Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis

When I was young and we still bought physical media, one of my favorite parts of getting a new album was the ride home. Between the store and home is when I’d tear off the shrink wrap and look at what I’d bought in exhaustive detail. Reading the liner notes, studying the lyrics, seeing if I could find the source of the album title one of the songs. And, of course, pouring over the artwork. How did it tie into the music or the album title? What did it mean? Kids today missed out on how crucial artwork was as to music. And nobody did artwork like Hipgnosis, a British art studio. From the late 60’s to the early 80’s, Hipgnosis put iconic visuals to legendary albums; Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy, AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, and of course, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, among many, many others. Squaring The Circle tells the story of how the studio’s two founders, Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson, met and created an art studio as important to the music industry as the bands. It is replete with interviews from staffers and band members, and archival footage from Thorgerson (he passed in 2013), as it goes through the years, highlighting the ups and downs, how the two men worked together and battled each other, and the stories behind some of their most famous covers. If you’re a music nerd, this is a must watch. You’ve got albums in your collection with their artwork. You’ve had their covers on your wall as a poster when you were a teenager. It’s a well-told story about a part of rock history that everybody loves but few appreciate, and a generation is totally ignorant of. But to that end, it’s also got a limited audience. Anybody on the younger side of the millennial generation or younger will not understand. To them, the Dark Side prism is just a neat t-shirt design. They won’t have a clue who 10cc or The Nice are, and the movie doesn’t try to explain. So there is a barrier to entry. And the documentary does just kind of … end. The market changes, Hipgnosis dissolves, the partnership splinters because of business dealings, movie over. Nothing in the way of “where are they now” or what anybody did after they broke up. Even for a fan, it feels kind of unfinished. But if you’re a music nerd like me, it’s still a good watch. Makes me long for those days of pouring over album artwork and having it mean something.