It shows no or at best only the most minuscule traces of the style that would make them well-known later, and therefore frequently meets with a refusal and lack of affection. Justly so?
Trying and explaining ALL of the pictures and photographs on the album's sleeve(s), along with some other comments.
The three on the front
On the left hand picture, Rael is clearly in the area of 'In The Rapids' and 'Riding The Scree', just after he's chased the Raven (in which case this picture would illustrate 'It') or just before (in which case it is illustrating the part where his "tube" floats away). As far as Rael, the picture doesn't tie in with the songs/story. He is trying to save the character in the second picture from getting his head sucked through a wall (the intense discomfort of 'The Waiting Room'). The Rael in the first picture perceives the second character to be his brother, John.
If looked at closely, you can tell it is the Rael character again, which ties in with the recent debate "Does John exist at all?". It would be reasonable to assume that John was never in this story at all and that Rael originally felt he needed someone to depend on (and who better than a brother?). This would mean that the reason John didn't help [...] Rael's sight were he to turn round. His watching of Rael is defined as covert by this action.
The corridor in this instance is outdoors (rather than upstairs in a hotel). Rael appears to be peeking round the corner to see if anyone's coming, perhaps semi-aware of his onlooker or perhaps simply displaying the caution he learned in his street gang.
On the right hand picture, Rael is mouthless whereas everyone else is shouting.
'The chamber was in confusion - all of the voices shouting loud' Lilywhite Lilith.
He is mouthless because he is less bound (than the 'Carpet Crawlers') and so feels less of an urge to shout. I think he also is at this point feeling disheartened (with 'townmen' and and the 'man who does shout what he's found' as in 'Chamber Of 32 Doors') and couldn't shout if he wanted to. One man on the picture (the one whose arm overlaps into the "corridor" picture wears the same outfit as the character following Rael, though is clearly not Rael or John. This accentuates the uncertainty throughout Rael's adventure.
The inner cover - left hand side
The triangular picture on the top left of the inner cover shows Rael with snakelike things over him, dragging him. These represent 'The Lamia'.
From my dictionary:
"LAMIA (Greek and Roman mythology) Monster with head and breasts of a woman and body of a serpent, preying on human beings and sucking children's blood"
Rael was obviously no longer a child after his experience in 'Counting Out Time' and so perhaps this is the reason that the Lamia died. Adult's blood might be no good for them!
The small picture on the top right (left of the spine) is an upside-down picture of a landscape - this could be either 1) The view of home he gets in 'The Light Dies Down', although this is supposed to be of a 'Broadway Street Scene' or 2) An image of his life being turned upside down in the whole Lamb episode.
Other than the two close-ups there is also a picture of one of the "shouters" from 'Chamber' and Rael lost within another many-doored maze.
The inner cover - right hand side
The two triangular pictures are cut from the same photo. Rael at this point seems to have chased the Raven to the point where it drops his 'Shoobedoobe' He got there just in time. To watch it float away... The other large picture on the right of the spine is of Rael, again looking down the corridor, but this time we see the raincoat and hat left in a heap. The other picture is of a now-quiet "shouter". He looks particularly stern and it is easy to imagine him as a very moralistic old bugger.
The inner sleeve liner drawings
The drawings are placed in the centre of the teOAxt on all four sides of the inner sleeves. They are very geometric and surreal. The first one (surrounded by the lyrics to 'Cuckoo Cocoon') is of Rael being hit by the 'Wall Of Death'. A lamp post and sidewalk ("pavement" in English 8-)) are visible, as are a hand, leg and foot. The wall "chased" Rael as he ran to escape it. It is heading towards the bottom-left of the inner sleeve.
The second side has a drawing of a leg and two arms (odd how we never see the rest of Rael's body in the drawings), coming from withIN THE CAGE. :) The wall behind (that he's being crushed against) is also visible. On the second record, the picture on the third side is clearly of the Raven carrying Rael's castrated parts in a tube. The wings and tail of the Raven spread to the corners of the sleeve (and beyond). It's big. The fourth side is the only picture that gave me a problem. It seems to be Rael's foot, stepping (sliding?) into 'The Rapids'. The "bubbles" look too much like Rael's removed parts for comfort! The jagged step things, I believe, are rocks in the water.
The left picture shows Rael being pulled from the rapids, which means he might be John/Rael, or as commented before, the id.
The middle picture show Rael sitting on a chair (a cold stone throne?) and struggling very hard to pull Rael from the left picture (so to support the Freudian approach, he may be the superego). I think that the one in the left picture isn't really pulling, because his body is bent forward, and he doesn't seem to put much effort in this, while the one in the middle picture seems to be giving all that he's got. (It don't think that Rael's head in the middle picture is stuck in the wall. It's just bent backwards because of the effort). A third Rael is watching the two of them. That Rael has left the right picture and stands besides the tree pictures in *the same* way he stood in the right picture (hands on hips etc.). That may indicate that he really can't move, so he's just watching them. It could be taken from the It scene - Rael looking at Rael, and his spirit moves between the two until it is no longer contained in either, and IT sees them BOTH (I hope I wrote the story correctly).
Someone said that the right picture shows The Chamber Of 32 Doors, but if you'll look closely you'll see it's actually a very long corridor, and there's a leopard lying on the floor near Rael's white figure's legs, so this might be the corridor from The Carpet Crawlers. What bothers me is that there ARE doors in that corridor. If you'll look inside the booklet you'll see Rael in something that looks like a corner of a room, and behind him stands a door, so this might be The Chamber.
Back to the right picture, you'll notice there are more animals in the corridor: there is a goat in the right door, something that looks like a dog walking towards Rael's white figure, something that might be a dog or a lamb to the left and a raven that stands on something that looks a lot like a wooden rail of a staircase (The staircase at the and of the corridor that leads to the chamber of 32 doors?). You'll also notice another white human figure at the end of the corridor. It's a bit hard to place the animals, though, because the crawlers seem to be human.
