Hipgnosis
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- | * [[Peter Christopherson]], 55, British musician ([[Coil (band)|Coil]], [[Throbbing Gristle]]) and graphic artist ([[Hipgnosis]]). | + | |
- | <hr> | + | '''Hipgnosis''' was a [[United Kingdom|British]] art design group that specialized in creating [[album cover|cover art]] for the [[album]]s of [[Rock and roll|rock]] musicians and bands, most notably [[Pink Floyd]], [[The Pretty Things]], [[UFO (band)|UFO]], [[10cc]], [[Bad Company]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[AC/DC]], [[Yes (band)|Yes]], [[The Alan Parsons Project]], [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]], [[Electric Light Orchestra|ELO]] and [[XTC (band)|XTC]]. Hipgnosis consisted primarily of [[Storm Thorgerson]], [[Aubrey Powell (designer)|Aubrey Powell]], and later, [[Peter Christopherson]]. The group dissolved in 1983, though Thorgerson still works on album designs, and Powell works in video, most notably with [[The Who]]. |
- | :"[[Etty]] was one of those who, in Diderot's words, "[[ont senti la chair]]," and he might have been a considerable artist if he had known how to make his studies into finished pictures." --[[The Nude]] | + | |
- | <hr> | + | == History == |
- | [[Exotic painting]] | + | In 1968 Thorgerson and Powell were approached by their friends in [[Pink Floyd]] to design the cover for the group's second album, ''[[A Saucerful of Secrets]]''. This led to additional work for [[EMI]], including photos and album covers for [[The Pretty Things]], [[Free (band)|Free]], [[Toe Fat]] and [[The Gods (band)|The Gods]]. Being film and art school students, they were able to use the darkroom at the [[Royal College of Art]], but when they completed school, they had to set up their own facilities. They built a small darkroom in Powell's bathroom, but shortly thereafter, in early 1970, rented space and built a studio. |
+ | |||
+ | When first starting out, Powell and Thorgerson adopted their name from graffiti they found on the door to their apartment. Thorgerson said they liked the word, not only for sounding like "hypnosis," but for possessing "a nice sense of contradiction, of an impossible co-existence, from Hip = new, cool, and groovy, and [[gnosis|Gnostic]], relating to ancient learning." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hipgnosis gained major international prominence in 1973 with their famed cover design for Pink Floyd's ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]''. The final design was one of a several versions prepared for the band to choose from, but according to drummer Nick Mason, the 'prism/pyramid' design was the immediate and unanimous choice. The record itself was wildly successful -- it became one of the biggest-selling and longest-charting albums of all time, putting it in the hands of millions of fans, and it has since been hailed as one of the best album covers of all time ([[VH1]] rated the cover as #4, in 2003). After that, the firm became in-demand, and did many covers for high-profile bands and artists such as [[Led Zeppelin]], [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]], [[UFO (band)|UFO]], [[Black Sabbath]], [[Peter Gabriel]], [[The Alan Parsons Project]], and [[Yes (band)|Yes]]. They also designed the cover for the original UK paperback edition of [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Peter Christopherson]] joined Hipgnosis as an assistant in 1974, and later became a full partner. The firm employed many assistants and other staff members over the years. Of particular note were freelance artists [[George Hardie (artist)|George Hardie]], [[Colin Elgie]], [[Richard Evans (designer)|Richard Evans]] and Richard Manning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One notable fact was that Hipgnosis did not have a set fee for designing an album cover but instead asked the artists to "pay what they thought it was worth", a policy that only occasionally backfired according to Thorgerson in his book on album cover design. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == Style == | ||
+ | Hipgnosis' approach to album design was strongly photography-oriented, and they pioneered the use of many innovative visual and packaging techniques. In particular, Thorgerson & Powell's surreal, elaborately manipulated photos (utilizing darkroom tricks, multiple exposures, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques) were a film-based forerunner of what would, much later, be called [[photoshopping]]. Hipgnosis used primarily [[Hasselblad]] [[medium format (film)|medium format]] cameras for their work, the square film format being especially suited to album cover imagery. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hipgnosis covers were noted for their quirky humour, such as the cover for the Pink Floyd double-LP compilation ''[[A Nice Pair]]'', which featured an array of visual puns. Another trademark was that many of their cover photos told "stories" directly related to the album's lyrics, often based on puns or double meanings of words in the album title. Since both Powell and Thorgerson were film students, they often used models as "actors" and staged the photos in a highly theatrical manner. Hipgnosis covers rarely featured artists' photos on the outside, and most were in a [[gatefold]] cover format to provide ample space for their slickly photographed tableaux. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many of Hipgnosis' covers also featured distinctively "high tech" pen and ink logos and illustrations (often by graphic designer [[George Hardie (artist)|George Hardie]]), stickers, fancy inner sleeves, and other packaging bonuses. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Discography== | ||
