Vinyl: The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue

"Hipgnosis had an informal atmosphere that was overflowing with 'unique' character." Marcus Bradbury. "You would be insulted, laughed at, entertained and challenged, but you could be certain Hipgnosis would deliver." Peter Gabriel. Finally, the complete album artwork from Hipgnosis in a format that combines an art book and a true catalogue. In a nutshell--the reproductions are crisp and clean. There's informative captions for each album that oftentimes go beyond simple album information. The size of the book (approx. 7 3/4" X 91/2") is a bit too small to adequately display a number of covers--from one to a page, to a few two page spreads, to four covers per page. But as I said, the reproductions, and the fact that this is the complete catalogue, and not just simply an art book with pieces chosen from the entire catalogue of work, goes a long way in making this book worth owning for Hipgnosis fans (like me) who want all the artwork in one book. There's no dust jacket and the outer boards are a textured white which will attract finger smudges if that's a concern--but it does look classy. This book is somewhere between four and five "stars" because I wish the size of the book--hence the reproductions--would be larger, but this is closer to five "stars". To each his own on the book/reproduction size matter. There's a mistake on page 151 which shows four album covers on one page. Cover number 1 ("Nazareth") and cover number 4 ("Hydra") should be reversed according to the captions below the covers--but that's a minor quibble. The book has a Forward by Peter Gabriel ("Although many creative folk passed through Hipgnosis, it was driven and defined by the three partners, the wild, the weird, and the wonderful."), plus an Introduction bu Aubrey Powell on Hipgnosis ("When the sky's the limit you push yourself to the limit too."), and a 1977 essay by Storm Thorgerson on "How To Design A Record Cover.". The artwork is arranged chronologically from 1967 through 1984. Beginning with a Laurel Aitken album "Says Fire" and Pink Floyd's "Piper At The Gates of Dawn (a substitute cover), both from '67, to "About Face" by David Gilmour, "Now Voyager" from Barry Gibb, and "Hey Drag City" a various artists set (all from '84), everything is here. Finally, to finish things up there's a chapter titled "Outro" with a piece by Marcus Bradbury on working at Hipgnosis. There's a much needed index of album titles for easy reference. The quibble about the book's size aside, I really like this book the more I get into it. The colors are accurate and pretty stunning and details are crisply rendered on a semi-matte paper stock surface. The captions oftentimes go beyond standard album information with personal, sometimes pithy comments ("Clifford T. Ward wanted a portrait, so he got one. Clifford doesn't look very happy though, and neither were we.") which add depth and interest and introduce a more human element to the catalogue. This book can easily sit on the shelf next to other books on Hipgnosis. Hipgnosis artwork fans, miss this catalogue and it's your loss.

First off, book was well shipped in sturdy packaging and the book itself is a very well made hardback. Contains hundreds of album cover pics and interesting commentary on many of them. If you're a vinyl collector this is a must own volume that shows the incredible work of Hipgnosis of not only some of the most iconic album covers of all time, but all of the other artwork they did for lesser known bands. Highly recommend.

If you grew up during the 70’s, those milk crates with your albums in it were full of Hipgnosis artwork. I own UFO’s Strangers In The Night cover on canvas. Iconic.

This book has great information on the album covers from some very iconic groups. The stories behind the covers is also quite interesting.

The book itself is excellent but the package was open and it had a couple of very subtle bruises/stains. Nothing serious but still

I bought this for my son who is a big Pink Floyd fan and has turned me into one. The album covers and other photos are a trip through the 60's and 70's. Lots of great comments, too. But mostly it's the art that makes this book worth having.

Must have for those of us who remember when an album release was an event, and a huge part of that event was the cover. How many of the classic covers of the "Classic Rock " era were created by Hipgnosis. This book is beautifully bound, even though I would've preferred a more "coffee table book" size. Viewing these images closer to their original size would've worked better for me ( and of course would weigh about 25 pounds). If you like this book, I would suggest you track down "Walk Away Renee" which contains a lot more information about the creation of these covers, as well as background stories. It's out of print, but definitely worth seeking out.

Very interesting read the goal is to not go through it too soon which is proven difficult.