Syd,
I have the Islands album, somewhere...but the sleeve was not that color.
I'm pretty sure it was a light beige or off-white with a much smaller picture of that "thing" on the cover you show with different colors.
It was during my "altered state" teen days though, so I could have just imagined it. :-?
Doh! Found this:
Quote:The original United Kingdom and European cover depicts the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius and displays neither the name of the band nor the title. The original United States and Canadian album cover (as released by Atlantic Records) was a Peter Sinfield painting of off-white with coloured "islands". This was used as an internal gatefold sleeve in the UK. When the King Crimson catalogue was re-issued by EG, they standardised on the "Trifid Nebula" cover world-wide.
Now I really wish I could find it.
Picture here...