+ | {| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | !|Year !! Artist !! Album | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1968 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[A Saucerful of Secrets]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1968 || [[Alexis Korner]] || ''A New Generation of Blues'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1968 || {{sortname|The|Gods|The Gods (band)}} || ''[[Genesis (The Gods album)|Genesis]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1968 || Pepe Jaramillo || ''Till There Was You'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1969 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Soundtrack from the Film More|More]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1969 || {{sortname|The|Gods|The Gods (band)}} || ''To Samuel a Son'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1969 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Ummagumma]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1969 || Panama Limited Jug Band || ''Panama Limited Jug Band'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || {{sortname|The|Greatest Show on Earth|The Greatest Show on Earth (band)}} || ''Horizons'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Atom Heart Mother]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || [[Quatermass (band)|Quatermass]] || ''[[Quatermass (album)|Quatermass]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || {{sortname|The|Pretty Things}} || ''[[Parachute (Pretty Things album)|Parachute]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || {{sortname|The|Greatest Show on Earth|The Greatest Show on Earth (band)}} || ''The Going's Easy'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || {{sortname|Syd|Barrett}} || ''[[The Madcap Laughs]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || {{sortname|The|Nice}} || ''[[Five Bridges]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || [[Toe Fat]] || ''Toe Fat'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || [[Cochise (band)|Cochise]] || ''[[Cochise (album)|Cochise]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || [[Harvest Records]] artists || ''[[Picnic - A Breath of Fresh Air]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || Panama Limited || ''Indian Summer'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || Sounds Nice || ''Love at First Sight'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1970 || [[Gravy Train (band)|Gravy Train]] || ''Gravy Train'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[T.Rex (band)|T.Rex]] || ''[[Electric Warrior]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Toe Fat]] || ''Toe Fat 2'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Marvin, Welch & Farrar]] || ''Marvin, Welch & Farrar'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || {{sortname|The|Nice}} || ''[[Elegy (The Nice album)|Elegy]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Meddle]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Electric Light Orchestra]] || ''[[The Electric Light Orchestra (album)|The Electric Light Orchestra]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Audience (band)|Audience]] || ''House on the Hill'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || {{sortname|Edgar|Broughton Band}} || ''[[Edgar Broughton Band (album)|Edgar Broughton Band]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[Pilgrimage (Wishbone Ash album)|Pilgrimage]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Climax Blues Band]] || ''Tightly Knit'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Alex Harvey|Tear Gas]] || ''[[Tear Gas (album)|Tear Gas]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || [[Stackridge]] || ''[[Stackridge (album)|Stackridge]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1971 || Daddy Longlegs || ''Oakdown Farm'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Flash (band)|Flash]] || ''Flash'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[Argus (album)|Argus]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || {{sortname|The|Nice}} || ''Autumn '67 - Spring '68'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Fumble (band)|Fumble]] || ''Fumble'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]] || ''[[Prologue (Renaissance album)|Prologue]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || {{sortname|Edgar|Broughton Band}} || ''[[Inside Out (Edgar Broughton Band album)|Inside Out]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Audience (band)|Audience]] || ''Lunch'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || {{sortname|The|Pretty Things}} || ''Freeway Madness'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Obscured by Clouds]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || [[Blue Mink]] || ''A Time of Change'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || {{sortname|Roger|Cook|Roger Cook (songwriter)}} || ''Meanwhile...Back at the World'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || Glencoe || ''Glencoe'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1972 || Danta || ''Danta'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Electric Light Orchestra]] || ''[[ELO 2]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || {{sortname|Roger|Cook|Roger Cook (songwriter)}} || ''Minstrel in Flight'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Electric Light Orchestra]] || ''[[On the Third Day]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || {{sortname|Edgar|Broughton Band}} || ''[[Oora]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || {{sortname|Al|Stewart}} || ''[[Past, Present and Future]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Argent (band)|Argent]] || ''In Deep'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Led Zeppelin]] || ''[[Houses of the Holy]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Audience (band)|Audience]] || ''You Can't Beat 'em'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || {{sortname|Roy|Harper}} || ''[[Lifemask]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]] || ''[[Ashes Are Burning]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[Wishbone Four]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[Live Dates]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Flash (band)|Flash]] || ''Out of Our Hands'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || Various artists || ''[[Music From Free Creek]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Humble Pie (band)|Humble Pie]] || ''[[Thunderbox]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Emerson, Lake & Palmer]] || ''[[Trilogy (Emerson, Lake & Palmer album)|Trilogy]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Vinegar Joe]] || ''Rock 'n Roll Gypsies'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1973 || [[Babe Ruth (band)|Babe Ruth]] || ''Amar Caballero'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Sharks (band)|Sharks]] || ''Jab It in Yore Eye'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || Uno || ''Uno'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[There's the Rub]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Nazareth (band)|Nazareth]] || ''[[Rampant (album)|Rampant]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]] || ''[[Turn of the Cards]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || {{sortname|Roy|Harper}} || ''[[Valentine (album)|Valentine]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || {{sortname|Peter|Frampton}} || ''[[Somethin's Happening]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || {{sortname|Roy|Harper}} || ''[[Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Bad Company]] || ''[[Bad Company (album)|Bad Company]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] || ''[[The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Blue Mink]] || ''Fruity'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Fumble (band)|Fumble]] || ''Poetry in Lotion'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || {{sortname|Syd|Barrett}} || ''[[Syd Barrett (album)|Syd Barrett]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[10cc]] || ''[[Sheet Music (album)|Sheet Music]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[A Nice Pair]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || {{sortname|The|Pretty Things}} || ''Silk Torpedo'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1974 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[Phenomenon (UFO album)|Phenomenon]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[Force It]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|The|Pretty Things}} || ''Savage Eye'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd album)|Wish You Were Here]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Bad Company]] || ''[[Straight Shooter (album)|Straight Shooter]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]] || ''[[Scheherazade and Other Stories]] '' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|Roy|Harper}} || ''[[HQ (album)|HQ]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|Edgar|Broughton Band}} || ''A Bunch of 45s'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|The|Greatest Show on Earth|The Greatest Show on Earth (band)}} || ''The Greatest Show on Earth'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[10cc]] || ''[[The Original Soundtrack]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|The|Pretty Things}} || ''[[S.F. Sorrow]] / [[Parachute (Pretty Things album)|Parachute]]'', double reissue (UK version only) | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|Al|Stewart}} || ''[[Modern Times (Al Stewart album)|Modern Times]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Wings (band)|Wings]] || ''[[Venus and Mars]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias]] || ''Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Caravan (band)|Caravan]] || ''[[Cunning Stunts (Caravan album)|Cunning Stunts]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Sassafras (band)|Sassafras]] || ''Wheelin 'n' Dealin'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|Bob|Sargeant}} || ''First Starring Role'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || [[Strife (UK band)|Strife]] || ''Rush'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1975 || {{sortname|The|Winkies}} || ''The Winkies'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[AC/DC]] || ''[[Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (album)|Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Golden Earring]] || ''[[To the Hilt]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Montrose (band)|Montrose]] || ''[[Jump on It (Montrose album)|Jump on It]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Kevin Coyne]] || ''Heartburn'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Wings (band)|Wings]] || ''[[Wings at the Speed of Sound]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || {{sortname|Al|Stewart}} || ''[[Year of the Cat]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || {{sortname|The Alan|Parsons Project}} || ''[[Tales of Mystery and Imagination]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Black Sabbath]] || ''[[Technical Ecstasy]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] || ''[[A Trick of the Tail]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[10cc]] || ''[[How Dare You!]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Led Zeppelin]] || ''[[The Song Remains the Same (album)|The Song Remains the Same]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Led Zeppelin]] || ''[[Presence (Led Zeppelin album)|Presence]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Brand X]] ||''[[Unorthodox Behaviour]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Wings (band)|Wings]] || ''[[Wings over America]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Nazareth (band)|Nazareth]] || ''[[Close Enough for Rock 'n' Roll]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[No Heavy Petting]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1976 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[New England (Wishbone Ash album)|New England]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[Front Page News]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[Lights Out (UFO