Gatefold albums
 

Just wondered if anyone knew when the gatefold albums were first introduced. Did it go back to the 1950s? I never owned any Fleetwood Mac in record format but it would have been nice to collect them. I never knew Penguin was originally gatefold record and to see the photo of the band in color was great. That is one of my favorite pictures of the band and to see it in color was impressive. Were any of the other Fleetwood Mac albums between 1967 and 1975 also gatefolds?

i read somewhere "sgt. pepper" having been the first foldout in pop music that hasn't been a double - don't know about other musical genres. although i know about foldout ALBUMS for multiple 78 shellacks in the 40s, but that's a different story.
the first mac album in a gatefold sleeve was definitely "mr. wonderful" followed by "then play on" and "kiln house". i'm not very much in the know about later on.

Beatles For Sale is gatefold from 1964. I'm sure there were earlier similar covers. While the front cover of BFS doesn't have an "album slot" it nonetheless opens out and the record goes in the inside of the back cover. An unusual design but probably not without precedent.

i stand corrected, ash - "sgt. pepper's" is definitely out of the race!
more on the "who came first" question of this subject here:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...rock-lp.10642/

Their other non-compilation gatefold lps are PENGUIN, MYSTERY TO ME, and FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE.

Non-Pop wise: All of the London Phase 4 Stereo lps of the early '60s (1961-63) were gatefolds with stuff about the board and channels used. The English Decca editions weren't but had that info on an insert. Later the Phase 4s were no longer gatefolds in the U.S. either. I didn't know about Beatles For Sale being gatefold, if it was the Parlophone lp that would be a very early use of it in England. By the late '60s and early '70s it seemed rare for an lp to not be gatefold or other fold out configurations.

here you can check out what the uk parlophone foldout looks like (click "more images"):
https://www.discogs.com/The-Beatles-...elease/8524587
and this sleeve was continued at least until 1969.