks!

[@stevecrescini2081]

Elton John’s Madman Across The Water’s packaging was great with the album cover imitation of denim (the original version) and a nice lyric booklet with photos. It was my first EJ album I got in 1972 and always a favorite

[@rjaraneta913]

John Lennon's "Walls and Bridges" with its cut gatefold flaps altering his facial expressions.

[@markmiwurdz202]

@Channel 33 RPM. Here in the U.K., I used to work for company that sold printing machinery and visited all kinds of printers from 1977 through to 2001. You would not believe the production problems caused by these weird and wonderful album sleeves.The record sleeve printers and converters (i.e. the cutting/creasing/gluing/forming) could not always "machine process" these designs. So they had to have teams of hand workers adding the finishing touches - like each "Sticky Fingers" zip being glued in by hand. In the mid 1980's, I saw a design prototype for a folded sleeve (which you call a "gatefold") for a 12" single disc. When opened the sleeve revealed a poster of the artist. The poster opened up like a flower's petals and the printers went through many hours of trial and error to get the creasing/folding/perforating of the poster to work correctly. They did get it right in the end, but it was expensive to produce. Here in the U.K., I was told that there were only two (2) printing companies that had the special configuration of forming/folding/gluing machine to make the "gatefold" sleeves. These "gatefold" machines were running around the clock when a double album was about to be released. The 3 panel roll over "gatefold" sleeve for Elton John's "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road" was produced in The Netherlands by Euro - Albums I vaguely recall. Have you seen the album sleeve for The Faces album "Ooh La La"? Keep up your good work! You and yours stay safe and well.

[@jackwezesa1081]

Ooh la la didn’t get too much attention in 73 . Good record!

[@markmiwurdz202]

@Jack Weseza. You may already know this. Apparently Rod Stewart didn't like it either! He was very disappointed with the tracks that made it on to the album.The story goes that Rod should have sung the title track, but didn't/couldn't be bothered to - show up for the session. So Ronnie Wood sings lead vocal on "Ooh La La". And it was a very short album, clocking only about 35 minutes (?) as I remember. Stay safe and well.

[@jackwezesa1081]

@@markmiwurdz202 Interesting. I didn’t know he was a no show . I was a senior in high school when it came out and it hardly got noticed . I just took it out this morning to give it a spin but haven’t got to it yet! I did check out the total time and it’s around 32 & 1/2 minutes! That’s why those older records sounded so good ! Take care Bro.

[@drillbag]

i was always fascinated by the Thick As A Brick album cover by Jethro Tull, the broadsheet newspaper is very unique but also prone to damage!!

[@jaustill237]

Living in the Past, Stand-up, and A Passion Play also have amazing album covers.

[@rhys180606]

I'm 48 having a decent record collection and it was the best times late eighties early 90s. I love my vinyl it's so interesting. And I don't know if anyone else feels the same but I always felt like I was the only one to have it.

[@brolinofvandar]

