I've been slowly reading a book called Led Zeppelin by Bob Spitz. Led Zep were interested in jazzing up their latest album cover. So they sought the services of a studio called Hipgnosis (sorry if this is wrong. B Spitz's account). But before all that, a few years before, the two Hipgnosis members: S Thorgerson and A Powell were sharing a flat with Syd Barret who is was going out of his mind from too much LSD, and Pink Floyd were falling apart. PF held a meeting with these guys, and one of the Floyd members said: 'we have to have a new album cover, and we don't want the same old **** the record company insists on'. This was the result, and Hipgnosis's big break:
Before Hipgnosis, record companies had tight creative control over jackets, and demanded they be illustrated by a photograph of the band, and the name of the act and the album in standard lettering. If visiting a label's art department in London, one would encounter elderly men. Curmudgeons in fact, a bit like some of the Windsurfers on this site
. These smocks serviced the great symphony orchestras. Men who despised rock n roll, wearing white lab coats, white gloves, and slapping text on jacket mock-ups...
So, a few years later, Jimmy Page reached out to Hipgnosis for their new cover:
Photographing this cover at the Giant's Causeway in North Ireland was a story in itself. But you can buy the book and read more about it
. It's a bloody good read.
