//Proof copy of unused front cover for single sleeve, Your Generation/Day By Day, Generation X, Chrysalis, 1977.//

Presented here for the first time in nearly 35 years, this is Barney Bubbles’ original artwork for the front cover of Your Generation, the 1977 debut single by Generation X.

The design was rejected because the photograph was considered too routine. What a shame. This is a typically high-impact Bubbles work  combining concise photographic presentation with audacious typography.

The quartet’s manager Jonh Ingham, the journalist who had been at the forefront of punk reportage, has dug it out from his archive exclusively for this blog.

“I cut, folded and glued it, so we could see what the sleeve would look like held in the hand,” says Ingham.

In the photograph – possibly by Ray Stevenson -  the usually peroxide blonde frontman Billy Idol (centre left) has dyed red hair.

“That would have been an issue if we had gone with Barney’s first idea,” says Ingham. “But the band rejected it because they thought it looked too much like a ’standard’ group photo/cover. At the time almost no punk sleeves had band photos.”

The decision not to use the artwork has broader significance, particularly in terms of appraising Bubbles’ contribution to the development of graphic design in the 70s.

//Front cover, Your Generation, designed by Barney Bubbles to be the back cover.//

In the event, the graphic he planned for the back cover – the Constructivist-style play on the number 45 containing song titles and credits – appeared on the front and was repeated on the back without the info.

This example of Bubbles’ plundering of the history of 20th Century art has been cited by designer Peter Saville as an inspirational spark for a post-Modern approach to graphics by the new generation of music industry designers. This in turn enabled them to keep pace with developments in the wider world of commercial design.

“We saw the Generation X cover and received a very clear signal: Mr Barney Bubbles was saying: ‘Constructivism has our blessing’,” says Saville in Reasons To Be Cheerful.

“‘Our response was: ‘Yes, this is the way’.”

Would this message have been broadcast so effectively had the graphic appeared only on the back cover? Who’s to know? It’s certainly something to ponder as we admire this missing piece of the puzzle after nearly 35 years.

Read here how Bubbles drew inspiration for the Generation X sleeve from the work of Henryk Berlewi and El Lissitzky.

Read Jonh Ingham’s back pages here.

]]> http://www.barneybubbles.com/blog/archives/5437/feed 0 http://www.barneybubbles.com/blog/archives/5406 http://www.barneybubbles.com/blog/archives/5406#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:08:57 +0000 Paul Gorman http://www.barneybubbles.com/blog/?p=5406

//Selection of slides from Hawklords projection.//

With the legacy of Situationism the subject of a couple of posts on my blog, it seems timely to point up Barney Bubbles’ inclusion of frames from Christopher Grey’s Leaving The 20th Century: The Incomplete Work Of The Situationist International in his slide-show for Hawkwind’s post-punk offshoot Hawklords.

The SI content dovetailed neatly with the dystopian Hawklords project, for which Bubbles designed the sleeve of the concept album 25 Years On, was well as the booklet available on the tour, stage set, choreography, costumes, lighting and promotional ephemera.

//Page from Chris Grey's Leaving The 20th Century. (c) Derek Harris.//

//12" x 12" sleeve, front cover, 25 Years On, Hawklords, Charisma, 1978.//

//From Hawklords tour booklet.//

//Left: sticker. Right: postcard, both 1978.//

//Hawklords live, 1978. Photographer: Unknown.//

Working with frontman/lyricist/conceptualist Robert Calvert, Bubbles art-directed a team which included photographers Frances Newman, Bob “Bromide” Hall and Chris Gabrin, who shot a film about the fictional totalitarian organisation central to the plot, Pan Transcendental Industries. The PTI slogan “Reality you can rely on” appears on the album front cover.

Many of the performative and non-rock elements were abandoned after just a few dates of the only tour by the original line-up; these slides have never been published outside of Reasons To Be Cheerful.

“I wasn’t involved in the slide-show, though a couple of the word-boards – such as ‘Operate Without Blades’ – may have appeared in my PTI film,” says Chris Gabrin.

The comic was produced in France in 1968 as part of the Situationist arsenal during the May évènements and later translated into English; it was this version which appeared in Grey’s book, which was published in 1974.