Man - Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day. One of my favorite titles, actually. A gatefold album, with a page inside folded such that it opened up when you opened the gatefold. Revealing a map about twice as tall as the album itself. We've all probably seen those tourist maps for areas, with the caricature drawings marking spots of interest? The map in this album was of that type, titled "Man's Map of Wales". The spots marked were places they played on a tour of Wales (where, I believe, they're from). Pretty cool map. I actually looked at removing it once, to frame it and put up on a wall. But, it's glued into the cover irrevocably. Ambrosia - Somewhere I've Never Traveled. Their second album (first was their best). Looking at the front cover, you'd see an upside down triangle, from the top corners to the middle of the bottom edge. On the album cover, that triangle was flaps of cardboard. You could unfold them, insert tabs into slots at the edges of the cover, and it would form a pyramid, with one side open. There was a small note to the effect that the cover was designed in accordance with the Great Pyramids of Egypt. "Use as desired." Rumor had it in those days, that if you put, say, your pot inside a pyramid, it would get stronger. Or something like that. Cool pyramid, though. Groundhogs - Who Will Save The World? Another gatefold album, this one had a flap at the bottom of the front and back. When the flaps were unfolded, it gave the cover the overall dimensions of an oversized comic book. Which it was. A superhero comic running on the front cover, both sides of the inside of the gatefold, and down the back cover. The bottom of the back cover even included the cliche ads for "X-ray specs", etc. Last panel of the comic had the superheroes resuming their secret identities, as a rock band. The final panel was a shot of them in concert. Oh, and it's also a very good album. "Earth Is Not Room Enough" is a great song. And where else can you find an ode to a roll of toilet paper? (Bog Roll Blues) Armageddon - Armageddon. A 1975 album by former Yardbird Keith Relf and others from Captain Beyond, Steamhammer, etc. On the front cover, you see a scene of destruction, stumps of burned out trees, smoke rising in the background, etc. In the foreground are four guys (presumably, the band members?) sitting in a row, on the ground, cross-legged. One appears to be smoking something, holding it in a way that suggests it was a joint. Flip the album over, everything, including the men, are lumps of clay or stone. The men are in roughly the same positions, but you can see the "joint" being passed. You might say, they got "stoned". I'll also mention, when you originally bought that Physical Graffiti album, that piece of white cardstock with the blinds pulled and the album name on one side was all you saw. It's actually one long piece folded in half, the albums in their sleeves with their pictures were inside that fold. So, from the front you saw the album title, on the rear you saw the closed blinds. Only after unpacking, did you discover the different options for the windows. Given each sleeve had pictures on both sides, you had several choices as to how you displayed it.

[@giorgiopalmas7934]

The Wailers had a special cover of Catch A Fire in the shape of a lighter. Some Girls had limited pink vinyl records too.

[@45067daddymac]

I had the “Lotus” album by Santana back in the day. it was a triple LP album with beautiful artwork and, if I remember correctly, a wall poster. wish I still had it.

[@peterx1957]

Lotus has fantastic packaging. Quite lavish. Japanese pressing but of course the Japanese always went over and above with their pressings.

[@iliketowatch.]

"Metal Box" by Public Image Ltd (PiL). The records came in a round metal can (almost like old movie reels).

[@harryberry474]

One of my favorite album covers is Ambrosia "Somewhere I've Never Traveled" folded open to form a pyramid and happens to be one of my all time favorite albums, excellent album.

[@mike196212]

Alice Cooper's KILLER lp is another gem,complete with a fold out of Alice ''hanging'' and a 1972 calendar. My copy of DARK SIDE OF THE MOON had a big poster of the band,some stickers(I think) and a poster of one of the Egyptian pyramids,colored to look green. Still have the pyramid poster somewhere. The 70s definitely was the era of fancy album covers and packaging. Some Jethro Tull lps definitely fit this bill.

[@Channel33RPM]

Good ones!

[@steveread4021]

Thick as a Brick, for example.

[@mike196212]

@@steveread4021 For sure. I think STAND UP actually does with the stand up figures.I think a friend of mine had a copy but not a stand up one.

[@dudleyboycott7331]

pINK fLOYD WELCOME TO THE MACHINE CAME WITH STICKERS

[@beauwilliamson3628]

I had that poster hanging over my bed as a kid - up till I left home

[@xScooterAZx]

Alice Cooper's album "Killer" is their best album cover. It opens up to reveal Alice hanging by a noose against a black bkgrnd that is also a calendar.

[@Channel33RPM]

That is a good one! I was close to showing it. May be good for a part 2. Thanks for watching.

[@jtmichaelson]

The crime of doing this video without mentioning one of the most impressive album covers; Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy. And the Cheech and Chong records were just amazing to have as a kid growing up.

[@blackmore1030]

Another great album cover concept is Hawkwind's Warrior on the Edge of Time. On the front side of the gatefold you can see a warrior with a spear, sitting on a horse standing on the edge of a ravine, and in the background you can see the setting sun. On the backside there's the same image but mirrored and without the warrior. But if you open the gatefold and check the outer side again, it looks like female genitalia, and you may have an idea what the warrior actually is :)

[@mangleman9112]

The original 'Space Ritual' cover opened out into a huge 3 x 2 sized poster of information. One of the pictures was of a womans breast that was 12" record sized. I used to have it but sold it (regrettably) with all my records 5 years ago...

