Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) (2022)

February 14, 2024 10:30 AM

In 1968, art students Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell made a trippy photo collage for their musician friends Syd, David and Roger. The resulting album and album cover, A Saucerful of Secrets, helped launch two careers: that of Pink Floyd, one of the 70s megabands, and of Hipgnosis, which, over the course of the next 25 years, designed a stream of iconic album covers.

I found this pretty engaging as documentaries go. It was kind of a trip seeing Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, David Gilmore, etc, all on screen. Also amazing discovering just how many iconic album covers this small design studio had created.

posted by adamrice (2 comments total)

I was always a big fan of Hipgnosis’ work. This documentary was a fun little watch.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:32 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]

Watched it last week and enjoyed it thoroughly, from the vivid reminiscences of the 60s acid-drenched communal scene to the juicy gossip about the later excesses of the arena rock era. Also had no idea the youngest of Hipgnosis's three partners was Peter Christopherson, later to co-found Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil. My jaw dropped when that part hit. Steve Matlock talking about Peter staring at the Sex Pistols from his window across the alley was a hoot.

A surprisingly fun and interesting music and art documentary.
posted by mediareport at 9:46 AM on February 15