The Unipak, Who Came Up with that Idea?
Jon C. Pennington
After looking over some of the records in my collection, I noticed that
I have acquired several with a Unipak cover. The Unipak was a packaging
innovation developed in the late 1960s, but I have no idea why. Instead
of a standard LP jacket with an opening on the right, the Unipak is
like a gatefold LP jacket, but with a cover made of thin cardboard
that can be flipped open to reveal an opening near the spine of the
gatefold. In other words, the LP jacket has an opening on the left near
the spine of the gatefold, instead of on the right. Does anybody why
this came into existence? I can't see why. If you collect 1960s or
1970s rock, a lot of albums with Unipak covers have totally shredded
spines, because the record exerts too much pressure on the spine.
Anyhow, here's a partial list of Unipak albums in my collection:
Mort Garson, Signs of the Zodiac: Scorpio
Blue Cheer, Outsideinside
The Nazz, The Nazz
Tonto's Expanding Headband, Zero Time
Kaleidoscope, Incredible Kaleidoscope
The Blues Magoos, Basic Blues Magoos
Can anybody else think of any other interesting albums packaged in the
Unipak format?
Just wondering,
Jon C. Pennington
Julian Woodell
Jon C. Pennington <jpen...@uclink4.Berkeley.edu> wrote in article <3569C0...@uclink4.Berkeley.edu>...
> After looking over some of the records in my collection, I noticed that
> I have acquired several with a Unipak cover. The Unipak was a packaging
> innovation developed in the late 1960s, but I have no idea why.
Elvis's Golden Records was released in this sort of cover in the UK in the late 50s
though I suspect unipack is an American invention.
Personally I like the packaging, It had lots of potential for imaginative artwork
and also gave the record inside a little extra protection against dust.
My Personal favouorite is thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak"
Where the front cover is cut out in the shape of a TV monitoe to reveal
part of the artwork on the inside sleeve
Fred Povey
In article <3569C0...@uclink4.Berkeley.edu>, "Jon C. Pennington"
<jpen...@uclink4.Berkeley.edu> wrote:
> After looking over some of the records in my collection, I noticed that
> I have acquired several with a Unipak cover. The Unipak was a packaging
> innovation developed in the late 1960s, but I have no idea why. Instead
> of a standard LP jacket with an opening on the right, the Unipak is
> like a gatefold LP jacket, but with a cover made of thin cardboard
> that can be flipped open to reveal an opening near the spine of the
> gatefold. In other words, the LP jacket has an opening on the left near
> the spine of the gatefold, instead of on the right. Does anybody why
> this came into existence? I can't see why. If you collect 1960s or
> 1970s rock, a lot of albums with Unipak covers have totally shredded
> spines, because the record exerts too much pressure on the spine.
Record companies are forever looking for ways to make their products
lighter, so they're cheaper to ship; thinner, so more of them will fit in a
box or on a dealer's shelf; and prettier, so they'll be more attractive to
buyers. The Unipak was (and in CD format, still is) an attempt to do all
three of these things. An LP in a Unipak jacket weighs less and is thinner
than an LP in a regular gatefold jacket. Also, since the front cover, back
cover and inside right cover are all on the same side of the same piece of
cardboard, it's cheap to print full color on all three of those panels,
allowing for some eye-catching packages.
So that's why the Unipak came about. But as you note, it doesn't stand up
well over the years. The pressure-on-the-spine problem is bad enough with
regular LP covers, but on a Unipak cover the record can shred all four
edges of the cover, not just three. The glue they used on Unipaks tended to
come undone. And it's just awkward to pull the record out from the middle
of the album instead of the outside edge.
Be that as it may, there are still people in the industry who are itching
to package all CDs and cassettes in thin Unipak-style sleeves instead of
jewel cases and Norelco boxes. They get all excited when they think about
lower shipping costs, and as long as the product looks good on store
shelves, they don't care what it looks like five years later.
Matt Tulini
That kind of jacket is the dumbest idea I've ever seen. I don't have any in
my collection, but I know "Waiting For The Sun" by the Doors came out like
that. The version I have is the normal gatefold, though.
