Storm Thorgerson (1944–2013)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this book is an absolute feast for the eyes, rivaled by only a handful of tomes in my collection. (I’ve in fact bought another copy to give to my aunt, a graphic / calligraphy artist; she saw Pink Floyd live on their The Wall tour.) I had vaguely known about the cover art of Hipgnosis thanks to Pink Floyd, particularly their iconic Wish You Were Here cover, but when I learned they had also done the cover of the album Chrome by Catherine Wheel, one of my all-time favorite discs, I really began to dig in and study their other designs. That 1993 album’s cover is used as the cover of this book. (A cool factoid is that the covers of the CD, LP, & cassette versions of this album all feature slightly different poses, and the water was very cold.) I’m using “they” to refer to the Hipgnosis design team, though it was of course the brainchild of Mr. Thorgerson. Some of their images were a bit over the top, particularly for the Cranberries & Ween, but at least they tried to give us something unforgettable each time, and succeeded at that. If only they had branched out into all forms of advertising, this world would be a lot cooler…… (mere)

Not only a lovely book to look at, this is an in-depth dive into the visuals of Pink Floyd.

But it's also so much more than that. Storm Thorgerson, while apparently being a bit of a handful to deal with, shows a fun, curmudgeonly side of himself, thick with sarcasm and and smartass humour as he takes you through a walking tour of all the work he was involved in with the band over the years.

It's also a primer on creativity as a whole, and not being satisfied with doing the same damn thing as everyone else is doing. Honestly, whenever you see an album cover created by Hipgnosis, you know it. It's different from everything else out there.

This is a solid book for Pink Floyd completists, but it's also a great book for anyone interested in visual art, and the thinking that goes into it to make it rise about the din of the exceptionally average.… (mere)

Displaying album covers mostly from the 50s thru the 70s, this is a fantastic book. History of their original function as simple protective sleeves to creating a new image vocabulary (faces) for the artists themselves as the production evolved with new technology. Large format book which is a goldmine for record buyers from years back. Vinyl is not mentioned in the book but vinyl is now being sold again at bookstores. Pages of album covers which are recognizable for the most part instantaneously.… (mere)