7 inner gatefolds that invigorate the vinyl experience.
Let me tell you about one thing you don’t get on Spotify, the inner gatefold.
Around the time of the White Album, the idea that a rock band didn’t need to have a picture of themselves on the cover began to take hold. This wasn’t a new idea, jazz artists had been doing it for a while.
As rock bands began to move away from an indifferent group shot to something more expressive, the packaging was an opportunity for something big and bold.
The extra space resulted in some pictorial splendour. Here are seven of my favourites.
Beggars Banquet — The Rolling Stones
The outside cover comes in two varieties. The first, a bathroom cubicle covered in graffiti, was rejected by the record company. It was replaced with the innocuous white cover with band and title in cursive script. While the rejected bathroom hardly seems that risque today, the real treasure is the inner gatefold.
The Stones are hosting their own beggars banquet, sprawled across the table in bacchanalian splendour, a fitting visual companion to the music within.
Sympathy for the devils, indeed.
Something / Anything? — Todd Rundgren
The first “bedroom” rockstar?
“Something / Anything?” is the zenith of such attempts. A double album where Todd plays everything, at least on the first three sides.
Including his greatest moment, “I Saw the Light”, the album is a great achievement of solo initiative.
Triumphantly, Todd stands with his back to the camera, arms raised in victory, surrounded by an array of musical instruments, all of which he no doubt plays at some point.
Sunfighter — Grace Slick & Paul Kantner
The cover, which is probably more famous than the music contained within, features China Kantner held aloft above an ocean; orange in the impending sunset. A yin to the yang of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” cover.
The inner gatefold is a definitive slice of “how did they do that?” psychedelia. While the infinite possibilities of digital design lead inexorably to homogenisation, the limited mechanics of lighting and optics facilitated a different kind of invention.
If mechanical graphic invention is your thing, I recommend tracking down the “Bonus Material” DVD release of 2001: A Space Oddysey. It includes a mini documentary on the making of the “Beyond the Infinite” sequence.
How Dare You!— 10CC
One of Hipgnosis’ wittiest reflections on modern living, the inner gatefold featuring EVERYONE on the telephone. A prescient observation of the direction electronic communications might be heading in.
A quick scan of the crowd reveals all the band members, the cast from the main cover and a helluva lot of smoking going on.
Venus and Mars — Paul McCartney and Wings
The first real rock record I ever owned. From a young age I wondered about the meaning of this enigmatic gatefold, particularly the significance of the two billiard balls on the sand in front of the group.
Little did I know this was the beginning of my journey into the world of Hipgnosis.
Having become an Hipgnosis aficianado, it appears the meaning is no deeper than “balls”.
Close to the edge — Yes
The cover of Close to the Edge seems to be at odds with everything Yes stands for. It’s simple and soothing, a green as grass. Surely this is some kind of mistake?
Not at all.
The Roger Dean extravaganza has been saved for the inner gatefold. Looking for a gravity defying, over blown, caterwauling, prehistoric futurist, fantasy landscape? You’ve come to the right place.
And no, I’ve got no idea what it’s all about, either.
Alive II — KISS
Just in case you were in any doubt as to what KISS was all about.
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