MetaChat - For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis

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16 August 2009

For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis OMG, how bad do I want this book? Very.→[More:] I grew up with Hipgnosis' album cover designs. That last one (for Led Zeppelin's "Presence") was designed by a latecomer to Hipgnosis, Peter Christopherson, a member of the band Throbbing Gristle and later one half of one of my favorite bands, Coil.

post by: BoringPostcards at: 20:17 | 12 comments

A roommate of mine in college had a similar earlier book about Hipgnosis that I remember reading. I recall that they never did get a good shot of that pig flying around the power station and ended up faking it in the end.

I miss album covers, there have been a few cute CD covers but they don't seem to bother putting much effort into them since they're so small.

posted by octothorpe 16 August | 20:47

Yeah, cover art has definitely lost something as an art form. And these guys were just brilliant.

posted by BoringPostcards 16 August | 21:10

While I'd agree that there are fewer great covers, some artists are still trying. I bought vinyl copies of both Neko Case's last one:
≡ Click to see image ≡
(hot red head on a cool car, with a cool sword!) and The Weakerthans last one:
≡ Click to see image ≡
(super cool in general - although, that image doesn't do it justice)

Some of the Hipgnosis covers are still soooo great. I love that XTC one.
One day I hope to get my turntable setup...

posted by richat 16 August | 21:35

Oh man I think I love this. But I'll wait to see the book before I buy it. 12 x 9 seems a bit skimpy for the subject matter. 13 x 13 would seem to make more sense, allowing for a 1 to 1 reproduction ratio.

posted by arse_hat 16 August | 22:19

Oh, there's still plenty of great record (and CD--it's just that I'm inclined to say 'record') cover art.

≡ Click to see image ≡

I like the Wax Poetic cover-art books too, and the several books of Blue Note cover art (Reid Miles and suchlike) are pretty neat, I think.

posted by box 16 August | 22:20

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by box 16 August | 22:24

I don't have much to add other than Coil is one of my favorite bands as well - see this somewhat related post I made a few days back on Mefi Music.

posted by item 17 August | 01:25

Whoa, Chris Carter is on Flickr? Who knew? Thanks, item.

Richat, that Neko cover IS pretty fantastic. I like the continuation of the artwork inside the cover, too.

posted by BoringPostcards 17 August | 06:20

That Neko Case cover is pretty great. I was in old man mode when I said that there weren't any good covers these days but definitely the golden age of album covers is long gone.

posted by octothorpe 17 August | 10:17

Yeah, Neko nailed it, that's for sure. I was already awfully impressed with it, then I found out that's her ACTUAL Mercury Cougar that she's standing on. Then I was even more impressed. Mind you, I must admit that I've got a pretty giant crush on Neko.

And octo, I do think you are right. The golden age has passed for sure.

posted by richat 17 August | 10:32

There are still some pretty stunning album covers coming out, but I've noticed that lately if I love the album cover the odds are I don't like the music. There was a time when a great album cover was a tip-off that the music would be great, and I bought many albums based soley on the album cover. I'm not that adventurous anymore - now I need to hear a few songs before shelling out the dollars.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 17 August | 13:28

On the lighter side, Houses of the Holy in Legos!

posted by Kronos_to_Earth 17 August | 18:53

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