Hall of Fame - Die Cut Covers

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Die Cut Covers

Die cutting of the cover image or inserts is probably the most common technique employed to create gimmick covers. It's probably also in most cases the cheapest.

There are thousands of die cut covers. Here are a few of the more popular and best known releases.

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Release Details

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	Artist	Album	Features
	Small Faces	Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake	1968.06 Circular die cut cover in the shape of a tobacco tin.
	The Soft Machine	Self Titled	1968.12 Wheels within wheels.
	Jethro Tull	Stand Up	1969.08 Pop up interior die cut image of the boys.
	The Rolling Stones	Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2)	1969.12 Octagonal gatefold. This also warrants a mention due to it's unique obi strip. The 'strip' is 2 and a half times the width of the album cover allowing for the obi proper on the left hand side and a fold over flap for containing the paper foldout.
	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin III	1970.10 Very busy looking die cut cover with a cardboard wheel of images (many of faces of the band members). As the wheel is turned the images come and go in the die cut holes. Arguably a bit too close in concept to "The Soft Machine" (see above).
	The Doors	L A Woman	1971.04 Large die cut hole. Band members printed onto a plastic sheet which is glued into the hole. The yellow background created by the plain yellow side of the inner sleeve. The German version from 2000 is shown here which is apparently identical to the Japanese from the same year. The Japanese version is simply a repackage with obi and lyric booklet included.
	Curved Air	Second Album (UK)	1971.09 A simple but effective die-cut cover, the rainbow on the front cover is made from layered die cut folds.
	Banco del Mutuo Soccorso	Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (1972)	1972.01 One of the oddest covers of all time - very hard to find the original vinyl cover for this due it being about 25% wider and 50% higher than the contents.
	Traffic	Low Spark of High Heeled Boys	1971.11 The first of two mock-3-dimensional cubes. The illusion (pretty unconvincing) was created using a combination of graphics and the diagonal chops of the top right and bottom left of the front cover. (1973.01 Their next album (Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory) was also cut to the same shape.)
	Family	Bandstand	1972.09 Die cut television set cut out. (Mini LP also has unusual diagonally cut obi.)
	Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso	Io Sono Nato Libero	1973 Elaborate die cut cover with multiple foldouts.
	Cervello	Melos	1973 Die cut tin can on the front cover showing the band members inside.
Not available as a mini LP	Alice Cooper	Billion Dollar Babies	1973.03 The inside of this embossed gatefold cover (a replica of a snake skin wallet) included a slot containing a largish folded billion dollar note. The other side included picture cards, perforated so that they could be removed (the purpose of removing them is unclear).
	The Raspberries	Side 3	1973.09 Die cut into the shape of a bowl of raspberries. The front cover is half sized (just the bowl part). The bowl is also embossed.
	Grand Funk Railroad	Shinin' On	1974.03 3D cover with a die cut pair of 3D glasses!
	Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM)	L'Isola di niente	1974.04 (approx) Die cut whole in the middle shows an idylic tropical island. When removed the island is replaced with an image of desolation and destruction (the reality behind the illusion).
	The Who	Odds and Sods	1974.09 Die cut rips in the front cover.
	Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM)	The World Became the World	1974.late (approx) Similar to the original Italian release but includes a stand up cut out of the volcano.
	Led Zeppelin	Physical Grafitti	1975.02 In a similar vain to their earlier Led Zeppelin III this chunky double album has lots of windows with lots of images of ... windows some with letters of the alphabet superimposed on them. Sounds a bit droll overall the effect is worthwhile.
	Thin Lizzy	Jailbreak	1976.03 Die Cut window in cover reveals cartoon picture of the band.
	Rolling Stones	Some Girls	1978.06 Sort of a cross between Led Zeppelin's III and Physical Grafitti. The evenlyspaced die cut holes highlight the faces on the inner sleeve. Early editions included Marilyn Monroe, Lucy Ball and other notables who (or their estates) decided they did not want their images included. Enough copies of the album were released before recall to make the originals less than collectible.
	Rolling Stones	Some Girls	1978.06 As with Led Zeppelin's (later) In Through The Out Door there were a number of variations in the cover (not just the fact that it was recalled. The image here on the left shows one of the Girls versions (an original vinyl version with original inner sleeve) along side the 2005 Japanese mini LP.
	Godley & Creme	Ismism	1981 The band's name and the album's title are created entirely from die cut holes in the front cover relying on there being an inner sleeve or a shadowy interior to create the text.
	The Jam	Dig The New Breed	1982.10 Center die cut in the cover that shows the vinyl label, also the inner sleeve have the die cut. Not all versions of this LP were released this way.
	XTC	The Big Express	1984.10 Large steam train wheel style die cut cover. Side loading cover with top loading inner.

(Created : 2009 Jan 04 by sam2095; Last mod: 2010 Oct 17 by sam2095)

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