Goodness Gracious Inner Gatefold!
Collage of inner gatefolds inside Pink Floyd’s The Wall
Great inner gatefolds are often overlooked, overshadowed as they are by their outer counterparts. The cover of the first album (designed by Barney Bubbles) by prog rock band Gracious! features nothing but an exclamation mark on a white background, which does little to prepare you for its glorious pop art inner gatefold (below). Many inner gatefolds feature saucy designs, perhaps being able to get away with more than their more conventional outer relatives (and not just inner gatefolds – look at the inner sleeve of Bummed by the Happy Mondays). Some of the best inner (and outer) gatefolds were designed in the 1970s, when prog rock was in full swing and rock was at its most decadent and outrageous, with bands like Yes and Led Zeppelin and artists like Santana (Lotus) and Miles Davis (Bitches Brew) producing beautiful and outrageous music to match their beautiful and outrageous gatefolds.
Pink Floyd, The Wall; inner sleeve by Gerald Scarfe
Gracious! by Barney Bubbles
Hawkwind, Space Ritual, also by Barney Bubbles
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Tarkus
The Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request
Red Rose Speedway by Wings has a terrible front and back cover but an inner gatefold by Allen Jones and Eduardo Paolozzi.