An improved recording and read head particularly suited for use with perpendicular recording techniques. The recording head can be fabricated either as a single head or as a multitrack array. If fabricated as a multitrack array, the head includes a plurality of main poles spaced closely to one another and a common long flux closing pole which completes a magnetic circuit between the main poles and the recording medium. Each main pole of the head array is individually addressable with a purpose of recording or reading by means of a flux gate arrangement. The flux gate may be utilized so that the head operates either in a conventional fashion by detecting the rate of change of induced flux or by detecting the magnitude of the induced flux.