This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of music’s great album covers, and the Southbank Centre is taking a look at the creative process that went into making it.
As a display it puts the album cover into its context, explaining why it was so memorable when it came out, and the social landscape of the time.
As the exhibition explains, although the arrival of the 12″ LP allowed for larger designs on record covers, the music firms stuck to simple designs, often to cut costs but also to sometimes play down any controversy in the style of music being played.
The arrival of St Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 upended what an LP cover could like, and the exhibition opens with some of the iconic LP covers that emerged over the next few years.
It swiftly moves on to 1973, and the famous photoshoot that was to lead to the now iconic LP cover.
It was the fashion photographer, Brian Duffy that David Bowie turned to for the photoshoot, and the exhibition goes into a lot of detail about how they came up with the idea for the lightning bolt makeup, with the admission that memories may vary, and how they produced the effects.
There are a lot of outtakes, and we learn that Bowie wanted a very expensive photo taken, as he expected the music company to worry that they would lose money so they would throw more effort into promoting his album. He was right of course.
Something that may seem familiar to homeworkers using video calls to the office today, with only the top half needed for the photo, he sat in the studio in his underpants.
The exhibition includes a lot of outtakes, images from the Swiss Cottage studio where the shoot took place, and a selection of finished but never released photos that could have been used on the album cover, but I think it’s fair to say it’s just as well they weren’t.
As an exhibition, it’s a good chance to behind the scenes at an image that many people of a certain age will be very familiar with and have fond memories of the music it heralded within the cover.
The exhibition, Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is open now until 28th May 2023, and entry is £5 per person. Best to book in advance from here.
The exhibition is complemented by a new book by Chris Duffy, on sale in the Southbank shop for £40 — or £35 if you visit the exhibition and show your ticket, or slightly cheaper from the usual online retailer.
There’s also a series of related events at the Southbank over the next couple of months – details here.
(Oh, and do read the caption card next to the record turntable at the end of the exhibition – there’s a very unexpected Star Wars revelation there)
