CASE STUDY: Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell

Heres a short case Study I contructed during the summer about Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell. 

CASE STUDY: Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell

These two designers who founded Hipgnosis in 1968 have played a huge role in revolutionising album cover design. The two worked together between the years 1968 to 1982, having met at the age of 17 at a convention in Cambridge which also included members of Pink Floyd. When Thorgerson went to London to study film in 1966 at the Royal College of Art, Powell joined him and was hired by the BBC as a scenic artist. Thorgerson suggested to Powell that he should join the RCA’s Photographic School. Powell was taught by John Hedgecoe for 6 months before the college discovered Powell was being taught for free. Powell himself said that he received ‘…the finest education in photography – nobody asked where I’d come from…’(Mark Sinclair (2012). The Odd Couple. Creative Review. 34, pp.20) He was soon after asked to leave when the college discovered he was not officially enrolled.

Powell and Thorgerson then began working with infrared film and began to produce book covers for a friends publishing house. It was these book covers that lead to the interests of Pink Floyd, who later asked them to design the cover of their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. That album cover was created in the RCA darkroom and Powell says that he learnt a lot from Storm throughout the process and by they end was confident with a camera. Soon after, they created Hipgnosis. The name was taken from graffiti on a door frame they found near their apartment. Soon after the design of A Saucerful of Secrets, Pink Floyd’s manager, Bryan Morrison, asked if the pair would be interested in designing album sleeves for other bands such as The Dirty Pretty Things and T-Rex. This led to Storm leaving art college in 1968; the pair borrowed money from their parents and set up business in Demark Street. As Powell said ‘…suddenly bands were falling over themselves to get us to work for them, mostly related to the work we were doing for Pink Floyd’ (Mark Sinclair (2012). The Odd Couple. Creative Review. 34, pp.20).

Which brings us to the main point, what was it about the work of Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell that attracted such a large audience? What was it about these album covers that was so influential to both art and the music world?

Pink Floyd – A Saucerful of Secrets  (1969)

If we set sail on this discussion by first taking a look at Powell and Thorgerson’s first ever cover for Pink Floyd’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. This cover was created in the RCA darkroom and in a result we can ‘see a swirling photo collage of planets and marbling effects’ (Mark Sinclair (2012). The Odd Couple. Creative Review. 34, pp.20). This cover is radically different to what the pair would soon go on to produce but perfectly connected with the psychedelic scene that was booming in London. Hipgnosis’ influences came mainly from the art and film worlds: Bunuel, Fellini and Godard on the film side, and Duchamp, Man Ray and Magritte from the world of fine art. These influences are more obvious in later work.

Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother (1970)

With the instructions to make something plain, Storm went ahead and was inspired by Andy Warhol’s Cow Paper. He promptly went out into the country and took a photo of a cow in a field; in doing this is managed to create the strangest cover Pink Floyd would ever have during their career. It was this wired difference that made the album shine out when being put against more conventional covers of this time. As Storm says during an interview in 1998 ‘ I didn't have anything, really, to do with the start of Atom Heart Mother, and when I asked them what it was about, they said they didn't know themselves. It's a conglomeration of pieces that weren't related, or didn't seem to be at the time. The picture isn't related either; in fact, it was an attempt to do a picture that was unrelated, consciously unrelated…” Gary Graff (2013). Designer Storm Thorgerson Reflects on Pink Floyd and 30 Years of Landmark Album Art [online]. Available from: <http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-designer-storm-thorgerson-reflects-pink-floyd-and-30-years-landmark-album-art?page=0,2>. [Accessed 16/07/13]

This is a great example of how the album cover ended up coming out, the fact not even the band could communicate a meaning to the music examples quite a lot.

Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon 1973

Perhaps one of the most talked about album covers of all time, The Dark Side of the Moon was released in 1973. Pink Floyd were known for their use of psychedelic light shows in their stage work and it was this that Storm and Aubrey wanted to communicate on this particular sleeve. The design showed a prism refratving white light into a spectrum, as Jason Draper says ‘…simple physics and something record buyers might relate to from school.’ (Jason Draper (ed). (2008). A Brief History of Album Covers. London: Flame Tree Publishing.

) Roger walters changed the design to continue through the inner sleeve, changing back to white light on the back, which could represent the continuos rythem of the music. The album cover was so famous that ‘..it became and instant icon, suggesting Pink Floyd when ever you saw it’ (Barry Miles, Gary Scott, Johnny Morgan (eds). (2008). The Greatest Album Covers of All Time. Glasgow: Collins) The pyramid was also important to the creation of the design, the triangle face of the prism is the symbol of ambition, and it is claimed that Roger Walters wanted a sleeve that reflected madness of ambition.