Here’s (Only) The Dead Dreams Of The Cold War Kid, a standout track from 25 Years On and a career highlight from the wayward career of the late Robert Calvert:

Poster, 60in x 40in, Live Stiffs tour, 1977.

This Larry Wallis poster design – one of five of the stars of the 1977 Live Stiffs tour – is among 20 or so examples of Barney Bubbles’ work included in Rude & Reckless, the punk and post-punk graphics exhibition opening tomorrow (July 21) at NYC’s Steven Kasher Gallery.

The show samples the collection of New York resident Andrew Krivine, who started accumulating records, posters, flyers and ephemera during family visits to the UK in the late 70s.

The teenage collector was given a fast-track to London’s music scene via his fashion entrepreneur cousin John Krivine, one of the founders of musician-haunted King’s Road boutiques Acme Attractions and Boy.

“Over the summers of 1977 and 1978  I became obsessed with punk, and was particularly drawn to Stiff Records and its extraordinary promotional materials,” says Krivine.  ”I visited the Stiff store several times and hoovered up whatever materials weren’t nailed down, in the process becoming a big fan of Barney’s work.”

The Bubbles designs in Rude & Reckless include two more of  the Live Stiffs posters as well as items relating to Elvis Costello, The Damned, Nick Lowe, The Rumour and Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

Rude & Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics 1976-1982 also features work by Michael Beal, Peter Christopherson, Nick Egan, Malcolm Garrett, Jamie Reid, Parched Art, Peter Saville, Linder Sterling and X3 Studios.

Full details and a selection of exhibits here.

Also opening tomorrow at the same gallery is Musicians, a show including portraits of many punk and post-punk artists by photographer Laura Levine.

Poster, 900mm x 750mm, 1978.

Barney Bubbles produced this striking poster for a performance of Vivian Stanshall’s one-off show An Evening At Rawlinson End at the London’s Collegiate Theatre (these days the Bloomsbury Theatre) in October 1978.

The grid overlaid an image of Stanshall aboard his favourite vehicle – the bicycle – in character as the “still unusual” Hubert Rawlinson.

Typically the multi-talented Stanshall created the artwork for his projects; in this case Bubbles’ assistant Diana Fawcett remembers handling the lettering for this poster to Bubbles design at their Shoreditch studio (which traded as Ditchwater Designs).

Neck + Neck sketches, sheet 1, side a, 1983.

Neck + Neck sketches, sheet 1, reverse, 1983.

Neck + Neck sketches, sheet 2, side a, 1983.

Neck + Neck sketches, sheet 2, reverse, 1983. Sketches from Glen Colson's collection.

A few years later Bubbles roughed out ideas for a curious album proposal concocted by Stanshall’s collaborator Glen Colson.

Stanshall provided the title Neck & Neck & Never Caught for Colson’s plan to devote a side each of a spoken-word LP to the distinctive voices of cricket commentator John Arlott and horse-racing broadcaster Peter O’Sullevan.

Sadly, this never reached fruition. It was intended as a follow-up to another Colson-guided spoken-word release, John Arlott Talks Cricket, which came out in December 1982 with a cover by Ralph Steadman and was promoted with another Bubbles poster.

Poster for John Arlott Talks Cricket, Charisma, 1983.

Detail, Neck + Neck sketches, 1983.

Front cover, Mango Crazy, Roger Chapman, RCA/Instant, 1983

Like all good commercial artists, Bubbles was never one to let a good idea go to waste. The multiple profile graphic sketched for Neck & Neck was developed for his wavering horizontal hold front cover for Roger Chapman’s fourth solo album, Mango Crazy, released in 1983.

7" single sleeve. Back + front of Cairo, Amazulu, Towerbell Records, 1983.

The single sleeves section of this site has been updated today with the addition of yet more images, bringing the total number of Barney Bubbles’ designs for the 7″ format there to 85 (and there are more on their way…)

The additions include Bubbles’ sleeve for ska rock band Amazulu’s single Cairo (see the top of this post).

Rock 'N Roll Legend In 4/4 Time/ Johnny Scott, Aura, 1979.

The cover of Johnny Scott’s slice of late 70s pub rock Rock ‘N Roll Legend In 4/4 Time was for Aaron Sixx’s Aura label; Bubbles’ association with Aura was investigated here.

