Before the era of the web and social media, it was all about album covers.
London-based design studio Hipgnosis has created some of the most iconic artwork for traditional rock bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartneypost-Beatles band Wings.
The new documentary “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)” – which premiered Wednesday at the New York Film Forum and can premiere nationwide later this month – goes to the studio that created the visuals for some of the biggest acts of the 70s.
“The meaning of an album cover won’t ever be the same because it was in the 70s, and making a documentary about the most famous album covers of that era, which were made by one design team, is de facto necessary for individuals who missed that period,” said the famous rock photographer Anton Corbijnwho directed the movie. “Although vinyl sales have picked up again, that period appears to be over.”
Here, he and Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey “Po” Powell exhibit the covers of some of their key albums.
Pink Floyd, “Dark Side of the Moon”
Of all the classic LP covers that got here out of the visionary factory Hipgnosis, Pink Floyd’s 1973 concept album boasts the most iconic image of all of them. After the cow was featured on an interesting Seventies cover “Atomic Heart Mother” Powell, who founded Hipgnosis with the late Storm Thorgerson, said the team wanted “something more graphic or easy.” He found inspiration from an unlikely source: physics. “I happened to be flipping through a book on refraction and suddenly Storm said, ‘Got it! We want to make a pyramid with light refraction.”
Pink Floyd – I wish you were here”
In the mid-Seventies, Pink Floyd became disillusioned with the music industry, complaining about artists who had been “burnt” in the business. So on the cover of their 1975 album, the band searched for a literal depiction of the one with the stuntman who, in the pre-digital-effects era, needed to be set on fire in multiple takes. “Once I was younger, I didn’t realize the context of the fire,” Corbijn said. “The same effect can now be easily achieved with digital technology. But it surely makes it higher that it’s really on fire.”
Led Zeppelin, “Houses of Saints”
For Hipgnosis’ first collaboration with Led Zep, they were tasked with coming up with an album cover for the band’s 1973 classic. “I got a call from Jimmy Page asking me to do an album cover for them,” said Powell. “I said, ‘In fact, but can we hear some music? Is there any title? “No, no – just provide you with some ideas.” And one of the ideas was taken directly from Arthur C. Clarke’s book Childhood’s End. But Powell admits that photos of two naked children – Stefan and Samantha Gates – taken on Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland wouldn’t fly today. “In fact you could not do this cover now,” he said. “It might be problematic”
Wings, “Team on the Run”
Paul McCartney was at all times on the run from the Beatles, so on his third album with Wings, he desired to drive that departure home. “Symbolically, he’s running from the Beatles,” said Powell. “And from then on, we had a 15-year relationship with Paul McCartney and we did just about all the things for him in terms of album covers etc. And it was a joy. It was a bit like working with an art school student because he was at all times tearing up bits of paper and taking notes.”
Peter Gabriel, “Peter Gabriel (Scratch)”
After trying to find Hipgnosis in 1977 for his first post-Genesis solo album, Gabriel returned to the studio to record his second album titled “Scratch” in 1978. It was one of the few times when the artist appeared on the cover of Hipgnosis. Nonetheless, it was not a typical portrait. “He was searching for an idea and he was going around the studio searching for old ideas that had been scrapped for other shows,” said Powell. Gabriel discovered something Hipgnosis did on posters for a theater troupe: “He said, ‘Oh, I like the idea of scratching yourself out of the picture. Are you able to do that for me? “