[@merlin5476]

@@mangleman9112 just looked at my one & only just noticed , i thought it was a planet.

[@amarok9097]

Spaceritual is also worth a mention

[@SaintMartins]

My original pressing of Dead Kennedys "Bedtime For Democracy" (1986) 12" album is cool. It's a gate fold & when you open it, the front & back cover exposes the complete album cover art. A very detailed political cartoon style animation with a lot going on. Also inside it contained a folded full size newspaper which contains clippings of "strange stories" Jello Biafra collected over the years.

[@jordielias]

Yes well I also remember Wings' - Venus and Mars as a great album cover together with poster and stickers, also Wings Greatest with a poster included. Pink Floyd also had a great elaborate cover and package containing also stickers and a poster. Let's not forget the 'wish you were here' album package. Those albums were designed by Hipgnosis

[@VMX1.]

Some of the Zep covers were the best....Love them all. I have to add....I love some of the STYX covers and RUSH moving pictures ....they were absolutely the best when you actually looked at them to see the hidden stuff. . All the best Frank Be safe Rod

[@jpbanksnj]

Wow, thanks for the flashback with the KISS records and all of the inserts. I had forgotten how good those packages actually were. Every time I bought a new KISS record, I couldn't wait to open it up and see what kind of fun stuff was inside.

[@Channel33RPM]

Gotta love all those inserts.

[@stacyw.1863]

I remember those and yes I had an interesting taste in music due to am radio. I went through a lot of phases.

[@scottroberts3011]

The Kiss lps up and including Unmasked came with posters, cardboard guns, stickers, etc. They always gave fans something extra as a thank you.

[@kevinthetruckdriver353]

The band Ambrosia's second album *"Somewhere I've Never Travelled"* (produced by Alan Parsons) folded out to formed a pyramid.

[@ettoredivirgilius8789]

Grand Funk Railroad- Shining On Had a 3D cover and glasses

[@DocDoccus]

Part two of this subject might include Rolling Stones - Satanic Majesties.. with the venticular picture, Stones again with Through the Past Darkly with the octagon cut cover, Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself with the mirror on the front, Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery. Probably more if we think hard enuff...

[@Channel33RPM]

Good ones.

[@mtiefen62]

First album I ever bought was Cooper's Schools Out! 😁

[@oldad73]

Someone else mentioned The Who - Live at Leeds. I was lucky enough to be at the recording and bought my copy (with all the inserts) from the Student Union shop and got the cover date stamped. Another 1970 record with cool packaging is Curved Air's Air Conditioning. It was a picture disc - no cover or sleeve just the info incorporated in colours baked into the vinyl itself.

[@pauldegraauw629]

" Ooh La La" from the Faces 😁

[@markmiwurdz202]

@Paul de Graauw. Good call sir! I vaguely remember that you could move the eyes in the face on the cover. The guy on the cover was wearing a top hat and maybe a bow tie/wing collar was just in view. Stay safe and well.

[@memal25]

Such a fun time to be into music! There was never a creative CD package that got me to buy an album.

[@Channel33RPM]

There was a Voivod CD that came with a 3D booklet and glasses that was pretty cool. But that's all I can think of, off the top of my head.

[@BigSky1]

@@Channel33RPM Deluxe CD edition of Loaded by Velvet Underground came with plastic case that makes the smoke ripple as it comes up the subway.

[@charlesdrake3125]

Tool's 10,000 Days cd package included lenses to view the booklet which consists entirely of stereoscopic images.

[@mmcc8657]

I would have to mention Horslips debut album “Happy to meet Sorry to part” with it’s representation of a concertina.

[@raggeragnar]

Hello Frank ! A couple that comes to mind is : Ten years after-”Ssssh” and Johnny Winter and-”Live”. Two with outstanding artwork is : Kool & the gang-”Spirit of the boogie” and The Jimmy Castor bunch-”It’s just begun”. Some of the covers back then had soooo thick cardboard too. Kool & the gang’s - ”Good times” has the thickest ever. Another feature is the gatefold with the opening in the inside middle fold. Kool’s ”Spirit” from above has that , and so does another from Jimmy Castor bunch’s - ”Dimension III”.

