hipgnosis —
Hipgnosis was the most important design collective in music history. Their innovative cover art defines the albums of the biggest names of the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Now Aubrey 'Po' Powell, the last surviving member of the collective, has released a new book of portraits called Hipgnosis, published by Thames & Hudson. These are pictures that have never been seen before, and feature superstars like the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who and Paul McCartney (pictured).
New pictures emerge of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Paul McCartney —
"I shot Paul McCartney in the Mojave desert in California in 1976," says Po. "It was amazing to be there at that time, when he had just left the Beatles and was embarking on his solo career with a new band. In the middle of the day, he sent off a limo to get supplies, and we ended up having a barbecue in the middle of the desert. It was incredible. He was telling us all about what it was like for him being in the Beatles, and how free he felt afterward. Those intimate conversations were more valuable than anything, because they influenced the pictures and made them fresher and more informal."
hipgnosis —
These pictures of the Rolling Stones were taken at Bow Street Studios in London, in 1973. "Keith Richards opened the door naked to the waist and rather the worse for wear," Po recalls. "He was a beautiful young man, he looked like a gypsy hero. The band all got on incredibly well and would do whatever I wanted, even though they had an untouchable reputation."
New pictures emerge of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Paul McCartney —
The Rolling Stones were one of Hipgnosis' favorite subjects. "You could tell they were a real band of brothers," says Po. "They were all at the beginning of this amazing journey, and there was a real sense that they were a single unit. They were real gentlemen, too, and fizzing with creativity and charisma."
New pictures emerge of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Paul McCartney —
Hipgnosis was also famous for its creative approach towards manipulating images. "Obviously those were in the days before the digital age," says Po. "We had to develop the pictures ourselves, stick things together by hand, make montages and all the rest of it. Everything was created in a very hands-on fashion. It was all done using film -- remember that?"
hipgnosis —
This portrait of Pink Floyd was taken in Kent, UK, in 1968. "It was a time when artists had total creative control over their music and what they did with it, and the same was true for photography," says Po. "The money was freely available to do whatever we wanted creatively, we had carte blanche. Those were the halcyon days of creative freedom." And if he wanted to get Pink Floyd in airmen's outfits, he could do it.
hipgnosis —
This portrait of Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who, was taken in the Royal Garden Hotel in London in 1976. "The band wanted a sort of Playboy feel, and Keith came up with the idea of getting naked for a centrefold shot," recalls Po. "I turned up at the hotel, and there he was in all his glory. He grabbed his girlfriend's boa and put it over his privates. The picture makes him look like a sedate musician with a beautiful body, but he was mad as a hatter. He spoke with an affected, very posh accent the whole time. There was an upturned chest of drawers on the bed, and for some reason all the sheets and blankets had been stuffed into the toilet."
New pictures emerge of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Paul McCartney —
Po took this portrait of Led Zeppelin in Knebworth, Hertfordshire, in 1979. "The members of the band hadn't spoken for months," he recalls. "It was very tense. So I sent a car to pick up a girl and we got her to strip off. Led Zeppelin laughed themselves silly, and started fooling about. It became a very entertaining session. You had to be subversive in those days, to duck and dive and be creative."Can he remember who the girl was? "Not for the life of me," he says. We must have got her from an agency or something. It seems rather vulgar now, but that's what it was like in those days."
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This intimate picture shows Roger Waters, Aubrey 'Po' Powell (center), and David Gilmour on a UK tour in 1972. "We had a joyous time," says Po. "It was just before Dark Side of the Moon came out, and Pink Floyd were still chemically attracted to each other. They were like a band of brothers. After Dark Side, it all fell apart."
hipgnosis —
This portrait of Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, which was taken in London in 1970, encapsulates the louche, creative spirit that dominated the music scene of the time, as well as the extraordinary standard of photography that Hipgnosis regularly achieved. The pictures themselves, he says, have "stood the test of time", unlike the clothes and the hairstyles, perhaps.
New pictures emerge of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Paul McCartney —
This rare portrait of Jimi Hendrix in the recording studio, holding an electric bass guitar was taken in London in the Seventies. It shows the level of informality that Po was able to capture in his pictures, as a result of his close relationships with the musicians he photographed.
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This was where the magic happened: the Hipgnosis photographic studio at 6, Denmark St, Soho, London. "It looked more like a scruffy garment factory than a photo-design workshop," says Po. "In the back room a makeshift wooden shed covered in brown cork sufficed as a darkroom, and the acrid smell of fixing fluid presided over any meeting that was held in a communal hallway... Beyond lay a scruffy bathroom, complete with Victorian roll-top bath and a porcelain basin, which were used in turn as a print washer and urinal."
