Jakob Dittmar [1]
Introduction
This paper looks into the sequential pictorial storytelling on the
record sleeves for Santana Lotus, the most expanded packaging for a set
of records so far - released in 1973, its twenty-two pages of pictorial
narration are unsurpassed according to the Guiness Book of World Records[2].
Before going into the details of the pictorial storytelling of Lotus, the
functions of record packages are introduced briefly, the packaging is described
in respect to its protective function as a wrapping to the records themselves
and regarding its communicative function. This paper focuses on the way in
which pictorial and textual information is provided, and a visual narrative is developed,
the extend to which it connects or adds to the musical content is discussed
more briefly, as there is not that much to discover for this example. The
chosen package and its visual content are especially well suited to allow us to
reflect on the functions of record sleeves as it goes so far beyond the average
record sleeve in its illustrative or narrative intent. It illustrates how the
package is part of the narrative set-up of an album: the importance of the
sleeve especially for a concept album - just like Sgt Pepper's by the
Beatles as the first concept album had showcased. The visual design
helps to create an atmosphere and adds narrative content that frames the
experience of the music on the records themselves.
There are many terms used by record collectors for the different forms
and styles of record sleeves, often with several terms for the same thing,
stretching much further than the usual differences between British and American
English. Some of the classifications used by collectors seem not to work for
the purpose of discussing the visual content of record-packaging: for example,
the differentiation into photo- or art-sleeves is not applicable, where images
are collaged from photos, where graphic art and photographs are combined into a
visual narration like in the case of Lotus.
The importance of record sleeves for promotion and sales as well as
their importance for creating and expanding the image of the band or musicians
involved is crucial: The example can be read as statement arguing for merging
Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions, including a focus on holy Mary as
well partly rather esoteric symbols and references that work as building stones
for a trans-religious perspective, celebrated and expressed by Santana in the
packaging. Or it can be understood as an element of the branding of the band,
of developing their image (in current marketing parlance their "corporate
identity") to help to place them on the wide forum (read: marketplace) of
musical and stylistic diversion.
Many record packages provide more than one image, giving the opportunity
to not only show and describe a situation, but to develop a narration by
showing different stages or situations, similar to those we know from standard
"before" and "after" comparisons. Depending on the design
of a record sleeve, no prescribed reading order or narrative with a clear and
explicit message is provided but rather indicated. And while some records show
one image per page of the sleeve, others display one big image on the front and
add several smaller on the back. Records and their boxes or sleeves can be
divided into several elements that all can carry images and text, but not every
record provides all these elements (sometimes inner sleeves have been omitted
outright): the outer sleeve or box, inner sleeves, the record labels on the
record itself. At some point, it became more usual to include extra leaflets
with more details on the songs, their texts, or information on or by the
musicians, and the recording, so called liner notes. Since the 1970s, sometimes
fold up posters were included, etc.
Record sleeves quickly became a communication medium on top of their
basic function of protecting the record they enclose. Before the advent of
televised music-formats, the radio was usually the first point of contact with audiences.
Record covers were quickly developed to pick up from that first acoustic
encounter and add stylistic information - to catch attention and create
desires. While early shellack-records came in neutral or plain sleeves that
were not produced for the individual recordings, they quickly became marked
with information on their content, then images were added to the text on these
sleeves, they were designed and printed to market and identify the record
enclosed and its musicians. While the packaging's main function remains to
protect the record, its secondary function is to get the attention of possible
customers and listeners and to be recognised by the fans of particular genres
and individual bands or musicians. For that purpose, they combine pictorial
with textual / verbal information on the outer sleeve and later even images and
texts on the usually neutral-looking (i.e. empty) inner sleeves. The primary
area of image construction for musicians started to shift with the advent of
TV-stations dedicated to music-videos: record sleeves now connected to the
imagery introduced on screen. This development continued and intensified with
the establishment of the internet, which also reduced record sales into a
niche-market. Streaming services for music provide moving images and
promotional photos, while the music itself is distributed digitally only and
without any packages and wrappings.
In 1973, long before the advent of music-TV or streaming, the album Lotus was recorded live in Osaka, Japan. Lotus
was originally released by CBS in May 1974 as a triple vinyl LP in Japan and
internationally in 1975. The packaging, sleeves, and labels were designed by a
team directed by the Japanese graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo and folds out to
offer a total of 22 pages. That extend and the narration in the visual material
itself merit a detailed analysis despite the fact that the release by now is
quite old.
Like with all record-sleeves, the sleeve for Santana's Lotus adds
visual information that frames the experience of the music on the records
themselves - with Lotus' packaging offering quite an advanced and
expansive narrative that is dependent on sophisticated cultural knowledge: The
sleeve that contains the three records folds up into one wide image, the two
inserts to the sleeve fold out into a lying T-shape each. The surfaces of these
three elements of the package contain large motives that partly continue beyond
the rim of their individual page. Each of the pages contains usually one main
element that placed on a background that continues into one of the juxtaposed
pages. Some pages contain framed images as well. With two of these, one element
of the framed images continues over the frame and continues into an element of
the image above. These frames are partly pictorial elements that are repeatedly
used and thus connect while they also help to develop the visual narrative.