[@cazgerald9471]

I don't think I was ever disappointed back then by the albums I decided to buy based solely on their covers.

[@johnnolan4312]

Yes had some killer album cover artwork

[@simonagree4070]

That Bob Marley and The Wailers jacket that was a cigarette lighter, hinged so the top opened up was pretty damn clever.

[@mayorb3366]

The Wall did not have writing on the cover, just bricks. The Wall writing was a paper insert. Several albums used to come with posters inside. Devo had an album with a 45 rpm in addition tucked inside. Styx's Paradise Theater was laser etched on on side. Their Cornerstone album cover had two flaps that opened like doors. I so much miss the old school record stores. It was like going to an art museum, flipping through all the LP's. The cover art was great. Awesome sound system playing new albums by the guy working there, sometimes incense burning. A rack of posters on the wall to flip through. The smell of vinyl. Great days, I'm glad I was there for the ride!

[@pauladouglass9456]

1:43 the Arches on top combined with the angle of the stairs form a “Heart.”

[@alm5693]

I gotta say that the In Through the Out Door hidden cover thing p*ssed the hell out of me. It was a drag for collectors who wanted to be completists. I worked in a record warehouse when that Muscle of Love record came out. If they didn't sell in the store and the unsold copier got returned to the warehouse, chances were about 50/50 that they'd get smashed flat before getting out of the warehouse and into a store again. The original copies of Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star had some nice angles and curves cut into the outside edges of the cover. Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Celebrated Flake Tobacco was a classic of 60's psychedelia and cover design. It was cut as a circle that folded open into five seperate circles with photos and artwork. A total PITA to shelve. Grand Funk's E Pluribus Funk and XTC's Big Express used round covers too. Man - Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day had a pop up cover kind of like Jethro Tull's Stand Up, but the Man cover folded open at the top and bottom to reveal a beautifully illustrated 24"x24" map of Wales with national landmarks and the band's favorite places. Ambrosia - Somewhere I've Never Travelled had a front cover that folded into a pyramid. Surprising that Pink Floyd didn't get there first.

[@Channel33RPM]

I imagine the Muscle of Love records were getting crushed all the time... I wonder what percentage of cartons have survived to this day? I still need one more version of In Through the Out Door to complete my 6....

[@matthewhood7844]

Narrowly missing the 70s was an album from the Bonzo Dog band in 1969 called Tadpoles. It had a die-cut cover where the image would change when you pulled out the inner sleeve. One person's eyes moved, musical notes went by, etc.

[@peterhornett1219]

Have read through the comments to check if all of the record covers I have or know of have been covered. As a (now retired) graphic designer I was always interested in creative covers, though that's never stopped me from enjoying great music with awful covers (perhaps that's another video!). Two great ones that have been missed are the first Roger Dean cover by dutch band Earth and Fire, their first self titled album, with the roots intricately cut out. The other is Curved Air's 'Second Album' with all the rainbow coloured quarter circles cut out which you could fold out and never get them to fold back correctly! The Jefferson Airplane albums Bark and Long John Silver are good too. Also, Warhol of course did a 'dummy run' of the Sticky Fingers cover with The Velvet Underground's first album a few years earlier with the peelable banana. Through the 70's I loved the covers but hated the imperfect vinyl format, so when the cd format came out I transferred. There are mini-lp versions (mainly Japanese) of nearly all of the covers mentioned in the video and comments. They've even managed to source the original mottled card stock used on the original vinyl version of Camel's Moonmadness. I do think there have been some superb cd packaging releases in their own right too, some Bjork ones and Steven Wilson's limited box set of 'The Future Bites' which lampoons the whole album packaging concept.

[@Channel33RPM]

Awful covers would be a fun video!

[@steves7896]

I like what the Pet Shop Boys did with the CD jewel case for Very, the opaque orange and the dot pattern in relief. I'm not much of a listener for PSBs and orange isn't my favorite color but this was way ahead in design compared to everything else on the shelf, refreshing to see something truly creative and different.

[@baldvale5418]

Hakwinds Warrior on the edge of time opened out to form the warrior's shield. Also another Alice Cooper album was the brilliant "From The Inside" with the door opening on the inside cover to reveal Alice in his padded cell.

