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'Its Another World Record — Album Cover Art.
From the studio of The World Record Club, 1958–1976' is
a new book from Geoff Hocking.
This book is a must for lovers
of classical music, good graphic design, collectors and ephemerists alike. |
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Published by New Chum Press, this 320 page book, released in March 2009, celebrates the excellence in the design of album covers that came from the Melbourne-based studio in the late fifties and the sixties.
Available from the author/publisher at <casbooks@bigpond.com>
RRP $79.95 plus $10 postage to anywhere in Australia
At 320 pages, full-colour throughout, hardback, this is a big book – featuring fabulous reproductions of more than 500 album covers, a short company history and biographies of several of the artists.
Geoff is available for a chat – with experience in radio and television interviews. a veteran of John Faine's 'Conversation Hour', 'Good Morning Australia with Kerry-Anne Kennerley'; interviews with the ABC's Derek Guille, Tony Delroy, Julie Copeland and commercial stations across all Australian capitals.
You can contact the publisher/author Geoff Hocking at New Chum Press,
PO BOX 603 Castlemaine 3450,
tel: 03 5472 3906, mobile: 0402 098 297, casbooks@bigpond.com or at g.hocking@latrobe.edu.au
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"The most interesting work being done at present
is probably in areas of minor commercial importance. I refer to such printed matter as company reports, record jackets, brochures
or direct mail pieces."
– the legendary advertising guru R.Haughton 'Jimmy' James, writing in his small book
'Commercial Art' published by Longman's Australia in 1963, in which he featured
eight World Record Club designs — the only album covers
featured in the book.
Classic designs
The World Record Club Studio produced cover art for more than 2000 releases between 1958 and 1975,
most of the designs were for releases of classical recordings.
Beethoven was a perennial favourite with scores of releases – all the symphonies, piano sonatas, concertos and more.
The striking cover by Melbourne designer Max Robinson for Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 [shown upper left]
is one design singled out by almost every other designer in the WRC alumni as a favourite.
Rob Hall's Beethoven Piano Sonatas [bottom row 2nd from right] is another studio favourite. His artwork, created
from blackened strings glued to a piece of artboard, was considered a breakthrough design when it came into the
studio in 1966. It changed the way every other designer looked at the clasics from then on.
[top row, left: Max Robinson/Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4;
John Copeland/Dvorak Serenade for Strings. Greig Holberg Suite;
Lance Stirling/Brahms Violin Concerto in D major;
second row: John Copeland/Shostakovich. Symphony No.11 in G minor;
Rob Hall/Beethoven Piano Sonatas;
Alex Stitt/Wagner.Tannhauser.Tristan & Isolde]
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The World Record Club designers:
The book features reproductions of more than 500 album covers from the studio of the World Record Club guided by the founding art director Geoff Digby. [In November 2008 Geoff Digby was inducted into the Australian Graphic Designers, AGDA, Hall of Fame].
The studio at WRC is still regarded today as one of the most influential studios of the period. The hudreds of cover designs created more than 40 years ago still stand today as classic artworks.
The alumni of designers, which also includes several AGDA Hall of Famers, includes: Paul Cleveland, John Copeland, Bab Haberfield,
Geoff Hocking, Keith McMenomy, Graeme Moore, Verdon Morcom, Max Robinson, Athol Shmith, Lance Stirling, Alex Stitt, Guus Van Der Heyde, Tony Ward — and the writers Alex Berry,
Harvey Blanks, James Murdoch and John Pinkney.
Other visual artists who contributed to WRC include Charles Blackman, Albert Tucker, John Olsen, Roger Kemp and Louis Kahan.
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