album)|Lights Out]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] || ''[[Wind & Wuthering]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|The Alan|Parsons Project}} || ''[[I Robot (album)|I Robot]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[10cc]] || ''[[Deceptive Bends]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|Roy|Harper}} || ''[[Bullinamingvase]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Brand X]] || ''[[Moroccan Roll]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|Sammy|Hagar}} || ''[[Sammy Hagar (album)|Sammy Hagar]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|Al|Stewart}} || ''The Early Years'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|Sammy|Hagar}} || ''[[Musical Chairs (Sammy Hagar album)|Musical Chairs]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Bad Company]] || ''[[Burnin' Sky]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[Animals (album)|Animals]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Electric Light Orchestra]] || ''[[The Light Shines On]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|Peter|Gabriel}} || ''[[Peter Gabriel (1977 album)|Peter Gabriel (I)]]'' (aka "Car") | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Yes (band)|Yes]] || ''[[Going for the One]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|Steve|Harley & Cockney Rebel}} || ''[[Face to Face: A Live Recording]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Hawkwind]] || ''[[Quark, Strangeness and Charm]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Status Quo]] || ''[[Live! (Status Quo album)|Live!]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || [[Strawbs]] || ''[[Deadlines (Strawbs album)|Deadlines]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1977 || {{sortname|The|Moody Blues}} || ''[[Caught Live + 5]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Pezband]] || ''Laughing in the Dark'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Be-Bop Deluxe]] || ''[[Drastic Plastic]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|Richard|Wright|Richard Wright (musician)}} || ''[[Wet Dream (album)|Wet Dream]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|David|Gilmour}} || ''[[David Gilmour (album)|David Gilmour]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Styx (band)|Styx]] || ''[[Pieces of Eight (album)|Pieces of Eight]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|Todd|Rundgren}} || ''[[Back to the Bars]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[XTC]] || ''[[Go 2]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|Robin|Trower}} || ''[[Caravan to Midnight]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Yes (band)|Yes]] || ''[[Tormato]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] || ''[[…And Then There Were Three…]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[No Smoke Without Fire]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|Peter|Gabriel}} || ''[[Peter Gabriel (1978 album)|Peter Gabriel (II)]]'' (aka "Scratch") | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|Al|Stewart}} || ''[[Time Passages]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || {{sortname|The Alan|Parsons Project}} || ''[[Pyramid (album)|Pyramid]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Black Sabbath]] || ''[[Never Say Die!]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]] || ''[[A Song for All Seasons]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[Obsession (UFO album)|Obsession]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1978 || [[10cc]] || ''[[Bloody Tourists]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[Strangers in the Night (UFO album)|Strangers in the Night]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[Scorpions (band)|Scorpions]] || ''[[Lovedrive]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || {{sortname|The Alan|Parsons Project}} || ''[[Eve (album)|Eve]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[Bad Company]] || ''[[Desolation Angels]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || {{sortname|Edgar|Broughton Band}} || ''[[Parlez-Vous English]]'' (as The Broughtons) | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[10cc]] || ''[[Greatest Hits 1972–1978]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[Led Zeppelin]] || ''[[In Through the Out Door]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[Brand X]] || ''[[Product (Brand X album)|Product]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || {{sortname|Gary|Brooker}} || ''No More Fear of Flying'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || {{sortname|Steve|Hillage}} || ''Live Herald'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[Godley & Creme]] || ''[[Freeze Frame (Godley & Creme album)|Freeze Frame]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[UK (band)|UK]] || ''[[Danger Money]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || {{sortname|Mick|Taylor}} || ''[[Mick Taylor (album)|Mick Taylor]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || [[Ash Ra Tempel|Ashra]] || ''Correlations'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1979 || {{sortname|Ralph|McTell}} || ''Slide Away the Screen'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || {{sortname|The|Pretty Things}} || ''[[Cross Talk]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || [[Brand X]] || ''[[Do They Hurt?]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || [[10cc]] || ''[[Look Hear?]