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One of the Greatest Things About Hard Media is Their Packaging


I'm thinking mainly of entertaining advantages that the packaging of musical recordings have over their streaming counterparts, but I think the same is true for hard media for film and TV. For example, the first release of The Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers" album had a real, working zipper glued into the cover photo of Mick Jagger's crotch. On the LP release of another Stones album, "Their Satanic Magesties' Request," there was a plastic prism-y slate glued to the cover, right over the photo of the band, making it look like their eyes were following you. The cover for the LP, "The Velvet Underground & Nico," was created by Andy Warhol, who discovered the Lou Reed-fronted band. The cover was all white, except for a big yellow banana right in the center. In small type next to the banana was written "Peel slowly and see." The banana peel was actually glued over Warhol's painting of the fruit beneath! (The album was released in a time people believed they could get high by smoking bananas.)

What are your examples? And has anybody noticed how much digital movie packaging has declined? DVDs were a big deal when they first appeared, with elaborate packaging including real booklets, quality artwork, and, rarely, secondary recordings related to the reason why you bought the movie. For example, the DVD release of "Forbidden Planet," which featured Robbie the Robet, included an hour-long recording of a network TV show in which Robbie was a guest star!

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"(The album was released in a time people believed they could get high by smoking bananas.)"

What you said just reminded me of that album we had.... Cheech & Chong. The one that had the big paper for rolling a joint included in it. I forget the name of the album..... too much pot! My memory is all shot to shit!

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Big Bambu
I own a copy of that record
Still have gigantic rolling paper as well
Good stuff!

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We use to have that......Big Bambu.... Rolling paper and all....
GOOD STUFF!
Now what the hell were we talking about?

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Im too high for this lol;)

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My sister had a copy of that Sticky Fingers original release with the working zipper!

She also had Led Zeppelin III, the one whose cover had an inner revolving part you could turn to see different images appear in the cutouts.

Also, speaking of cut-outs, she had the original Sgt Peppers album with all the cardboard pieces, like a mustache, epaulets, etc.

I bought a singles collection by The Police that was a pack containing all their 45s up to that point, in picture sleeves with colored vinyl.

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Not quite as crazy as the examples you gave, but I remember Led Zep's Physical Graffiti double album had an outside sleeve that was a picture of an apartment building. The building's windows were cut out to reveal the letters comprising the album title on the inner sleeve. Pretty cool stuff, to say nothing of the music.

I'm all digital these days, so I don't even see the packaging anymore.

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The one and only album from Blind Faith (an amalgam of members of Cream and Traffic) had a very controversial cover featuring a completely nude young lady who looked to be about 13. There was a strategic, concealing pattern printed on the shrink-wrap that enclosed the album when displayed in stores, protecting her modesty. The moment you unwrapped it, her modesty was gone.

Two Jim Cameron/Arnold Schwarzenegger films had DVD releases in elegant slip cases, each containing two discs: one for the movie, the other chockablock with special features. The Ultimate Edition Terminator 2 included footage not released in theaters and a complete documentation of (to quote the package) "every aspect of . . . [the] filmmaking process, from makeup to visual effects." It was like a film school in a can. The other slipcase release, Predator, had a much nicer slipcase, but not as dense a package of extras, but shared T2's premium benefits of THX mastering and DTS 6.1-channel sound. I will always pay extra for DTS sound.

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I don't like fancy packaging. They don't fit into my CD/DVD shelf. I prefer cheapo regular plastic case, in standard size.

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The old original album DEJA VU by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had a faux leather cover, a kind of embossed cardboard, with elegant titles inserted and an old sepia-type photo of the band as if they were Civil War characters. Then the fold-out inner sleeve had all kinds of nice photos of the band and guests. One of the better presentations from back in the day.

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Thank you for that. We have gained convenience. We have lost charm.

I believe that the world is worse than it once was.

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Nine Inch Nails tends to have interesting packaging, and one of the CD's had color-changing ink on it so it would change from the heat of playing it.

As for movies, I love good cover art, and especially steelbooks.

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