The sleeve's illustration unfolds into some kind of picture bookish narrative
full of religious and philosophical references of partly advanced esoteric
quality that have been popular at the time of the records recording and
release. It illustrates a thematic strand of its contemporary pop-culture,
playing with associations and collaging visual material from diverse cultural
backgrounds and times for the purpose. The pop-culture of the late 1960s and
early 1970s is dominated by search for cultural and spiritual inspiration and
alternatives to established Western and Christian routines. Especially Asia and
its believe systems, religious and contemplative practices became very popular
in this context again, after they had been introduced to Western cultures from
around 1875 and into the 1920s by the Theosophist Society and other
organisations, dominated by the likes of Rudolf Steiner, Mme. Blavatsky,
Charles Leadbeater, Annie Besant, Swami Vivekananda, et al. References to all kinds of myths and religious beliefs are
blended without restraint or reflection on the historic solidity of sources,
for example: Search for spiritual enlightenment and esoteric truth in e.g. the
Egyptian Book of the Dead[3]
is referred to in different representations of the pyramid's and their burial
chambers in developments of the triangle-motif. At the same time,
extra-terrestrial contact as proposed by Erich von Däniken is hinted at, not at
least in the pyramid drawings.[4]
While Mexican pyramids contribute to this aspect, they lack burial chambers as
in the images - elements from very diverse traditions are combined freely here.
The visual design helps to create an atmosphere and adds narrative
content that frames the experience of the music on the records themselves as
one hears them. It connects to the image of the band and in return adds to the
band's profile: Santana pioneered a fusion of rock and roll with Latin American
jazz after some blues-focused experiments. They became famous for their
melodic, blues-inspired melodies in combination with Latin American and African
rhythms, dominated by percussion instruments like timbals and congas that were
not established in rock music at all at the time.[5]
The founder and sole permanent member of the group, Carlos Santana, is
considered one of the "guitar gods" of his time. He was born and
raised in Mexico and became famous during the late 1960s and early 1970s in the
US, where the band's performance at Woodstock massively helped to establish
them. Like several other famous musicians at the time, Carlos Santana and John
McLaughlin searched for spiritual guidance and adopted Sri Chinmoy as their
guru from the early 1970s for a number of years. In 1973, they released an
album that was based on their guru's teachings. In the same year, Lotus
is published with Santana and McLaughlin on guitars. Both had received
religious names from their guru and Santana release three albums under that
name Devadip before he finally left the guru in 1981. As respect
for other beliefs and religions was integral part of Sri Chinmoy's teachings,
it is quite possible that the blend of religious and esoteric references on Lotus
was influenced by these teachings. Also, the late 1960s to early 1970s saw a
renaissance in Mexican Chicano art. Santana was surely embedded in that
cultural scene that highlighted Mexican symbolism including Our Lady of
Guadalupe, i.e. the Virgin Mary, who is the patron saint of Mexico, Aztec
heritiage colours red and black, as well as symbols like pyramids, eagles, etc. All these elements easily integrated into the
visual language of Tadanori Yokoo, who led
the designing of the packaging.
The graphic design
Tadanori Yokoo, born 27 June 1936, is a Japanese graphic
designer and visual artist who rose to international fame during the 1960s.[6]
His signature style broke with the established abstract reductionism dominating
Japanese post-war design, introducing pop-art collage into Japanese graphic
design. This turn from abstract restriction to visual opulence and play with
references to diverse cultures was exactly what defines the quality of the
Lotus-packaging: Combinations and fusions of pop-cultural references with
psychedelia and esotericism. In 1981, he turned to painting and stopped taking design
commissions.
The visual style of his work during the 1960s and 70s suits the tone and
references in the titles given to most of Santana's music that feature on Lotus
and beyond: hinting and pointing straight at religious and cultic traditions
from East and West. The tone of these references remains open, it could be
tongue in cheek, or outright irony or even heavy handed hybris to show the band
as heavenly orchestra that is touring in the company of UFOs. While the
assemblages on the pages of Lotus include many elements taken from
European art, the credits included in those pages name the collaborators of
Yokoo in the design of the packaging and only name individual works of art and
their Japanese artists included in the pages of the Lotus-sleeve. No
other sources, works of art nor artists are credited.
The sequence of images and use of returning pictorial elements in this
particular visual narration is braiding motifs and themes, using visual
material from diverse cultural backgrounds and times in art history, happily
combining - for example - late medieval depictions of the annunciation by the
angel to Mary, renaissance engraving, and ornate representations of Christ
crucified produced in the 19th Century. The use and re-use of individual
symbols or pictorial elements add to and change the meaning of these elements,
be they symbols that need cultural knowledge to be understood, indexes that
point to specific moments or issues, or ikons that show a specific situation established
in religious visual tradition: shapes like the triangle and the sphere are
repeatedly returned to, continuing the visual shape while switching freely
between classes of content and references in these frames or panels: they gain different
meanings in different contexts - the Japanese flag is seen as a mere prop in a
photo of the live recordings' venue, and while its symbolism is codified, its
red disk connects to the red and blue spheres included in the sleeve's visuals
in other places and with their very different references. These spheres again
include fish-eye lens distorted photographs of the band in concert (red sphere)
and of some sunny but unpopulated sandy stretch with palm trees (blue sphere). The
established cultural meanings of the visual materials in their original
cultures have been disregarded in the composition of the individual pages and
page-sequences of Lotus. Visual similarities in shape and contrasts colour,
or appearance of similar pictorial details seem to have been cause enough to
combine images. This use of visual material corresponds well with the zeitgeist
prevalent then: not systematic analysis of belief-systems and mythologies in
their cultural framing are considered relevant but free association across
religions and cultures triggered by visual elements.
Themes and symbols
The title "Lotus" is referring to the religious theme
developed by the record sleeve's images:
the package's motifs are mostly explicitly religious with elements taken
from diverse religions and belief systems. Whether the narrative suggests some
kind of syncretism or simply plays with religious references on a rather more
superficial level remains to be seen.
The lotus
flower has been used as symbol in West and East for a long time, with
emphasis on
the feeling of longing for and happiness ("addiction" in contemporary
wording), but also the loss of longing in the West: the lotus-eaters forget their
past and their cultural belonging in Greek mythology and in Alfred Lord
Tennison's poem. In Eastern contexts, the lotus flower is considered the seat
and vehicle of the Hindu god Brahma and the goddess Saraswati.[7] It
is considered a symbol of refined culture in Hinduism:
"Just like a red, blue, or white lotus—born
in the water, grown in the water, rising up above the water—stands unsmeared by
the water, in the same way I—born in the world, grown in the world, having
overcome the world—live unsmeared by the world. Remember me, brahman, as
awakened." [8]
In Buddhism,
Buddha is often depicted sitting on a lotus flower, with the lotus symbolising
enlightenment, not longing nor forgetting. According to tradition, colours appeared
in Buddha's dreams, there in combination with birds of four different colours that
were flying towards each other to meet and merge into one colour. Duly, the
bird-motive is used all over the sleeve-design.
Obvious is that the listed colours have been used as lead-colours for
the sections of the package as well as the labels on the records themselves. It
has to be remembered that Santana has used terminology of religious awareness
and rituals during all of his and the band's existence, while his most recent
LP-release in 2025 is called "sentient" - denouncing any progress
towards redemption into Nirvana: Sentient beings feel and are compassionate,
they suffer and enjoy and should be treated with compassion and kindness. It is
safe to assume that the programme set with the names of records and individual
musical pieces is on purpose and central to the image of the band and its
central figure. Therefore, it seems safe to expect the naming of Lotus
to be part of that same long-term project of connecting the music of Santana
with Spirituality.
The process of unpacking / unfolding the sleeve (illustration 1) with
its image sequences is combining central moments from Christianity with symbols
from Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as other movements of spiritual and
meditative contemplation: It reveals its visual narrative as the sleeve and
inserts are opened and unfolded to see the pictorial narrative in its intended
sequence - the process is used as a metaphorical revelation of new pages and
aspects in that very narration. Established motives like the Annunciation to
Mary and the Crowning of Mary as Heavenly Queen in the presence of the infant
Jesus are included as central motives as well as the Elevation of Christ
crucified, but their chronological or narrative order seems reverse to
Christian narrative.
The inner tryptic of the package shows a portrait of Krishna on the
left, a picture of a golden sculpture representing Buddha meditating in the
middle, and a portrait of Jesus on the right, all three superimposed on a
background of clouds illuminated by red light of the sun. Underneath the
tryptic is shown the skyline of the Himalayan Mount Everest/ Chomolungma[9] or the Kailash mountain-range
referring to the mythical Mount Meru with snow-white tops and shaded black lower sections. From the central
image of Buddha, golden lines stretch out over all three sections of the
tryptic, continuing behind the heads of Krishna and Jesus: The composition and
detail signal the focus on Buddha, emanating light, with the sculpture maybe
indicating a halo around Buddha's head, placing a crescent-like shape behind
his neck. The former prince who stepped out of a life with desires and
suffering is put centre stage, the god Krishna, shown with a halo as sign of
his divinity, is placed on his right while Jesus is placed to his left and
shown without a halo. If the depictions of these religious figures were
selected to suggest a possible hierarchy between these, the lack of such a
nimbus around Jesus' head could contribute to the argument. But as he is given almost
as much attention as Mary in the inserts, and as Mary is depicted once with nimbus
and once without (disregarding the third image with the sun figuring as aureola
to her crowning with the infant Jesus on her lap), the selection of particular
images of Jesus and Mary sans nimbus seems rather to be based on
aesthetic than argumentative criteria: Mary in a blue coat and Christ crucified
in front of a blue cloth are mounted in colour contrast on red background,
while Mary in a red coat is placed dominating on black and blue background. As
a substantial variety of depictions including or excluding specific attributes
to individual figures would have been available, the non-attention to cultural
backgrounds or art-historical developments was decidedly on purpose.
Most elements of the individual images are taken from religious sources
originating from diverse cultures and times. They are combined into individual
images and partly re-appear in several of them thus connecting these more
closely within the sequence. Other motives are strewn all over the sleeves and
contribute to the interweaving of the whole. Rather esoteric symbols are
blended with symbols taken from established major World religions, primarily
the triangle and the sphere are used much, but without differentiating between
their different symbolic meanings in individual cultures.
Illustration 1: unfolding the tri-fold sleeve
holding the records.
The labels on the records
The design of the sleeve and its inlays is continued on the records'
labels, in this way the vinyl records are integrated into the visual language
of their packaging: They show the many petaled lotus flower that is introduced
as insert at the beginning of the sleeve's unfolding process: It is shown on
the right-hand side of the gatefold showing a fisheye-photo of the venue with
the band in concert.
Illustration 2: The record labels introduce
colours separately before using them together on the third record. The
lotus-motive is introduced on the gatefold spread of the sleeve.
Historically, labels on records remained matter of fact and simple for
most records for quite some time before they were included into the specific
design for a record or set of records. Also, coloured vinyl has been used for
records since the beginning of the industry and has been used for marketing
purposes mostly. The Beatles had issued their White Album in white vinyl
previously, but the option to colour the entire records was not applied on Lotus.
The labels refer only partly to the lead-colours on the sleeves (illustration 2):
The first two records' labels are printed in individual primary colours after
the first label (Record One, Page A) introduces the motive shown on all labels
in white and grey (no black is used). Yellow, red, and blue labels appear
before the third record's labels combine these colours to show the motive of
the drawn lotus flower in full colour. This takes up the specific symbolism of
colours and their hierarchy on the way to enlightenment, but on the labels, the colours actually visualise the individual print-stages in
colour separation established for four-colour printing: cyan (blue), magenta
(red), yellow, and black - each printed separately, the colours blend to show
other colours as well, combining into the completely coloured picture in the
end of the printing process. It has to be noted that the design of the
mono-chromes cheats to not show the blue ball or disk in the very middle of the
motive: it is not included in the blue layer, but introduced on the grey and
the red layers, which would in printing not add into the blue that is actually
shown for the centre of the labels on record three. This trick must have been
strategic, so that the completion of the motive is not clear on the blue label,
on the second record, but only on the very last record.
The package as a sequential pictorial narrative
To understand the functions of record packages better, the packaging
needs to be described in respect to its protective function as a wrapping to
the records themselves and in regard to its communicative function. The design
of every package is developed with an intended audience in mind, what today is
referred to as "unboxing" is nothing new but has been part of
presenting products as long as they have been packed. With the packaging in
question here, the dominance of the narrative over the simple purpose of
packaging and protecting the three long-play vinyl-records contained is very
obvious. Any box around three inner sleeves for the records would have provided
protection. A fold-up cardboard cover offering three sections to sheath three
inner sleeves with their content, a so-called tri-fold sleeve, would equally
have provided protection while offering substantial room for visual content as
well as inviting for some ceremonious sequence of opening the package,
extracting and playing the records. The Lotus-packaging goes much
further and adds sixteen pages to the six pages on this tri-fold-sleeve alone:
The sleeve unfolds its narrative - verbally speaking - by revealing or adding
pictorial information with every turn or further opening of the sleeve's
intricately folded content (see illustration 1). The cover opens horizontally twice
to allow separate access to the three pockets of the sleeve containing the
records. When fully opened, the sleeve's inner pages form a tryptic with the
inner images on each sleeve continuing into each other: three pages in rolling
transition offering a panorama around the figures they show. Opening the sleeve
first reveals a double page-image of the concert that can be heard on these
records. These pages again open to reveal the inner tryptic with the two pages on
the right covered by the cover images of the two inlays that can simply be
lifted off.
Each inlay consists of eight pages and continues developing the themes introduced,
thus interweaving these in various ways during the unfolding of the sleeve and
its inserts. Once fully opened, the two inlays together form an H-shaped picture
sequence. The outer sleeve gives no information on the records or recorded
artists beyond naming these as Santana and Lotus on the sleeve's
wider spine and the copyright and publishing information on the sleeve's narrow
spine. More detailed information on the records' content is provided on
individual pages of the inserts: musicians and individual songs are listed, the
road crew, as well as the design-team for the sleeves, but also an itinerary of
the band's activities in Japan related to the record are provided superimposed
on a floorplan of the recording venue.
The packages' two fold-out inlays
The sequence
of colours in the order of the pages might indicate the reading order for the
two inlays that unfold to reveal one red and one blue sphere in the context of
the birth of Jesus and his crucifixion, but then, these are shown in reverse
order if a Western reading direction is applied (left to right, top to bottom).
It might be so that the order of unfolding the two inlays does not matter, the
insides of both connect unmistakeably once fully unfolded. The pages of the inlays
are designed with the triangle and the sphere as leitmotifs, and gold-filled
silhouettes of birds connecting the two strands of the pictorial narrative on
the individual inlays.
In the
following, the unfolding of the two Inlays is described and illustrated to
allow for further reflections on the record sleeve's pictorial narrative and its
use of references to diverse cultures and visual codes. Several re-appearing
symbols dominate the material and can be considered leitmotifs: birds, mountains,
spheres, and triangles. The unfolding of the inlays is not linear but unfolds
to reveal new images in different directions, partly asking the reader to turn
the inlays upside down in the process: The individual pages on the outside are
placed to be read during the process of unfolding the material. The images on
the inside of the inlays are all following the same orientation as they combine
to show one vertical tryptic of red sphere and Christ crucified above the scene
of annunciation of Jesus' birth on the left, in the centre Santana's aeroplane with
the red heat of entry into the atmosphere at its nose, accompanied by an UFO, with
the plane's nose pointing to the right, and another vertical tryptic with a
blue sphere and the birth of Jesus and Mary being crowned on the right. The inlays
form an additional tryptic with the airplane and UFO in its centre and the red
and blue wings on its sides. The picture programme of the inner sides is not taking
up or referring to this very trinity of Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus presented on
the sleeve's inner pages.
Illustration 3: Inlay A unfolding its outer
pages dominated by triangle-shapes.
Inlay A is dominated by the triangle as leitmotif of its vertical
sequence (see illustration 3). On the outside of inlay A, the triangle is put
into sequence with a photo of the Great Pyramid of Giza and a drawing detailing
the location of the burial chambers, as well as possible centres of energy in
the centre and base of the structure, there including a flying saucer. The symbolic readings of the triangle are many, for
this purpose it might suffice to remember that in Hinduism the triangle is a symbol of God Shiva and denotes his absolute
being. In Hinduism it also represents the element fire and portrays the process
of spiritual ascent and liberation. In
Christianity, the triangle represents the trinity of God/father, Christ/son, and
Holy Ghost/spirit. From there it has been adapted for uses in freemasonry,
numismatics, and further...
While the inlay unfolds the triangle-pyramid motif on the outside, its
inside reveals the elevation of Christ crucified by God with the diving dove
symbolising the Holy Ghost above and a white radiating sphere at his feet over
the red sphere in the centre, with the annunciation of the birth of Jesus below
with an angel whispering to Mary that she is pregnant (see illustration 4). The
sphere is placed next to a black mountain on the left and the moon (a white
sphere) over a snow-covered mountain range in the background. The page folding
to the right shows the back of Santana's tour-plane with golden bird-shaped
silhouettes in the background. These silhouettes are also used in different
other places of the sleeve, e.g. quite dominantly on the floorplan of the venue
with the layout of seating areas included in the outside sequence of inlay A.
Illustration 4: Inlay A unfolding its inside pages, continuing the
triangle motif to some extend in the depiction of the elevation of Christ
crucified.
The image of the annunciation on the bottom page of the inlay is framed
and divided by two columns at the sides and an architrave above, while some image
of either snowy mountaintops above a cloud carpet or an archipelago is inserted
at the bottom of the annunciation. A triangle, filled with a red flower on a
green field, is inserted centrally at the bottom of the annunciation scene.
From that triangle's top a spectral colour-beam widens into the black support
of the red sphere in the centre of the image that is placed well above the
architrave framing the annunciation scene. These scenes are not restricted to
their individual pages, though: While the main motive of the annunciation is on
the bottom page, the framing architrave at its top is already part of the page
above. And while the spere is placed precisely in the middle of this vertical
sequence of three pages, two images of the wandering monk are placed on the
fold between the top two pages and connect these into one large image. The depiction of Christ crucified is placed with its base directly above
the sun. This motive depicts the trinity of father, son, and holy spirit: The
cross is lifted by God with his hands shown holding the crossbeam. He is customarily
depicted with a long beard, crowned and dressed as emperor of the world. A
green and a blue cloth are spread out behind the cross, giving the entire motif
a triangular appearance. Angels assist with lifting at the ends of the
crossbeam. At the very top of the image two hands release a white dove towards
the crucified Jesus / Christ. The hands are added from a depiction of the pentecostal
distribution of the Holy Ghost, while the dove as representation of the Holy
Ghost usually is part of this motive of God lifting Jesus at the cross towards
Heaven. This page encloses
crucified Christ, God, and the Holy Ghost as well as the red sphere, black
mountain, and the moon above the mountain range at the very bottom, just above
the architrave that marks the beginning of the image underneath.
Inlay B continues the development of the narrative. It repeats the
triangle motif already introduced and adds the sphere or globe motif: The upper
image shows angels crowning Mary with the infant Jesus on her lap. They are
placed in front of a circular background that represents the sun while framing
the motive, her feet are placed on a crescent moon. As Queen of the Heavens,
she wears a regal red coat instead of the usual blue one, while bands of angels
hail her from the sides. This image is placed on an evenly black background
showing a white sphere underneath her feet. This sphere is the centre of
circular silver lines expanding over the top pages and end at the architrave
framing the image below. The black backdrop connects this to a photograph underneath
showing a section of planet Earth seen from Space.
Illustration 5: Inlay B unfolds its inside
pages to develop a programme of spheres and triangle-shapes.
The inside of this inlay (see illustration 5) shows on its left fold-out
page Santana's plane flying in the company of an UFO, the plane wrapped by the
same glow as the UFO. The centre of inlay B's right side is dominated by a blue
sphere superimposed on a section of the Earth's atmosphere between two images
of Mary with the new-born Jesus on her lap respectively in her arms. The lower
image of Mary with the infant Jesus is placed as if it was looking out onto iced-over
snowfields on an uninhabitable mountain range. The image of Mary and the child
are framed by columns on either side and an architrave above like the Annunciation
in inlay A. The architrave is placed on the page above, mirroring the
dimensions of the other inlay exactly. A triangle is inserted at the bottom,
showing a red flower on a green field. From the top of that triangle a spectral
division of coloured light leads straight upwards, partly hiding Mary's face
and continuing upwards into the black support of the blue sphere. Bird-shapes in
silver connect various places in the sequence on this side of the inlay.
Inlay B's inside develops aspects of the sphere in explicit reference to
the triangle-shapes on its outside. There, images of the fully sat auditorium
of the life-recording and a collage of the band on stage in the clouds (in
heaven?) are put next to each other, with the diagonal of visible light beams
from the live concert-image re-appearing in the lighting and cloud formations
of the band-image (see illustration 6). The round Lotus-logo
superimposed on the live audience continues the sequence of the Earth rising or
setting behind some mountain-range with a meditating Buddha-figure to the
depiction of Earth with a triangular cut-out revealing some inner light around
a white-blueish core or sphere, with white light radiating through holes at the
poles and the triangular opening. The mountains
with the meditating Buddha - depicted with a strong aureola around him - might
refer to the triangle introduced on the other insert. It introduces circle and sphere
as leitmotif to this vertical sequence of three images (while continuing to
include triangular shapes). Earth rising / setting on top, the globe at the
bottom, and the round frame around the Lotus-symbol all are circles or spheres,
in religious contexts usually used as symbol for wholeness.
Illustration 6: Inlay B unfolds its outside
pages, combining round shapes with triangle shapes.
The bird-silhouettes already seen in inlay A do reappear all over inlay
B, too: in the concert venue as well as in the heavenly concert, in the
wedge-like triangle or valley behind the meditating Buddha and coming out of the
triangular cutout in the depiction of the Earth. As with the light beams in concert and in the sky, the light emanating
from the meditating Buddha and Earth point to sources of energy and
enlightenment, the concept of the "inner light" referred to in the Taoist Tao Te Ching and for example in Christian esotericism and
mysticism, and also as metaphor for the revelation of God's will to an
individuum according to the Society of Friends (the Quakers). These topics
might seem arcane now, but were generally recognised because some of the most
popular bands at the time referred to them - for example, the Beatles had recorded the George Harrison song of
the same name in 1968 and had published it on the Lady Madonna-single's
B-side in the same year. In the titles of that record as well as in the visual
narrative on Lotus, Mary gets more attention than her son.
The fully opened inlays
connect to the record sleeve's design not only in their references to the
different religious figures and stations of their spiritual or other
biographies, but also in the layout of the material itself: most strikingly in
the golden lines emanating from the white sphere at the feet of Christ
crucified and their circular counterpart in silver around the white sphere
underneath the image of Mary's crowning.
Illustration 7: Insides of both inlays with the
red respectively blue vertical sequence on each side and the shortened
depiction of the Santana-airplane connecting these.
While the narrative style continues from the other inlay, the
architectural elements, the dimensions and placement of all elements including
the sphere in the exact middle mark their relatedness also in form - see
illustration 7. The two sides are composed in symmetry around
the white spheres in the lower top third, two placements of an image of
meditating Buddha on the right and two images of a wandering monk on his way on
the left. While the left part is dominated by red colours, the right is
dominated by blue colours. Each part displays a sphere in the centre of the
outer sequence of pages, containing different fish-eye-photographs with the red
one showing a picture of the band performing on stage. The red side features a
large reproduction of the annunciation in the lower page, placed on top of a
picture of either an archipelago or snowy mountaintops above the clouds. The
entire top is covered with golden lines radiating from the white dial of the
sun. The right-hand side features a blue sphere in the centre containing the
photograph of an empty sand-landscape in which palm trees are loosely
distributed. On the bottom page sits Mary with the infant Jesus framed by
columns and architrave looking out over an iced-over mountain range or similar.
Above the architrave a picture of earth's atmosphere in blue and white is shown
in front of black space with the moon as white disk prominent in the distance.