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here 1975

Wish You Were Here was made in 1975 and Thorgerson and Powell were working so closely with the band that they even chose the title of the album and helped the band with its packaging. The cover image of a man in flames represented the fear of being burnt upon meeting someone new. It probably also referred to the music business and according to Miles Scott & Morgan ‘…and possible to the fact that the band was still ‘missing’ founder Syd Barret, to whom one of the best songs, Shine On, You Crazy Diamond was dedicated’  (Barry Miles, Gary Scott, Johnny Morgan (eds). (2008). The Greatest Album Covers of All Time. Glasgow: Collins)

Inspired by Roxie Music who packaged their country life album in opaque green cellophane, for fear of objections too its photographs of scantily clad women, they wrapped this album in black plastic. Although EMI in Great Britain and CBS in America objected, the band could not be stopped from executing this idea as millions of copies had already been shipped. The black plastic gave the idea that the album was not suitable for the general public which then on purchase, made the buyer feel as if they were being rebellious along with Pink Floyd. It was this that played a fundamental role in the selling of the album, although the band was already famous.

Pink Floyd  - Animals 1977

Animals was to go along the same farmyard theme as the Atom Heart Mother sleeve but instead of a cow a large inflatable pig would to be hovering over the London Battersea Power Station. However the shoot caused much problems for Storm, Powell and their team as during the first shoot the pig managed to break free, causing major delays Heathrow Airport as it intercepted flight paths; the Civil Aviation Authority managed to track it until it reached 18,000 feet and went beyond its radar range. In the end it landed in a farmers field in Kent, the pig was soon transported back to its rightful place were it was again hoisted up above the power station for its next shoot. The sleeve you can see is actually from the first day of shooting as it was that particular picture the band liked, they preferred the sky with its interesting cloud shape and colour. It was up to Storm to transfer the pig onto that photo.

10cc – Look Here 1980

Considering we have only looked at Pink Floyd covers, it seems only right to have a look at later covers that Strom and Powell designed for different bands. Already from this cover you can see many connections that the style of their work has remained the same, despite the band being a completely different genre. To begin with I find it very interesting what Storm has to say about this particular cover. ‘…The band asked for 'something different'. I never really have a clear idea of what that expression means ... I thought it was more engaging to ask a question and between us we came up with 'are you normal?' Anyway, the question led to the idea of normality and what could be more normal than a sheep, all of whom tend to follow each other. But to be normal you'd need a lengthy dose of psychotherapy.' (The Guardian [online]. (2013). Available from: <http://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2009/may/20/storm-thorgerson-album-artwork>. [Accessed 23/08/13])

The Cranberries – Bury the Hatchet (1999)

Storm says: 'I was both suprised and heartened that the Cranberries chose the design at all ... the Cranberries had previously used pictures of themselves, often on a sofa. Our image was clearly a departure, not a sofa in sight. The second miracle arose after we decided that red earth was paramount to contrast with a blue sky, which had to be empty (ie cloudless, to echo the empty landscape and to emphasise that the All Seeing Eye can get you anywhere).' (The Guardian [online]. (2013). Available from: <http://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2009/may/20/storm-thorgerson-album-artwork>. [Accessed 23/08/13])

This album being a massive leap forward, a whole 19 years, interestingly storm says he was surprised that the Cranberries used the design as they usually only used pictures of themselves, a great example that Storm’s ideas where unitc and different. This message is so clear in this sleeve , it closely links with panoptosicm, that you never know when your being watched and you never know who by. In this case it suggests you know you are being watched and as a result you feel so venerable you feel naked.

‘Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell had the magical effect of making the record within the cover more important than it actually was.’ (Hepworth) These album covers have got very much the same narratives, not exactly giving an idea to what the content of the album might be, but an underlying curiosity to what it could be. The visuals for all these covers are the make or brake selling point for these bands, exactly the same as what a magazine might do or even a billboard might do for selling the latest Hollywood movie. The cover is not just a cover to make it look pretty, its there to sell the music within. The music you can judge from the cover and its all thanks to the two that formed Hipgnosis. And as David Hepworth so rightly states ‘The music could often be dismayingly orthodox but the packaging encouraged you to give it the benefit of the doubt when it came to artiness”