The Work of Hipgnosis: Walk Away Rene

by Storm Thorgerson

Genres: Music, Art, Photography

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reproductions of some of the work of the Hipgnosis people, who designed the cover art for many of the classic rock albums of the 1970s. Usefully organized into sections reflecting recurrent themes in the work of this graphic design team--landscapes, nostalgia, anatomy. In addition to the reproductions, the authors discuss their work, their creative processes, their experiences during difficult projects (for instance, the work for the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals, which involved photographing an inflatable pig floating past a factory smokestack--these days, we'd just photoshop it).

Even if you're not a fan of the music, the art itself is interesting--sometimes surreal, sometimes "futuristic."

Acquired Jul 2003
Attic Books, London, Ontario

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The creators of most every 1970s black-light poster in existence, Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell and Peter Christopherson (soon to become one of the founders of industrial music) give the reader a taste of the life and times of Hipgnosis. All their best work is here, from their famous Pink Floyd album covers to works for Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath and on and on and on...

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fun, informative, frustrating, fascinating, and overall, worth the read.

Storm Thorgerson seems to be an interesting character. There's times through this book where he's mostly all business, giving very detailed facts on how this cover was put together, or that idea came into being.

At other times, he's quite sarcastic and slightly caustic in discussing their dealings with various people in the music industry, from individual artists and bands, through to record company execs.

Now, I personally have been a fan of Hipgnosis covers since the late 70s when I started collecting albums and, of course, deep diving into back catalogues. I was one of those guys that would pull the album out, put it on, then read every single word on the album and record sleeve—and there was nothing more disappointing than to open an album to find a plain white paper record sleeve, believe me—so I soon discovered the coolest covers (Pink Floyd, Alan Parson Project, 10cc) mostly came from the same brilliant minds...Hipgnosis.

But yes, they also very much had their misses, too. Harlequin's Victim of a Song album cover (that I doubt you'll ever see aside from the actual album) is the first one to come to mind, but there's a few.

But Storm narrates it all with tongue firmly in cheek and memories absolutely skewed. But it's still a fun and interesting read. Looking forward to the next one.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

dates are a guess

[Jemiah Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful! Not just full of mind-bending, shocking, witty, hilarious, and beautiful imagery, the Hipgnosis chaps even occasionally provide insights on great design and the trials and tribulations of traveling the world to try to produce the perfect photo for their use. This was my consolation prize for not being able to find the Roger Dean or Syd Mead books, and it'll do for now.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone into Graphic Design should read this!!!