[@BigSky1]

Hawkwind In Search Of Space with Hawkwind Log.

[@iliketowatch.]

The first album by The Tubes (1975) didn't have any fancy cutouts or anything , but the picture on the front made it look like the album was ripped open. (The back cover was very intriguing, too, especially to teenage boys like myself.)

[@CanadianCharlie64]

The building used on the Physical Graffiti cover was used in the video "Waiting on a Friend" by the Rolling Stones

[@DoomTownGrafx]

The Doors album Full Circle (post Morrison) came with a Zoetrope that you could assemble. Not many people know about this because nobody bought the album. Jefferson Airplane album Long John Silver folded up into a stash box. The Velvet Underground album cover had a peelable banana.

[@BaconTomatoCheese]

Who could forget Jefferson Airplane’s Long John Silver? Packaging looks like an old time cigar box that you could fold along perforations to create a cigar box, and inside you would see these big giant cigars, and if you removed that inner record sleeve, the entire bottom was covered in some really fine looking weed. I actually bought a reprint of this not that long ago - in green vinyl, no less. Only played it once - to burn it down to a cd. And no, I didn’t turn it into a cigar box

[@macxgeek]

Sweet - Give Us a Wink - 1976

[@mangleman9112]

The original Pink Floyd 'wish You Were Here album had the cardboard sleeve with pictures depicting a scarf blowing in the wind and another image on the flip side of a burning man handshaking another man in somewhere like a film studio with one edge of the picture looking burnt away. But it was wrapped in black polythene with the wish you were here logo sticker stuck to it. It was actually 'sealed' and if the record shop you brought it from was good enough, the display one obviously had the LP removed from it, but the ones under the counter to sell were still sealed for you to carefully open the record with a sharp knife so as to not damage the black polythene...

[@jackwezesa1081]

It also had two stickers which got left on a window shade in an old apartment!

[@YoungLPLovers]

The Wailers “Catch a fire” (1973) has a great zippo design that opens like a zippo lighter. And “Rastaman vibration” has a burlap cover that is “great for cleaning herb” 😃

[@scottroberts3011]

That Wailers album cover was so fragile it began coming apart after a few repeated openings. Now it's worth big money cuz none survived.

[@kentgoodall2516]

I was going to say the same thing about catch a fire great looking zippo I have the Rastaman Vibration burlap copy it's a gem to own and is not cheap to purchase if u find a copy

[@kguy2know]

The person in the photo Sticky Fingers was Joe Dalesandro, he was one of the regulars around Andy Warhol's factory. He was in several Any Warhol movies. Gr8 video

[@usurper001]

Faust s/t 1971, clear thick poly printed outer sleeve, clear plastic printed lyric sheet, clear poly protective inner sleeve and clear vinyl.

[@thetubesrock]

Thanks for the great video Frank! All I can say is "Ah, those were the days!"

[@Channel33RPM]

Glad you dug it!

[@ROBBBBBB]

The Velvet Underground & Nico Banana Sticker gimmick is my all time favorite, but that's 3 years earlier.

[@Blade-420]

the album cover at 3:45 ia a VERY nice package! 🤪

[@butterbagboy]

The Cheech and Chong record big bambu with the giant rolling paper was a good one

[@BigSky1]

Tim Buckley Greetings From LA with push out postcard cover

[@stevepovkov9259]

I have the Grand Funk album " Shine On " with the 3D glasses on the cover still.

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

And the buildings on St. Marks' is where the Stones "Waiting on a Friend" video was filmed.

[@Channel33RPM]

Yes!

[@ChrisMezzolesta]

The School's Out concept had been done the previous year by Hotlegs, later to become 10cc, on their first & only album "Thinks: School Stinks" on Philips in the UK, Capitol in the US. OH and how about The Who Live at Leeds with all the reprints of the contracts & other paperwork, and ELP's triple live LP with the huge letters E L and P as the gatefold to hold the discs!

[@tihzho]

I had all of them when they came out

[@drmbgls1]

That's why I love albums. They try to do it with CDs, but not enough room for an album cover you could take out and open up.

