OSR’s Vinyl 101: Your Guide To Album Cover Types
You may think album covers are pretty straightforward. But then a new limited edition record comes out with a special gatefold sleeve, and you wonder what that’s all about. In this blog we’ll go over the differences between all the different types of our favorite musical artpieces, the album cover.
Gatefold Covers
Gatefold covers are actually very straightforward: if an album cover can open like a book, it is termed a Gatefold cover. Gatefold covers are pretty common for deluxe/limited edition versions of albums and albums consisting of multiple records, and the interior of the gatefold is often filled with detailed artwork.
The Rolling Stones - More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)
This Rolling Stones album features a gatefold that expands on the cover photo, and includes several photos from their tours over the years
Gatefold covers can range from straightforward and simple to very elaborate, with cut-outs and interactive elements.
Melanie Martinez - K-12
The gatefold on this Melanie Martinez album acts like a pop-up book when opened
Unipak Covers
Unipak covers are a little more uncommon, especially for albums made after the mid-80s. They were often used as a more cost-effective option than gatefolds, for albums that still had a variety of artwork to display. Unipaks consist of a thinner cover page, which opens up to a standard gatefold-style interior.
Melanie - Garden In The City
This unipak swapped the typical full front cover with a cutout of the city skyline, with additional albums available on the inside of the cover page
The big difference between Unipak covers and other album covers is the way the records are stored. The opening for inserting a record on Unipak covers is on the inside of a cover, next to the spine. While this does make records more secure, over the years it can do quite a bit of damage to the cover and spine, which makes them even tougher to come by in good condition over the decades.
Generic Covers
Generic covers are still used to this day, even though you may not be aware of them. Oftentimes for releases of single records or used to house picture discs, Generic covers are usually non-descript and mass produced in order to fit a variety of releases.
Katrina & The Waves - That’s The Way
These generic covers can still be purchased to this day
When singles saw a surge in popularity due to the disco craze record labels saw this as an opportunity to showcase the style of music. Generic covers began to be more vibrant and elaborate, while still able to fit a variety of albums.
Aleese Simmons - I Want To Be Your Lover (Single)
Some examples of more lively generic covers
From the 80s on, generic covers are usually inscribed with the name of the record label in order to serve as a reminder of their roster of artists, while keeping some unique designs to them.
Richard Simmons - Wake Up (Single)
Label-specific covers
