In fifteen thematic chapters, Aubrey Powell presents the most intriguing stories of creative endeavour, difficult relationships, excessive lifestyles and bizarre events from the world of rock, featuring an eclectic cast of pop stars, comedians, actors, managers, gangsters and inspirational world figures from 1966 on. This thrilling volume is packed with personal anecdotes - from the founding of Hipgnosis to surviving drugs busts, and from the creative process behind the most iconic album artworks of all time to filming the Krays - and is richly illustrated with Hipgnosis artwork and Powell's own photographs.
Drama and creativity are the common threads throughout an array of amazing stories. With candour and insightful reflection, Powell reveals how he and Storm Thorgerson became an effective creative partnership despite their volatile relationship; how the final colour artwork for Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy was created out of black-and-white photos of two naked children climbing the Giant's Causeway very early on a cold, grey morning; how the most iconic album cover of all time - Dark Side of the Moon - came about; and how the 2017 Pink Floyd retrospective became the largest and most successful music exhibition ever mounted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, despite the deeply antagonistic and dysfunctional relationship between Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Throughout, Powell conveys how the trappings of fame and glory upset the balance of everyday life, bringing creativity and destruction in equal measure. The surreal imagery that Hipgnosis conjured was often a reflection of the strange events and weird circumstances that surrounded the commissioning protagonists. Pop stars, comedians, movie actors, managers, gangsters, and iconic and inspirational world figures all feature in these riveting psychological dramas.