[@alm5693]

XTC did some fun things with 3" CDs. They presented the whole Oranges and Lemons album as three 3" CDs packaged in a box that looked like a playing cards box. The "King For A Day" CD 4-song single came out in a crown shaped box with a slide out insert that held the 3" CD. My copy of it has cat tooth holes at the base of the crown. XTC was too close to the floor.

[@johnpace5774]

Pretty much anything by Roger Dean: Gentle Giant's Octopus is a particular favourite!

[@markusallport1276]

Elton john Captain Fantastic and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, both very good packaging.

[@bugradio]

Okay, Three I'd put on this list, counting down: 3) Jefferson AIrplane - Long John Silver (1972) If you liked Alice Cooper's "School's Out" desk, don't sleep on the Airplane's stash box album jacket. I think this was the last Airplane record before Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship when their separate ways. 2) Pink Floyd - WIsh You Were Here (1975) Another great hipgnosis cover. Four images on the jacket and sleeve that evoke the theme of "absence" AND the four elements while ALSO breaking the fourth wall. The image of the diver in a reflective lake was also put on a postcard packed with the LP! The opaque black plastic it shipped in? The robot handshake artwork on the label? It all adds up to the best Floyd album presentation of the 70s - even though Dark Side, Animals, and The Wall could all be on this list, too. 1) YES - YESSONGS (1973) A triple-live album in a quad-fold cover! It features FOUR different Roger Dean landscapes, three of which are presented on the fold-outs so they're nice and big. You have to hold it in your hands and check it out to get the full effect. Don't overlook the innersleeves. While simple compared to something like Physical Graffiti or Wish You Were Here, the iconic Yes bubble logo (one of the top 10 band logos of all time) at the head of a blank sheet is tasteful. What if you were one of the kids who bought this behemoth but hadn't seen the band live yet? Well, they included a full-color concert program full of pics of the band playling live! Before KZbin, before MTV, a 70s kid could get this and pretend they were at a Yes concert. Or exploring a universe full of floating islands and alien landscapes. (Either way, they were prolly high AF! Oh, our parents' wayward generation! 😆) There's enough out there to make another list of 10, and if you did, I'd push hard for Yessongs and Wish You Were Here to be on it. Thanks for the vid! I subscribed!

[@brucebernhard8864]

Grand Funk Railroad's Shinin' On was in 3d with 3d glasses to view it with, plus a 3d poster.

[@joannbeiser4907]

Three dog night. Seven separate fools. 7 giant playing cards.

[@drmcallis]

Rick Wakeman's No Earthly Connection with the roll-up reflective cylinder was cool from 1976. I think the US cover pic was different from the UK one, or at least the pic I remember is different from the ones I have found online... Or maybe almost 50 years of time has affected my memory of it, lol.

[@Reynard_11]

I was going to mention this one. I still have my copy & no, all the covers are the same, except for a promo version released in Argentina, which has the same picture, just with a thick silver border around it.

[@scottpawlowski6927]

Rick Wakeman's No Earthly Connection had a distorted picture on the cover and was packaged with a sheet of mylar inside. If you rolled the mylar into a tube & looked at the cover thru it - it made sense.

[@poppaspank]

Throughout the '70s the Warners/Reprise record companies did a series of amazing single and double disc loss-leader sampler albums priced at $1 or $2 dollars. And then there was Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies - a THREE disc, $3 set. A fragile cardboard boxed set you will probably never find in mint condition. It was the first of the series advertised by direct mail with letters sent out to purchasers of the previous albums in the series. It was six sides of music roughly sorted by genre. It came with an 8 page 12"X12" booklet with a full page history of Warners/Reprise records and descriptions of all the music and artists with both portraits and pictures of album covers. All three paper inner sleeves were the identical design advertising the other albums in the loss leader program up to that point. The songs included a few "rarities" as a time when an unreleased Hendrix track was big news. (My personal copy includes such bonus material as the letter advertising it, minus the clip out order form, and the reciept for the $3 money order I bought it with.) Oh, in keeping with the cartoonish title the front featured the Warners cartoon starburst, only with Elmer Fudd dressed as a cop (perhaps to warn off potential bootlegger) and the back the iconic "That's All, Folks!" slogan.