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || {{sortname|Peter|Gabriel}} || ''[[Peter Gabriel (1980 album)|Peter Gabriel (III)]]'' (aka "Melt") | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || [[Scorpions (band)|Scorpions]] || ''[[Animal Magnetism (Scorpions album)|Animal Magnetism]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[No Place to Run (album)|No Place to Run]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1980 || [[Wishbone Ash]] || ''[[Just Testing]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || [[UFO (band)|UFO]] || ''[[The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || [[Pink Floyd]] || ''[[A Collection of Great Dance Songs]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || [[Rainbow (band)|Rainbow]] || ''[[Difficult to Cure]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || {{sortname|Nick|Mason}} || ''[[Fictitious Sports]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || {{sortname|Roger|Taylor|Roger Meddows-Taylor}} || ''[[Fun in Space]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || [[Def Leppard]] || ''[[High 'n' Dry]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1981 || {{sortname|Yumi|Matsutoya}} || ''Sakuban oai shimasho'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1982 || {{sortname|Paul|McCartney}} || ''[[Tug of War (album)|Tug of War]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1982 || [[Rainbow (band)|Rainbow]] || ''[[Straight Between the Eyes]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1982 || {{sortname|The Alan|Parsons Project}} || ''[[Eye in the Sky (album)|Eye in the Sky]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1982 || [[Bad Company]] || ''[[Rough Diamonds]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |1982 || [[Led Zeppelin]] || ''[[Coda (album)|Coda]]'' | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |} | ||
+ | ==See also== | ||
+ | *[[Hipgnosis Songs Fund]] | ||
{{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} |
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Hipgnosis was a British art design group that specialized in creating cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands, most notably Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, UFO, 10cc, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Yes, The Alan Parsons Project, Genesis, ELO and XTC. Hipgnosis consisted primarily of Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell, and later, Peter Christopherson. The group dissolved in 1983, though Thorgerson still works on album designs, and Powell works in video, most notably with The Who.
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History
In 1968 Thorgerson and Powell were approached by their friends in Pink Floyd to design the cover for the group's second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. This led to additional work for EMI, including photos and album covers for The Pretty Things, Free, Toe Fat and The Gods. Being film and art school students, they were able to use the darkroom at the Royal College of Art, but when they completed school, they had to set up their own facilities. They built a small darkroom in Powell's bathroom, but shortly thereafter, in early 1970, rented space and built a studio.
When first starting out, Powell and Thorgerson adopted their name from graffiti they found on the door to their apartment. Thorgerson said they liked the word, not only for sounding like "hypnosis," but for possessing "a nice sense of contradiction, of an impossible co-existence, from Hip = new, cool, and groovy, and Gnostic, relating to ancient learning."
Hipgnosis gained major international prominence in 1973 with their famed cover design for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. The final design was one of a several versions prepared for the band to choose from, but according to drummer Nick Mason, the 'prism/pyramid' design was the immediate and unanimous choice. The record itself was wildly successful -- it became one of the biggest-selling and longest-charting albums of all time, putting it in the hands of millions of fans, and it has since been hailed as one of the best album covers of all time (VH1 rated the cover as #4, in 2003). After that, the firm became in-demand, and did many covers for high-profile bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, Genesis, UFO, Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel, The Alan Parsons Project, and Yes. They also designed the cover for the original UK paperback edition of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Peter Christopherson joined Hipgnosis as an assistant in 1974, and later became a full partner. The firm employed many assistants and other staff members over the years. Of particular note were freelance artists George Hardie, Colin Elgie, Richard Evans and Richard Manning.
One notable fact was that Hipgnosis did not have a set fee for designing an album cover but instead asked the artists to "pay what they thought it was worth", a policy that only occasionally backfired according to Thorgerson in his book on album cover design.
Style
Hipgnosis' approach to album design was strongly photography-oriented, and they pioneered the use of many innovative visual and packaging techniques. In particular, Thorgerson & Powell's surreal, elaborately manipulated photos (utilizing darkroom tricks, multiple exposures, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques) were a film-based forerunner of what would, much later, be called photoshopping. Hipgnosis used primarily Hasselblad medium format cameras for their work, the square film format being especially suited to album cover imagery.
Hipgnosis covers were noted for their quirky humour, such as the cover for the Pink Floyd double-LP compilation A Nice Pair, which featured an array of visual puns. Another trademark was that many of their cover photos told "stories" directly related to the album's lyrics, often based on puns or double meanings of words in the album title. Since both Powell and Thorgerson were film students, they often used models as "actors" and staged the photos in a highly theatrical manner. Hipgnosis covers rarely featured artists' photos on the outside, and most were in a gatefold cover format to provide ample space for their slickly photographed tableaux.
Many of Hipgnosis' covers also featured distinctively "high tech" pen and ink logos and illustrations (often by graphic designer George Hardie), stickers, fancy inner sleeves, and other packaging bonuses.
Discography
See also