GIMMICK: Gatefold sleeve

OHIO PLAYERS: GREATEST HITS

The gatefold sleeve was invented by stereo recording innovator Enoch Light, whose liner-note verbosity could not be confined to a single LP cover. Each track on an Enoch Light album was described in loving detail, noting the placement of instruments in the stereo spectrum. Here's one of the shorter entries from Provocative Percussion Volume 2:

This original tune [...] is designed to feature two bongos which provide the initial balance checkout, one on the left, the other on the right. Again it is essential to reproduce the delicate difference in sound quality between the two bongos - the one on the right has a relatively fat sound, the one on the left is lighter. The sixteen-bar bongo challenge at the end of the first chorus provides an excellent opportunity for adjusting equipment, spotting any discrepancies in balance. In the second chorus, with the full band roaring away, gentle piano licks peep through the turmoil form the left - be sure you get them cleanly and fully. And in the crescendo of sound with which the piece comes to a climax, there is a cymbal tag which should not be masked or fuzzed by the loud sound which surrounds its entry.

Other artist were more interested in the pictorial possibilities of the gatefold sleeve. Seventies funk band The Ohio Players were masters of the provocative gatefold, often involving a naked model. No nudity to speak of here, still I think this is one of their finest covers and certainly the most clever. The woman's bald head is a little unusual but there's nothing especially startling about this image... until you open up the sleeve: