Moving pictures

The above photo is one of my favorite records from my childhood.  I still listen to it often today, and highly recommend it as a classic rock record.

I remember when I was maybe 7 and I was at my grandparent’s house in Florida.  Two of my aunts and one of my uncles were still teenagers and were living with them.  They had this record, so one morning I lay on their living room floor, listening while looking at the gatefold cover, opened up, with the intense artwork spread out in front of me.  Because of the neon blue and red next to each other, it created an optical illusion, as if the colors were flashing.  I stared at this for awhile and thought it was strange.  Then, because I was looking at it for so long, it began to appear that the characters in the picture were moving – the wizard waving his wand, a lone kangaroo walking across the back, and the cartoonish but frightening demon began moving his arms.  I got pretty scared, and went and got my dad to show him what I was seeing.  Of course he and his younger brother and sisters all thought it was very funny. I guess it was ironic, seeing it was the mid-70s and they were listening to bands like Uriah Heep.