[@cashmoney7660]

Yes, I have that three set, merry melodies album. The box got completely flat in between my other records lol as I remember I think I was a member of a record club and Warner Bros. was using that to promote lesser known artists of the time including Al, Cooper Captain Beefheart, Randy, Newman, etc. I guess I couldn’t pass it up for three bucks.

[@scottroberts3011]

That all started with Frank Zappa's Zapped sampler from the WB/ Reprise acts on his Straight and Bizarre labels. All of those lps included a flyer showing all the sampler lps you mentioned.

[@poppaspank]

@@scottroberts3011 There were two different editions of Zapped, with different covers and half-different track lists - some songs by the same artists changed, some the same. Actually, I think the first of the Warners/Reprise loss leader samplers was a two record set called the 1969 Record Show.

[@scottroberts3011]

@@poppaspank I have both versions of Zapped. One has a picture of Frank's face and the other has a collage of all the artists that are on the records. Both contain the same songs. I'm pretty sure the one with his picture was first. They are both black and white fronts with the same back cover.

[@scottroberts3011]

Actually , I was wrong. I had to look at them to be sure. The collage cover has Zapped in red on the front. The back had small pictures of the artists this time and some of the song were the same, some were different. I should have double checked before I replied to you. I'm sorry - you were right. Thanks.

[@briangreen3281]

Monty Python Instant record collection. The sleeve folded out into a twelve inch cube with the spines of 50 or so fictitious humorous LP'S printed on one side. Placed on your shelf literally an "instant" record collection ! Hawkwind had a number of interesting fold out covers including Warrior on the Edge of Time which opened into a shield. Interesting video the record companies must have had a large design and printing budget. As an aside one of the biggest selling UK 12 inch singles was Blue Monday by New Order. This came in a die cut sleeve made to resemble a floppy disk used in the bands equipment back in the day. Legend has it that the additional packaging costs meant that each record sold at a loss!!!

[@glengreenman3921]

I was hoping he would include the Python album... I've never seen one.

[@herbcraven7146]

A fun one I used to own from the seventies was Keith Moon's lone solo release, "Two Sides of the Moon". The cover featured a close up of Keith riding in the back of an old brougham looking out the window at the camera, wearing a stodgy old suit complete with top hat and cane, looking very upper crusty. The window of the car however was die-cut such that the inner sleeve could be reversed, which would then reveal Keith "mooning" the camera, hence the title.

[@stevieray1507]

Ambrosia - Somewhere I've Never Traveled. This album cover had an extra flap that folded into a pyramid.

[@edvonblue]

Fun episode, thanks for putting this together

[@Channel33RPM]

Glad you dug it!

[@Kanarie1973]

Not from the 70s, but The Beatles White Album! Plain white gatefold sleeve, stamped with a number, inside just black and white pictures and the song titles. Black inner sleeves, bright green Apple logo on the records, four A4-size colour photo's AND a large door poster with weird pictures and the song lyrics. The Beatles were the first with elaborate LP packaging with Sgt. Peppers and continued doing that for the two following LP's (EP in Europe) Magical Mystery Tour and White album.

[@jackwezesa1081]

Top loader!

[@JDoors]

Can't be sure of the release dates but I was young so a long, long time ago; Grand Funk Railroad's Shinin' On 3D cover with punch-out 3D glasses, Jefferson Airplane's Bark with a paper bag-wrapped fish and Long John Silver with a cardboard cigar box, Rolling Stone's Their Satanic Majesties Request with a lenticular 3D image. I had those and most of the others (not Kiss though). It was normal, so I didn't even think to preserve them.

[@MrClamato39]

Alice Cooper From the Inside is pretty much my favorite.

[@Channel33RPM]

That is a killer package.

[@chriskowaleski2717]

Great video Frank! Love this topic. My version of KISS Originals is much different than yours. Mine opens up to a folder-like gatefold that stores the 3 vinyls. You should do a few more videos like this.

