What is a Gatefold Cover

Blimey, I feel old.

12" vinyl album releases come in album covers that are usually made of cardboard. Normal vinyl packaging looks like this:

http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pcs3075.html

You've just got a front and back cover, and the album slides into the sleeve at the right hand side of the front cover.

Now, with a gatefold sleeve, the packaging is twice the width of normal LP packaging, but is folded in half to open out like a book.

For example, here are the front and back covers of Sgt Pepper:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/sukebeikakkoii/SgtPepperCover.jpg
http://ludix.com/moriarty/images/pepperall.jpg

And if you open up the front cover, the gatefold looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Sgt_Pepper_Gatefold.jpg


The album usually goes into the sleeve at the right hand section of the gatefold.



Here's the British vinyl cover of Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix. Note that the gatefold is laid out portrait-, rather than landscape size. As the album is a double LP, the discs will be inserted into the left and right sections of the packaging (top and bottom of the gatefold as it appears in this image):

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/H/Hendrix/hendrix_electric.htm