Matt
Jon C. Pennington wrote:
> After looking over some of the records in my collection, I noticed that
> I have acquired several with a Unipak cover. The Unipak was a packaging
> innovation developed in the late 1960s, but I have no idea why. Instead
> of a standard LP jacket with an opening on the right, the Unipak is
> like a gatefold LP jacket, but with a cover made of thin cardboard
> that can be flipped open to reveal an opening near the spine of the
> gatefold. In other words, the LP jacket has an opening on the left near
> the spine of the gatefold, instead of on the right. Does anybody why
> this came into existence? I can't see why. If you collect 1960s or
> 1970s rock, a lot of albums with Unipak covers have totally shredded
> spines, because the record exerts too much pressure on the spine.
Leonard Los
>
>Can anybody else think of any other interesting albums packaged in the
>Unipak format?
>
> Just wondering,
>
> Jon C. Pennington
Here are a few that I have:
"In My Own Dream" - Butterfield Blues Band
"Earth Opera" (Ist lp)
"Wild In The Streets" - Soundtrack
"Good Morning Starshine" - Strawberry Alarm Clock
"Ball " - Iron Butterfly
"Best Of" - Tommy James & The Shondells
"Time-Peace - The Rascals
L.L.
M. Nail
other Unipak record: John Cage, Concerto for Prepared Piano & Orchestra
(Nonesuch). it's such a pain to get the record in/out!
-- mn...@u.washington.edu --- --
- visit the Casio SK-1 homepage http://weber.u.washington.edu/~mnail/sk.html
i thought everyone on this list was one of those 303 fans....
-Alex Mauer, on Analogue Heaven
Bob Northcott
Jon C. Pennington wrote:
> Anyhow, here's a partial list of Unipak albums in my collection:
>
> Mort Garson, Signs of the Zodiac: Scorpio
> Blue Cheer, Outsideinside
> The Nazz, The Nazz
> Tonto's Expanding Headband, Zero Time
> Kaleidoscope, Incredible Kaleidoscope
> The Blues Magoos, Basic Blues Magoos
>
> Can anybody else think of any other interesting albums packaged in the
> Unipak format?
>
> Just wondering,
>
> Jon C. Pennington
the first one I remeber was Al Kooper, " I Stand Alone"
good record
bob
Randy Darrah
I just got to thinking that the UNI label had quite a few uni-pak
covers. The Hook, Fields, etc. Maybe they started them and the
"UNI-pak" became a generic term?
As an aside, I always called them "reverse fold-out" covers.
A tip for using them w/o damaging the cover is to turn the cover upside
down to remove and insert the record. This puts the opening on the
right side rather than the left.
Randy
HIPPYCHK67
Maybe the guy who invented them was left-handed?
Chris DuPre
Jon C. Pennington wrote:
>Can anyone think of any other interesting albums packaged in the
> Unipak format?
The big one for me would be the Stones' "Exile on Main Street." How
many of those have you seen through the years with split covers? Just
made to go wrong....
mikeym...@gmail.com
> After looking over some of the records in my collection, I noticed that
> I have acquired several with a Unipak cover. The Unipak was a packaging
> innovation developed in the late 1960s, but I have no idea why. Instead
> of a standard LP jacket with an opening on the right, the Unipak is
> like a gatefold LP jacket, but with a cover made of thin cardboard
> that can be flipped open to reveal an opening near the spine of the
> gatefold. In other words, the LP jacket has an opening on the left near
> the spine of the gatefold, instead of on the right. Does anybody why
> this came into existence? I can't see why. If you collect 1960s or
> 1970s rock, a lot of albums with Unipak covers have totally shredded
> spines, because the record exerts too much pressure on the spine.
>
> Mort Garson, Signs of the Zodiac: Scorpio
> Blue Cheer, Outsideinside
> The Nazz, The Nazz
> Tonto's Expanding Headband, Zero Time
> Kaleidoscope, Incredible Kaleidoscope
> The Blues Magoos, Basic Blues Magoos
>
> Unipak format?
>
>
> Jon C. Pennington
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – Greatest Hits
Ira Krivit
Blueshirt
> Back in the day, teenagers would travel with their album collections, going to friends' homes to play records at a party, or some other social gathering. With Unipaks, the record won't slide out while you're carrying it.
but I do remember putting LP's in to a supermarket carrier bag and
taking them round to my friends house so they could play them - and copy
them to a C60/C90 - on many occasions.
Plus, as a kid I doubt I would have had the money to waste on a Unipak
anyway. There was always plastic carrier bags around!