The moon is at the centre of concentric silver rings with growing distance
between them. On the top page, the crowning of Mary as queen of the Heavens is
depicted with choirs of angels on the edge of the page to each side and one
flying angel above lowering a crown onto Mary's head. Mary's feet rest on a
lying crescent moon, while she is sitting on the lower rim of the sun, shown as
a round golden disk that frames her and the child.
Additionally, there are narrow
strips of repetitive motifs running along the very top and bottom of both vertical
three-page bands (illustration 8). These strips consist of repetitive motives
alternating between a group of palm trees in front of a row of triangular
mountains and a red sun half-hidden by a blue horizon, presumably the sea. Or
in the other design of the strip, replacing the sun with the portrait of some
guru in a round frame. Both versions of these strips include the brand name of Mysore
Sandal Bathi Suraj Brand. These are taken from the packaging for incense
produced by B.V. Aswath
Lal & Bros in Bangalore, an established producer of ayurveda soap, incense
sticks, etc. The top-strips combine with the images below:
the hands of God appear to come out of the sun, sleeves and sun showing the
same red, while the portrait of the guru sits above Mary's crowned head.
Illustration 8: strips of motifs on top and below the side-sections of the inlays.
Conclusion
The packaging of Lotus is a statement that the graphic artist
provides for the band expressing a specific cultural opinion. Tadanori Yokoo was an internationally known graphic
artist, while the band and its bandleader were established global stars. This
is important, because releases of records and related sales are crucial before
the arrival of digital distribution and the like - marketing and profiling
promote the bands so that record sales continue to sustain the music industry. The
exceptional effort that had gone into the design and the subsequent costs of
production for this packaging are well above the usual budget. And while most
artists would not have been considered important enough to afford such an
excess, Santana promised to turn the investment into a profit just because of
its uniqueness: Intricately designed and produced packaging was a matter of
prestige and would not have been continued if it had not been considered
crucial for the marketing and success of that very release. Lotus was
first released in Japan and one year later internationally after sales in Japan
had been analysed. The design of the sleeve was continued internationally
because its expensive extraordinariness remained a sales argument.
Santana's music recorded for the Lotus-records is not explicit in
references to religious or meditative rituals but rather in line with the
band's fusion of jazz and percussion-oriented rock-music dominated by Latin
American and African rhythms. Some of the distorted sounds of the guitar or the
organ do sound at moments like the sounds used for flying spaceships in the
science-fiction films of the time, but these might be co-incidences - no
references are detected in the music's motives or melodies. The packaging for
Lotus on the other hand is rich in references to diverse religions and
belief-systems including some occult positions. Over the twenty-two pages of
the packaging, these references appear and re-appear in various combinations,
they provide sequential pictorial storytelling as known from comics, while the
narration is unfolding in associations and visual references to cultural
topics. But the narration on the Lotus-sleeve develops no argument or
position beyond most banal references: Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus are
introduced as most important on the sleeve, but their importance is not
explained or supported in the visual material. In summary, the message is that
there are religions and these relate somehow.
The narration on the inlays' inner pages can be understood in knowledge
of Christian beliefs, though, with the sequence of events starting with the
annunciation in the bottom left, leading to the birth of Jesus in the bottom
right, continuing to the crowning of Mary in the top right and culminating in
the crucified Christ's elevation to Heaven.[10]
The concert of Santana in the red sphere visually connects to the Annunciation,
the infant Jesus is connected to a sunny place with palm trees in the blue
sphere. The two spheres are connected by the airplane between them, glowing
like the accompanying UFO. Buddha meditates at the feet of Mary, in sight of
the place in the blue sphere, while the monk wanders from the crucified Christ
towards the Santana concert and the Annunciation. The orientation of the monk's
wandering supports the counterclockwise order of events and connects the raise
into Heaven straight back to Mary's pregnancy. From the perspective of the non-Christian
religions woven into the visual programme of the record sleeve this connection
is crucial: They teach the circularity of life and death and suggest their
specific routes to enlightenment that break the circle of re-incarnations and
liberate from suffering, as in Buddhism. In Hinduism, redemption from sinful live
means leaving the needs and forces of earthly life behind, with a state of not
wanting anything ever more to be considered as eternal bliss. These concepts
stand in marked difference from the Christian focus on salvation from sinful
life as access to eternal heavenly life in the presence of God. The central
image of the entire composition of the inlays emphasizes the movement of the airplane
and UFO from left to right, with the plane being placed on the hight of the
spheres, looking as if the blue one was its target: palm-trees scattered over a
flat and sandy landscape. Depending on what this might symbolise, the plane and
the band in it travel towards a warm but unpopulated place or possibly even Nirvana.
From a science of religion-perspective, the combinations and braiding of
motives and symbolic references might provide syncretistic suggestions of
similarities between the referenced religions and beliefs. For devote members of
individual religions, these blends can provide a substantial and necessary challenge.
