Hi,
The nice thing about this special is the one that matters the most to me ... the number of bands that I bought so many records off the art work, just like Hipgnosis.
As such, the impact that his work had on my ability to pick up some albums, is immense, even if at times, the imagery did not quite match, so it seems, but it added a side story to the band in general.
by contrast, Hipgnosis ended up doing for a long time a bit of a satirical cover that gave you a very good idea of what the music was about ... these were very subtle, and often weird, but mostly funny, although at times ,,, not funny! I specifically remember the album cover from UFO that has something flying that appears to be a flying saucer, but when you look more at the whole picture, you finally, half an hour later, realize that the car is missing one silver hubcap ... and guess what is flying above? It basically says that the music is ..... (whatever) ... but not serious ... just fun. Of course, this is a bit weirded out in the later cover in the bathroom ... fun?
But Roger Dean, stayed away from the "symbolism" in most cases although we can certainly assimilate a lot of ideas with many covers and "Relayer" is definitely one of them, and likely the best example.
Probably the clearest element about this list is the work itself, and how pretty so much of it is, and how much of it I went after, after plunking down so much money for "The Roger Dean Book" sometime in the 70's .
That list includes: Lighthouse - One Fine Morning (had a radio hit) Keith Tippett Group Ramases (the folks here were to become 10CC and came from "Hotlegs" which had a radio hit. Babe Ruth (really special band that made Iggy and the Stooges look like a high school band at the Whiskey!) Budgie (Nice ... !!!) Greenslade (really nice and remember that Dave lawson was a part of many other bands as a producer) Gentle Giant (nothing need be said except Mr. Gomelsky the poppa of prog music chose it!) Third Ear Band (really special stuff and various parts of the band are still going) Gun Dr Strangely Strange Midnight Sun Badger
... and many others. I'm not sure that all of these, were as "good" as the ones from the early Hipgnosis, but in the end, they were all different, and showed something about the time and the place, that was very special to me, and still stands up.
Someone needs to do a serious art thing about the Fillmore and the listing of artists that did so many posters for them, and album covers as well.
In the end, these will all show how artistic and creative the times were THEN ... and how today, it is all about the fame and SW talking about his great new work ... the artist in those days, DID NOT have to talk ... the music did it on its own! With a lot of help from the art.
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
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