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\n\nThe commission for design agency Hipgnosis to create the Houses of the Holy album cover came about after Led Zeppelin\u2019s lead guitarist Jimmy Page telephoned the company\u2019s studio. Hipgnosis was co-founded by Aubrey Powell and the late Storm Thorgerson in 1967 and Powell recalls, \u2018Page had seen an album cover we\u2019d done for Wishbone Ash, called Argus, which was a photo of a warrior shot in the south of France. It was a very misty picture and we painted a flying saucer into the mist. He liked the atmosphere of that and said, \u201cWould you be interested to work for Led Zeppelin?\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, we said \u201cyes\u201d.\u2019 Powell reveals, \u2018There was no brief at all. I phoned the secretary of the band\u2019s management company to make an appointment and said, \u201cCould we have a title, some lyrics, was there music to listen to or something to go on?\u201d The message came back, \u201cNo. There\u2019s nothing. Just turn up with some ideas.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n
Powell and Thorgerson met the band \u2013 Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones \u2013 and their notoriously truculent manager Peter Grant at Grant\u2019s offices in London. Powell says, \u2018I brought a book by Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood\u2019s End. I talked about recreating the book\u2019s end where the children in the book, in a kind of apocalyptic scene, go up in the sky to escape the \u201coverlords\u201d. I suggested a science fiction family being led forward by a kind of alien and they would be painted in gold and silver\u2026 this appealed [to them].\u2019<\/p>\n
Another idea was to carve out the ZoSo logo with bulldozers on the plains of Nazca in Peru, but this was rejected due to the likely huge cost and tricky politics involved. Powell recalls, \u2018Peter Grant suddenly called a halt to proceedings, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re going off to Japan to tour. Choose whichever you want and go and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back at their studio, Powell and Thorgerson realised no budget had been mentioned. Powell reveals, \u2018I called Grant and asked. He replied, \u201cThere is no budget. Whatever it costs, it costs. Get an advance and don\u2019t fuck up.\u201d\u2019 Hipgnosis decided to shoot the \u2018science fiction family\u2019 idea at Giant\u2019s Causeway in Northern Ireland in late 1972.<\/p>\n
It was the year of Bloody Sunday and 479 deaths, due to the Troubles, so locals treated an English crew with suspicion. Powell admits, \u2018It was a very unsafe place to go. I didn\u2019t really take that onboard at the time.\u2019<\/p>\n\t\t
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\t\t\tThe inside gatefold sleeve image. Taken at Dunluce Castle<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n
Collages and hand painting<\/strong> Smith ran out of make-up and had to resort to using car paint on the models, but Powell then had a brainwave\u2026 \u2018At Hipgnosis we were experts at creating collage pictures. We\u2019d create imagery that was sharp front to back and had developed this technique of cutting out [parts of photographs], sanding down the edges of the paper to be Rizla-thin, blacking them, then gluing them down and creating these hyper-realist looking pictures.<\/p>\n Because the rocks were octagonal I realised that I could cut round them. I put the children in different positions on the rocks, shot them like that, realised where I could cut round and the whole thing was done in 20 minutes.\u2019<\/p>\n\t\t An example of the album\u2019s original \u2018science fiction family\u2019 artwork idea with them being led away by an alien creature<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n Powell shot the sleeve on a Hasselblad medium format camera, using a spirit level to pan across so he could get a back cover that would line up exactly with the front cover. He reveals, \u2018I used Ilford 400 ASA film \u2013 that\u2019s why it\u2019s a bit grainy and also because the light level was so low.\u2019<\/p>\n When Powell got back to England he created a precise collage and handed the black & white artwork over to hand colouring expert Phil Crennell. Powell recalls, \u2018I told him the vibe I wanted, gave him the Arthur C. Clarke book, and six weeks later we had the front cover. It looked incredible.<\/p>\n His technique was unbelievably detailed. Crennell was a bloody genius but he was very late. I had a lot of trouble with Grant about being late with the artwork.\u2019<\/p>\n\t\t Some of the crew at Giant\u2019s Causeway in 1972. From left to right \u2013 Powell, photographer\u2019s assistant Alex Henderson, \u2018dad\u2019 model Mark Sayer and \u2018alien\u2019 model Jules Laughton<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n Peter Grant wants a word…<\/strong> Peter and Jimmy went, \u201cThat\u2019s amazing. How did you get those colours? That\u2019s incredible,\u201d because it was so vibrant.\u2019 He adds, \u2018Jimmy was over the moon. They said, \u201cGreat, well done, fantastic, finish the rest of it\u201d. They went off together and a whole crowd of people had got round the car. Jimmy was still in his stage clothes, so he drew a crowd, and when we left all these people clapped\u2026 it was extraordinary but I was very relieved and very pleased they liked it.