For research into narrations and myth-making around selected religious motifs, themes,
and figures (and even their mystification), visualisations of syncretistic
perspectives allow to understand the underlying references and cultural
processes better. And the visual narrative provided on Lotus illustrates
the search for some inclusive religious feeling that transcends individual
religions, confessions, and beliefs - an issue that was dominant at the time of
release of the records and - though subdued - remains current, usually more
sophisticated in details and argument now, including elements of religions that
were not part of the visual programme on the Lotus-package.
When looking at details closely, the visual programme of the packaging does
not suggest much beyond associating the band with extraterrestrians on a visit
to Earth, with the glow around the UFO and especially the plane's nose
signalling the heat of entry into Earth's atmosphere. Nor does it offer any specific
arguments for syncretism despite the sleeve showing motifs that refer to
diverse religious traditions. These are taken from unspecified moments in
global art history, without these motifs forming a religious argument. The
montage could suggest new ways of interpreting the very traditions shown - think
for example of applying the Buddhist concept of birth- / life-circles on the
meaning of Christ's birth and suffering, as it is shown in reverse order on the
inserts if read from left to right and like the plane flies. But the design merely
composes main motives and representations of some religions and their central
figures on the pages. The engagement with these belief-systems or religions
appears superficial, first in the very choice of these motives, second in the
specific visualisations used: They seem put into place mostly because of their
pictorial style, colours, and forms, not because of their meaning within the
logic of their religious narrations or the cultic myths around the figures
shown. They do not contribute any message: There is no argument put forward
about salvation or redemption nor any other issues that religions usually are
concerned with. Their use and placement in the sequential pictorial
storytelling on the pages of Lotus are not driven by distinct messages about
enlightenment or redemption, nor are their narrative strands interwoven to
offer new insights. In this lack of an argument, they probably express the very
mess that is the search for religious truths and sensemaking. But no argument
about that very mess is provided either - the concert and the band's travel
seem blissful, the assortment of religious motives remains suggestive but
unspecific decoration, or just eye candy.
Sources
Dunn, James D. G. and Scot McKnight: The
Historical Jesus in Recent Research. Penn State University Press, 2005.
Leopold, Anita M. and Jeppe Sinding Jensen
(eds.): Syncretism in Religion. A Reader. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Mitchell,
A.G.: Hindu Gods and Goddesses. New Delhi: USB Publishers, 1992.
Sangma, Dipty D. and M. BHARANI:
"Approach to Liberation and Salvation: A Comparative Analysis of Buddhist
Nirvana and Christian Redemption" in: Kalagatos 21(3)
September 2024: 1-15.
Santana: Lotus.
1974. CBS / Sony Inc.
Schmidt-Glintzer,
Helwig: Der Buddhismus. 2 Aufl. München: Beck'sche Reihe, 2005.
Author
Jakob
F. Dittmar, associate
professor in visual communication at Malmö University. Research focus on the
construction of comics-narratives and strategies of representation in comics. Also,
research on collective representations and heritage, as well as work in character
design and puppetry. ORCID:
0000-0002-2334-6245
[1] The idea for a
paper on record-sleeves originated from Göran Svensson, Uppsala university, and
the author. It was abandoned due to teaching obligations. This paper salvages
and expands the comics-analysis approach on Santana's Lotus by the
author. Acknowledgements to Göran Svensson and Linda Austin for making this
paper happen: Thank you!
[2]
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-facings-on-a-gatefold-vinyl-lp
(22 Oct 2025)
[3] While Egyptian Books of the Dead were funerary
texts for individual burials, their organisation into "spells" helped
the development of esoteric and outright hermetic interpretations of these
texts. The Tibetan Book of the Dead translated by Walter Evans-Wentz (1927)
provides a related but different approach. It is worth to note that similar mechanisms are employed in creating
extra layers of meaning in Kabbalistic deconstructions of texts.
[4] Erich von Däniken published several books speculating
on extra-terrestrial influences on early human cultures, his Chariots of the
Gods? was published in 1968 and was an instant bestseller. The idea is not
that far removed from more Earthly theories on intercultural influence as e.g.
in Thor Heyerdahl's work.
[5] Santana is amongst the best-selling
groups in music history, with over 47 million certified records sold in
the US and an estimated 100 million sold worldwide. They released 25
studio albums, 14 of which reached the US Top 10.
[6] Biographical data and list of exhibitions at: https://www.albertzbenda.com/artists/45-tadanori-yokoo/
[7] In Bhagavad Gita chapter 5: "Thus Lotus
is a symbol of purity and enlightenment amid ignorance (the smutty swamps in
which it grows)."
[8] In the Dona Sutta (Pali Tipika, Anguttara
Nikaya 4.36), here quoted after the Thanissaro Bhikkhu
translation.
[9] While called Mount Everest in the West, Chomolungma is a holy mountain, the name
translates as "Holy Mother".
[10] In regard to
doctrine, the motive consists of extreme symbolic condensation, as Christ is
not assumed to have ascended to the Heavens fixed to the cross but only after
death, burial, and return to life.
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