Tag: Surviving

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Rock Concerts

Battersea Power Station Revisited

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Our thanks to BD regular Ian McKenzie who shares his recollections of Battersea Power Station in London, from 1977, when Animals was released, in 1981, en route to seeing Pink Floyd at Earls Court for The Wall, and then – bringing the story up to date – a very recent visit as part of his birthday celebrations! Ian talks about the refurbished building, including the lift which takes you to the top of one of the rebuilt chimneys, giving you an Algie-eye’s view of the surroundings. Needless to say, some of his images and descriptions might be considered spoilers if you are considering a visit – or indeed, if you’ve been a bit unsure, he might have convinced you it is worth a visit. For more information on visiting the site, and what’s there, check out BatterseaPowerStation.co.uk (https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk). Now, over to Ian: Having discovered Pink Floyd in 1976, I can remember the release of the Animals album in early 1977. However, as I was in my early teens and surviving on pocket money, I was unable to afford to buy the album until I was on holiday in July of the same year. Even though I was unable to play the album until I returned home from the holiday, I was completely intrigued by the building on the album cover. I was convinced that this building didn’t actually exist and that the cover was just an elaborate illustration. However, the black and white photos inside the album sleeve certainly looked real enough and at some point over the coming weeks I learned that the building in question was Battersea Power Station in London. Regardless of Animals being one of my favourite Pink Floyd albums, I have also found the building itself to be particularly fascinating. Fast forward to 1981 and I was in London to see one of the Pink Floyd The Wall shows at Earls Court. I’d also been lucky enough to have seen this show at the same venue the year before, and I decided on my return to try to get a glimpse of Battersea Power Station before heading to the concert in my Pink Floyd tee-shirt and velvet jacket (the height of fashion in 1981, honest). I’d worked out from a map that probably the easiest means of seeing the power station would be from Chelsea Bridge, so I headed south from Sloane Square tube station along Chelsea Bridge Road. I managed to spot the power station before reaching the bridge and I was very impressed to see it in all its glory from the bridge itself. It was a lovely sunny day with a fairly clear blue sky, so I managed to capture a photo or two with my recently acquired Rollei 35mm compact camera [see picture below]. This was the same camera that I used later that evening to capture some photos of the concert itself. These pics can be seen elsewhere on the Brain Damage website – follow this link to see them (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/the-wall/the-wall-live-1981-earls-court-pictures.html).

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Rock Concerts

New Hipgnosis “Untold stories” book coming from Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell

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The lockdown period seems to have been beneficial, not just for reducing the spread of infection, but encouraging writers to pull books together, and we are now starting to see the fruits of these labours, with a number of publications being announced… and here’s another. Arriving in bookshops, both online and along the high street, on October 21st, 2021, is a new, 320-page book from Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell – Through the Prism: Untold rock stories from the Hipgnosis archive (https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage-21). Founded in 1968 by Po, Storm Thorgerson and Peter Christopherson, graphic design firm Hipgnosis gained a legendary status by transforming the look of album art through their designs for artists such as AC/DC, 10cc, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Syd Barrett, and Black Sabbath. The publishers promise that in the book, “Powell presents brutally honest, entertaining and revealing insider stories from the world of rock, featuring an eclectic cast of pop stars, comedians, actors, managers, gangsters, and inspirational world figures from 1966 on. His narrative is packed with anecdotes – from the founding of Hipgnosis to surviving drugs busts, and from the creative process behind the most iconic album artworks of all time to mounting the Pink Floyd exhibition, Their Mortal Remains – and is richly illustrated with Hipgnosis artwork and Powell’s own photographs. “Drama and creativity are the common threads throughout these amazing stories. With candor and insightful reflection, Powell reveals how he and Storm became an effective creative partnership despite their volatile relationship; how the final colour artwork for Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy was created; how the most iconic album cover of all time – The Dark Side Of The Moon – came about; and how the 2017 Pink Floyd retrospective became the largest and most successful music exhibition ever mounted by the Victoria and Albert Museum – despite the deeply antagonistic and dysfunctional relationship between Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Throughout, Powell exposes how the trappings of fame and glory upset the balance of everyday life, bringing creativity and destruction in equal measure. “Packed with exciting insider stories and anecdotes featuring famous musicians, managers, and actors, Through the Prism is a must-have for music and pop-culture fans.” Certainly sounds a cracking read, which we can’t wait to get our hands on. You can order this book through the following links, taking advantage of Amazon’s free pre-order price guarantee – should their asking price drop at any point between you ordering it, and release, they will automatically charge you the lowest price during that period! Ordering through our links also helps with BD’s ongoing running costs, and we really appreciate it: Amazon UK (https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage-21), Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage-20), Amazon Canada (https://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamageon-20),
Amazon France (https://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamageon-21), Amazon Germany (https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage0f-21), Amazon Spain (https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/0500252378/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8 tag=braidama01-21 linkCode=as2 camp=3626 creative=24822 creativeASIN=0500252378) and Amazon Italy (https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/0500252378/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8 camp=3370 creative=24114 creativeASIN= 0500252378 linkCode=as2 tag=bradamonl-21).