But in the wake of Revolver, Sgt Pepper, Pet Sounds, The Who Sell Out, Are You Experienced and Disraeli Gears delivering hit singles with a nod and a wink was all very well, but you needed to demonstrate the ability to deliver over an album. In an environment where experimentation was a key element in delivering a killer album anything that helps your effort stand out from the crowd was going to be helpful.
Which, when we start looking at Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, starts with the packaging, doesn't it? You start with the title, and the nod and a wink reference to what you're going to be mixing with the tobacco as you roll your own, and the one pound box on the back. For those unfamiliar with the old imperial measures, the sixteen ounce pound was the equivalent of about half a kilogram and, in case you were wondering, you (or rather they, I've never bought dope, so I'm working on what I've read and been told, you understand) bought your deal of grass by the ounce.
The circular sleeve mightn't have been the most practical enclosure for the vinyl, but it definitely stood out from the pack, and was a parody of Ogdens' Nut-brown Flake, a Liverpool-produced brand of tobacco dating back to 1899, hence the Victoriana packaging.
Open it out and you've got the inside of the tobacco tin, with the pack of SUS Luxury Cigarette Papers, nudge, nudge, wink wink on the right and a bit of period psychedelia on the left. Fold it out again and you've got the group portrait bit, all the while presenting something totally devoid of mundane items like track listings and assorted credits.
My original vinyl copy of the album had the packaging fall apart after repeated handling, and the reissue I bought down the track had the original cover printed on the regulation white twelve inch square cardboard enclosure, so I've got no way of knowing (and I definitely can't recall after forty-four years) whether the credits under the Ronnie Lane panel on my three CDs in a tin reissue were there in the original.