'And then in the end, they had put a small piece of Pink Floyd on it shot on infrared film, so it was weird looking, and it fitted totally, and I think it’s not a bad sleeve - from there, they went on to do bigger things.”

They stole from all kinds of books and photographed it and put it all together. “They somehow made it work in an unusual way, with lots of bits of pieces. Soon Hipgnosis crossed paths with Pink Floyd and got the gig to design the cover of A Saucerful of Secrets, the band's second album. ‘Po’ Powell was a more convivial, likable character, he says.

So, I depended on the stories of various people, but he seemed to be a controversial figure, and somebody who loved to have an argument.” “Storm passed away before I started making this documentary. “So, there was these cool cats going into that house and he, plucked up the courage to also knock on the door. So, he had always a lot of people around to play records and smoke dope. “And Storm was living with his mother, but his mother was very liberal. I think he was 16 and lived on his own and had no father anyway. “They met because they lived on opposite sides of the street. Hipgnosis was founded by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell in Cambridge.Ĭambridge in the late 60s had a fertile musical scene, and was home to emerging counter culture bands such as Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. “So that was all part of the pleasure of putting an album on, reading all the liner notes, all the sleeve information while you listen to the music.” And any messages they wanted to give to the people who bought the record. “So it’s not just a visual image, but also when you open it up all the written information about tracks and who played on tracks and recorded etc. “The significance of album sleeves in the ‘70s was there was almost no other way of getting information about the record, apart from what the band chooses to put on the sleeve. The album cover, pre-internet, was the only way to glean information about a band, Corbijn tells Simon Morris.

The New Zealand Film Festival is about to premiere a new film about Hipgnosis - Squaring the Circle by photographer and director Anton Corbijn.

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