[@Channel33RPM]

Thanks Chris! That was one of the biggest differences between the US and CDN versions of The Originals (the folder gatefold vs this one). The US also got the cooler record labels (I should have show the label on these ones).

[@countessdelancret2447]

I found Alice coppers schools out and zeppelin III when I was a kid before those old records became extremely pricey. I was always so happy as a kid to find all the interesting secrets records of the 70’s held

[@BigSky1]

The Who Odds And Sods with Braille back cover and cut out front.

[@tdjonline6926]

You covered the corporate rock covers (Alice Cooper, KIss) pretty well, but completely missed some of the best. Jefferson Airplane"s Bark was certainly the most extravagant. THe whole package came wrapped in a large brown paper bag and contained a large folded poster. Their next album (Long John Silver) had a cover that could be folded into a stash box, the inside bottom of which had a great photo of what you were stashing. And nearly every Yes album had great artwork. In fact the loss of large album covers was the single thing I missed from the transition from LPs to CDs.

[@StarionX]

Cat Stevens' Buddah and the Chocolate box was neat. On the back was some comic about a kid remembering the chocolate he once had some time ago. On the inside, was the "box" in the comic. When you slid the liner jacket out (which the opening was on the inside, by the way), it was a tray of chocolates with one of them opened. Not as creative as most of the ones in this video, but I always thought this was pretty cute.

[@theferryman]

Youmissed the all-time best creative record packaging of the 70's - Cheech & Chong's Big Bambu. Those of us who owned said LP know exactly why. ;)

[@AdventureIndiana]

Anyone remember when Napster was a thing? I love music, but Napster never appealed to me cause I missed getting a CD with the “album art” and insert. I was always let down when bands did not have something extra to look at when I would listen to cd first time thru. I grew up in early 80’s and I remember some actual albums, but my hey day was the 90’s. Kids now don’t know what they are missing. Downloaded music will never be anywhere as cool as a physical copy in an amazing sleeve with lyrics, pics and art

[@dranet47]

Three Dog Night had some interesting ones too.

[@mangleman9112]

Anyone remember 'Monty Python's Instant Record Collection' that opened out into a 12" cube that mimicked a 12" wide record collection with the side edge looking like the edges of loads of records?

[@mikeables]

Gatefolds were nice because in the 70s our weed had a lot of seeds and stems. If you open the gate fold and dump out a 1/4 in there. Then make a ramp by lifting one side just enough for the seeds to roll down. Use the hard flap of your rolling paper package to push the weed around and flick any big stems that would poke a hole in your paper. The seeds popped like popcorn so they were a real downer. Try to clean your weed with your supplier so if there is too many seeds you can ask for a discount or an extra pinch of weed to make it up. My favorite album to clean my weed was Puff the Magic Dragon children's record. I just thought that was funny enough to start the giggles. I had album posters on my walls and album cover art by Roger Dean displayed in my room. Once I hit 20years old that life was gone. I became a chef working 70 hr weeks in a drug free environment. Now I am almost retired and look back and giggle and shake my head. Still love those old records and the music.

[@BigSky1]

The Faces, Ooh La La with push cover.

[@steves7896]

On the flip side of the coin, one of my biggest pet peaves with jacket designs is the same image repeated over and over throughout the packaging. The image on the front is repeated on the back and for CDs it's repeated inside on the gate fold and it's repeated behind the disc and finally, its on the disc. Surely, even if your graphic artist is fresh out of highschool, you can muster up a little more imagination than that. Stryper did this with their album The Covering (a KILLER album btw!) and a lot of the cheap, no-name 'record companies' do this with old repop stuff. Joe Satriani did a nice letter die-cut with his Shockwave Supernova, good colors too.

[@steeleslicer1217]

Years before Physical Graffiti, The Doors LA Woman album had a cutout on the front with a clear plastic window with a portrait of the band, It shipped with a plain yellow inner sleeve behind the window, but after you pulled it out, the other side had artwork depicting christ crucified on a telephone pole. Definitely upset a few people, which Jim Morrison was great at!

[@1967foghorn]

Cheech and Chongs ''Sleeping Beauty'' was great! Shaped like a huge pill. Big Bamboo with the rolling paper. The Wedding album....I guess they all were pretty much good