New Amsterdam picture disc EP, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, F-Beat, 1980.

Music business multi-format releases reached a peak at the turn of the 80s; above is a rare example of Bubbles’ designing for picture disc with this version of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ New Amsterdam EP.

Label design. Let There Be Rats/ /Drums Drums Drums, Paradiddle, 1984.

Bubbles designed the label ident for his friend Rat Scabies‘ imprint Paradiddle in 1983. The sole release was Scabies on a Sandy Nelson trip for a Will Birch production of his Let There Be Rats single.

These designs are also discussed in the new edition of Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work Of Barney Bubbles.

Some of the Chelsea College Of Art graphics communications students who staged their own Barney Bubbles mini-exhibition last year (see here) have posted their contributions online.

The third years were given the brief to design and make a three‐dimensional paper sculpture in response to a symbolic reference found within Process: The Working Practices Of Barney Bubbles.

At the top of the post is Sarah Bradley’s; below is Jack Sharples‘.

I was delighted to receive this boxed Blockhead watch recently.

Of course the typogram on the watch face – which emerges at twelve-fifteen and three o’clock – was designed by Barney Bubbles at the behest of the late Ian Dury, who said in Will Birch’s No Sleep Till Canvey Island:

“I phoned him and said, ‘I want a logo. It’s got to be black and white and square’. Then I heard somebody in his office say, ‘Wow’ and he said, ‘I’ve done it’.”

Bubbles’ reworking of the 30s Left Book Club logo was initially used on the label and advertising for Dury’s April 1978 single What Waste.

The logo appeared in adverts and the full range of merchandise, while the watch became a much sought-after promotional item.

Manufactured by Timex, it was presented in a blue plastic silver-embossed box complete with card envelope, purple nylon lining and a guarantee.

These days the logo is owned by The Blockheads, who are making it available on badges, t-shirts and as part of the Blockhead “life membership” pack.

Read an extract from Paul Laity’s introduction to the 2001 reissue of the Left Book Club Anthology here.

Thanks to Mushi Jenner for sending me the watch.

This is the letterhead Barney Bubbles produced for Hawkwind’s Stacia Blake in 1973.

By that time Stacia – who was always billed by her first name – was an integral and popular part of the Hawkwind experience. Hence the need for headed paper.

Blake’s commanding stage presence and interpretative dancing added a vital female physicality to the aural and sonic battery the group launched on a near-nightly basis and for some fans, this writer included, they were never quite the same after her departure in 1975.

It was an honour to receive this a few months back in the post from Blake, these days an accomplished artist based in Ireland.

She had heard about the staging of Process and wanted to make her contribution, which was much appreciated, not least by fans such as Mick Jones and Jah Wobble, who remembered her role in Hawkwind with affection and admiration.

Barney Bubbles Inside out from Lisa Whitaker on Vimeo.

This 100-second career resume has been created by Lisa Whitaker, who is currently studying graphics at Leeds College of Art.

The DVD – housed in an “inside-out” sleeve and accompanied by a poster – came out of a course brief for a collection of 100 design objects in which she compiled album sleeves, including Bubbles’ design for Imperial Bedroom by Elvis Costello And The Attractions.

“I am fascinated by this talented man and his links to other creative people,” says Whitaker. “My moving image piece Barney Bubbles Inside Out pulls together the research and is aimed at graphic designers, record collectors and music lovers as a way of spreading the word about inspirational figure.”

Whitaker’s backgrounder on the project is here.

The absorption and reinterpretation of Barney Bubbles’ oeuvre continues apace, as evinced by this, the design for Punks Jump Up’s Blockhead EP by Michael Willis.

With an overall feel of Bubbles’ compositional techniques – particularly that of realising physiognomy by use of abstract and unusual elements – Willis’ artwork draws on such Bubbles’ creations as the BLOCKHEAD logo, the Tommy The Talking Toolbox ident, the Space Ritual tour material and the typography of the Revelations and Doremi Fasol Latido packages.

Since he was one of the pioneers of the so-called “age of plunder” (as Jon Savage pointed out in his 1983 piece on post-modernism for The Face), it was perhaps inevitable that the reintroduction of Bubbles’ work to a new generation of graphic artists and designers – via Reasons To Be Cheerful and Process – would result in the master himself being plundered.