\u2019<\/p>\n The artwork was shown to sales conventions in the US and Powell recalls, \u2018I thought we\u2019d done something pretty special but I wasn\u2019t prepared for some of the backlash. The mid-West [record] dealers in America were concerned about the naked children so the record company asked if we could put an Obi, a Japanese sash\/band, around the centre of the record with \u2018Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy\u2019 on it, to cover up the children\u2019s backsides, which I did.<\/p>\n It was released like that. It was kind of cool because you had to break the obi to get to the record, so it was a bit like getting a present. Storm and I were happy about that. I\u2019m very proud of the picture and it stands the test of time.\u2019<\/p>\n\n Aubrey \u2018Po\u2019 Powell began his career as a set designer. He and Storm Thorgerson co-founded Hipgnosis in 1967, and produced LP covers for Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis and many more. He progressed to making music videos, TV commercials, documentaries and corporate films but in 2014 returned to album design for Pink Floyd\u2019s The Division Bell 20th anniversary box set. See aubreypowell.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The opened-out gatefold front and back covers of Houses of the Holy<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n Musicians:<\/strong> John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant Some of the finest names in music and photography chose this series\u2019 covers. Here is what three of our expert panel think about Houses of the Holy…<\/p>\n\n Peter Hook<\/strong> Andy Cowles<\/strong> Kirk Weddle<\/strong> Further reading<\/strong> Led Zeppelin were kings of the world in 1972\/3 and expected something amazing for the cover of album number five from top design agency, Hipgnosis – the band and the fans weren’t disappointed. Here’s how it was shot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":149316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"product-category":[],"class_list":["post-149315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photo-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe family was cast \u2013 the children were siblings Stefan and Samantha Gates \u2013 and Oscar-winning make-up artist Tom Smith did the gold and silver paintwork on the family\u2019s bodies. Powell reveals, \u2018All the cast had to get up at 4am because I wanted to get a sunrise or sunset \u2013 that was the idea, to get a glorious view. For five days it poured with rain and was absolute misery.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/004-1.jpg\")
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\nAn impatient Grant demanded Powell meet him and Jimmy Page at St. Pancras Station after the pair had arrived following a Led Zeppelin gig in Birmingham. Powell drove Grant and Page, in his Mini Cooper, to Victoria Station to catch their connecting trains to Sussex. Powell reveals, \u2018In those days you could drive onto the station. We jumped out, I opened the boot and there were the two artworks \u2013 the front and back covers.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Aubrey-Powell-1-300x238.jpg\")
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\t\t\tFact file: Led Zeppelin\u2019s Houses of the Holy<\/h2>\n
\nReleased:<\/strong> 28 March 1973 (Atlantic Records)
\nBest chart performance:<\/strong> No. 1 in the US Billboard 200, the UK Albums Chart, Canadian RPM Top 100 Albums Chart and the Australian Go-Set Top 20 Albums Chart Sales: Over 11,800,000 certified sales
\nFascinating fact<\/strong>: Houses of the Holy was the first Led Zeppelin album to have a specific title. It was the band\u2019s fifth studio album \u2013 the first three had been titled I, II, II and the fourth album was deliberately not titled at all but has been known by different names, including IV, Four Symbols, ZoSo, Runes and even Untitled. In 1974 the Houses of the Holy album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Album Package category<\/p>\n
\nOur panel on Houses of the Holy<\/h2>\n
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\nIt was the very first Zeppelin cover by Hipgnosis and they came up with a unique and striking look. Very innovative, and the way the gatefold opened up\u2026 it was like a work of art. The most important thing at school was to have a cool album beneath your arm and the fact it was Led Zep made you stand out.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Andy-Cowles-300x300.jpg\")
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\nJust like the band, this sleeve delivers colossal power and bacchanalian bloody-mindedness. Hand-tinting is an ancient technique and looks crude by today\u2019s standards, but it perfectly reflects the Zep brand \u2013 letting the black & white image abstract reality while the colour does all the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Kirk-Weddle-300x300.jpg\")
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\nAubrey Powell produced an epic album cover with Houses of the Holy. This image is almost more of a painting than a photograph. Multiple images shot in black & white and then blended together and hand tinted. This was done way before Photoshop. It\u2019s a mysterious, wild, surreal image.<\/p>\n
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\nAladdin Sane by David Bowie<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"