Show Notes
In this episode of Art on your sleeve, I speak with graphic designer and art director, Bill Smith. Since the 1970s, Bill has been one of the busiest designers servicing the music industry and he's worked on so many record sleeves that a book has been published celebrating his amazing portfolio. In the introduction to the show I read from the back cover of the book - a succinct summary of a life's work...
"Bill Smith and his studio have been designing record covers since 1976. In those five decades they have worked with over 200 bands and artists, creating hundreds of album covers, singles bags, and CD covers. Bill Smith Studio worked with some of the world's best photographers, illustrators and painters on covers for among others; The Jam, The Cure, Kate Bush, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, King Crimson and Mike Oldfield."
With such a massive portfolio of work, it's a challenge to cover all bases in a one-hour podcast but we cover plenty of ground and I'm thankful to Bill for his honest insights about the creative process and key artists he's worked with, including: The Jam, Toyah, The Cure, Genesis, Thomas Dolby, Queen, Kate Bush, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Alison Moyet.
I hope you enjoy this episode, if you do, please subscribe at Apple Podcasts and if you’re very nice, you could give us some stars or a positive review. Art on your sleeve is also available on several other popular platforms including Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Art on your sleeve now has a growing Facebook group which you’re welcome to join. https://www.facebook.com/groups/442664446671424
More from Art on your sleeve
On 19 March 1990, Depeche Mode released what is still considered their finest album - 'Violator'. Anton Corbijn created its sleeve with assistance from graphic designer Richard Smith of Area. The two would go on to collaborate on dozens of sleeves for a wide range of artists, but to celebrate this seminal album's 35th birthday, I spoke to Richard about his creative involvement.
Graphic designer, painter and sleeve artist, Andie Airfix was born in Scotland but grew up in Warrington in the north west of England. After studying art and English literature at Chester teacher training college, he spent almost a year teaching art and English in Southampton. In 1970 he started travelling around the USA, Canada and Mexico, a trip funded by selling psychedelic paintings to poster companies in New York and San Francisco. On his return to the UK, he spent some time in Devon where he concentrated on painting and writing before heading off again to India for a few years.
This episode of the podcast is a bit different... Instead of our usual, reverent look back at examples of the best in record sleeve creativity, we dig into its darkest and often unexplored corners of obscurity to expose some of the worst, or at best, most bizarre record sleeves ever created.
Hello and best wishes for the festive season. My gift to you is a brand new episode of the ‘Art on your sleeve’ podcast. In this episode I speak with Paula Benson and Paul West from Form. There’s a lot that I could say about this dynamic duo and their extraordinarily diverse pop portfolio, but it’s probably easier to let them speak for themselves. So, here’s a bit of an introduction lifted directly from their website.
In this episode, I speak with Andy McCluskey, lead vocalist of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or OMD, as they are more commonly known. Andy formed OMD with co-writer and occasional co-vocalist, Paul Humphreys, at the tail-end of the 1970s. Their self-titled debut album (and its follow-up) was released in 1980 at the dawn of electronic pop, just as synthesised sounds were easing their way into the mainstream - and this is where our story begins.