Growing up, my Dad had the Bee Gees album ‘Life In A Tin Can’ (see pictured) with the Gibb brothers peeking out from the mouthhole of a can of fizzy pop. Not particularly creative, but it caught my imagination more than the music on the disc inside. My best friend’s older sister had Led Zep III with the volvelle of images visible through the front cover. She also had Physical Graffiti with the die cut windows, and probably also In Through the Out Door with all its shenanigans.
Music packaging that stands out from the average intrigued me from then on. Browsing the racks, a variant on the simple cardboard obviously gives it more prominence, whether it’s Blue Monday’s floppy disc mimicry, Small Faces, PIL or Status Quo’s use of metal boxes to transport their musical delights or even Vini Reilly’s ‘joy for the record collector’ of a sleeve made of sandpaper.
I’ll post my favourite in the first comment, but what’s your own favourite ‘alternative’ packaging? Have I missed out on some famous examples?
