Few people would know Hipgnosis but never all of you will have listened to an album they made the cover for.
In the documentary ‘Squaring the Circle’, photographer, film maker and video director Anton Corbijn tells the story of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, the co-founders of Hipgnosis.
Thorgerson and Powell were attending the Royal College of Art when their friends and fellow studios asked them to design a cover for what would be their second album. Those friends were Pink Floyd. Storm and Aubrey designed the cover for ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ and Hipgnosis was born.
Hipgnosis did the covers for all of the next Floyd albums including ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’.
There reputation grew and so did their resume. T. Rex ‘Electric Warrior’, Electric Light Orchestra ‘ELO2’ and Australia’s The Masters Apprentices (The Masters Apprentices) and Olivia Newton-John (Olivia) were using their services.
Jimmy Page loved their work so much he recruited them for Led Zeppelin’s ‘Houses of the Holy’ and every Led Zep album afterwards. Paul McCartney hired them for ‘Wings Greatest’, ‘Venus and Mars’, ‘Wings At The Speed of Sound’, ‘Wings Over America’, ‘Tug of War’, London Town’ and ‘Back To The Egg’. They worked for Genesis ‘The Lamb Lies Dies on Broadway’, Bad Company ‘Bad Company’ and ‘Straight Shooter’, AC/DC’s international version of ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’, 10cc’s ‘How Dare You’, ‘The Original Soundtrack’ and ‘Deceptive Bends’ and albums by Black Sabbath, Status Quo, Alan Parsons, Sammy Hagar, Genesis, Styx, Peter Gabriel, Leo Sayer and The Police.
With ‘Squaring the Circle’, Corbijn has tapped into a rarely untold story with a fascinating history. The work of Hipgnosis is iconic, the story of fascinating. The movie screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Anton Corbijn made the videos for U2 ‘One’, Joy Division ‘Atmosphere’, Metallica ‘Hero For A Day’, Depeche Mode ‘Enjoy The Silence’, Nirvana ‘Heart Shaped Box’, and Coldplay ‘Talk’. He was also the director of the movie ‘Control’ about Ian Curtis of Joy Division.
A streaming service for the ‘Squaring The Circle’ movie is yet to be announced.
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