Great interview! I discovered Barney Bubbles whilst at uni for graphic design and he's been a great inspiration ever since, I even wrote my dissertation on him using a first edition of this book for research which I had to fight for it in a bidding war, so I'm so pleased it's been republished and will be more attainable for other students. I now do freelance design for music and try my best to coax labels into letting me do explorative sleeves and designs, and Bubbles' is to blame!
The first run of “This Years Model” with the out-of-register cover and the inside-out picture sleeve of “Accidents Will Happen” are both marvellous. Peter Saville’s work was high-concept and beautiful but arguably over-considered, whereas Bubbles was pure, instinctive, playful genius. His ideas were so fresh and witty that they sometimes literally took your breath away. He is the greatest.
Brilliant episode! The book is a must have. I met Barney Bubbles in 1980, he was painting a mural in the reception area of a fashion company in London. We both were ‘Commercial Artists’ with an aptitude for hand lettering, skill’s honed during the 1960’s….not many of us left still at it. 🙌👌😎
This is incredible. Just incredible. As Wallace Shawn would say, it's [nearly] inconceivable. Gorman's book seems only to have covered a portion of Barney Bubbles's work. I think David and Mark were genuinely gobsmacked, if thats the right word.
Picking up on The Damned’s Music For Pleasure sleeve , if you look at the front of the sleeve you can make out quite clearly stylised head-shot images of all 5 members , Dave Vanian , Brian James , Rat Scabies , Captain Sensible and Lu Edmunds depicted amongst the linear chaos…..
I remember some of my first jobs in the illustration industry doing work for Mercedes Benz where nothing was thought of a single illustration of an axle taking a week or more. The shading was done using Letratone. Basically screen printed dots on sticky back film. Darker shades were created by overlaying the film on top of each other to create lines. The problem being that the film could easily be stretched resulting in layers not lining up. Frustrating work sometimes.
Absolutely superb session three great guys talking about a brilliant topic and the king of the lp sleeve -I have the first edition of the immensely important book and I have preordered the new edition! One of the best shows I have seen on YT for a very very long time! Thank you to all ❤️🩹❤️🩹‼️
I first got into Barneys stuff from collecting psych and prog, and being a psychedelic person who is also an artist I was fascinated by artists who were doing posters ,record covers ,light shows and anything underground, there is a whole bunch of interesting artists that came out of those scenes around the world, Martin Sharp for one, a fascinating guy, .... anyway that was really interesting,I actually looked up Barney bubbles and this came up,which was weird as I just watched your Will Birch video yesterday,. And it was Wills mention of Barney that got me thinking about his work again,I am going to go and buy that book. Good on ya fellas most entertaining, I'll definitely be watching more of your vids, g'day from OZ.☯️☮️
Another visual artist in a rock context you guys might find interesting is Reg Mombasa ,the guitarist from Mental as Anything, I have a great book of his art, a lot of which was used by the Mambo surfwear brand, it's all very original, in fact all of Mental as Anything are artists, Also Split Enz an amazing original band ,all artists but Noel Crombie is responsible for a lot of their visual design,LP covers clothes,etc.
Glad that Paul is spreading the message... Barney was the greatest designer of his generation.
Great interview! I discovered Barney Bubbles whilst at uni for graphic design and he's been a great inspiration ever since, I even wrote my dissertation on him using a first edition of this book for research which I had to fight for it in a bidding war, so I'm so pleased it's been republished and will be more attainable for other students. I now do freelance design for music and try my best to coax labels into letting me do explorative sleeves and designs, and Bubbles' is to blame!
The first run of “This Years Model” with the out-of-register cover and the inside-out picture sleeve of “Accidents Will Happen” are both marvellous. Peter Saville’s work was high-concept and beautiful but arguably over-considered, whereas Bubbles was pure, instinctive, playful genius. His ideas were so fresh and witty that they sometimes literally took your breath away.
He is the greatest.
A thoroughly engaging conversation and inspiring to learn more about his work, from a very special time. Thanks for making this happen!
Brilliant episode! The book is a must have. I met Barney Bubbles in 1980, he was painting a mural in the reception area of a fashion company in London. We both were ‘Commercial Artists’ with an aptitude for hand lettering, skill’s honed during the 1960’s….not many of us left still at it. 🙌👌😎
This is incredible. Just incredible. As Wallace Shawn would say, it's [nearly] inconceivable. Gorman's book seems only to have covered a portion of Barney Bubbles's work. I think David and Mark were genuinely gobsmacked, if thats the right word.
I reckon that book might be worth a read. Very cool stuff.
Picking up on The Damned’s Music For Pleasure sleeve , if you look at the front of the sleeve you can make out quite clearly stylised head-shot images of all 5 members , Dave Vanian , Brian James , Rat Scabies , Captain Sensible and Lu Edmunds depicted amongst the linear chaos…..
thank you so much for this - I did not want the episode to end
Good on ya Paul ….keep that light shining
Rick Poynor would be a good guest discussing design and music.
Super stuff again. Bravo!
Fascinating. Brilliant.
superb. an excellent writer talking about an excellent designer. what more could you want (...another couple of hours!)
Well put. Fascinating conversation.
Barney did Hawkwind covers as well! BB was a master of sleeves...lord knows of what BB would've done if he would lived
We in the USA really got ripped off by Columbia Records on those Elvis Costello covers.
I remember some of my first jobs in the illustration industry doing work for Mercedes Benz where nothing was thought of a single illustration of an axle taking a week or more. The shading was done using Letratone. Basically screen printed dots on sticky back film. Darker shades were created by overlaying the film on top of each other to create lines. The problem being that the film could easily be stretched resulting in layers not lining up. Frustrating work sometimes.
Absolutely superb session three great guys talking about a brilliant topic and the king of the lp sleeve -I have the first edition of the immensely important book and I have preordered the new edition! One of the best shows I have seen on YT for a very very long time! Thank you to all ❤️🩹❤️🩹‼️
Barney squated at Herne Hill Brixton 👍
Well look how popular vinyl is again, I reckon that started with people collecting 60s and 70 s vinyl,
I first got into Barneys stuff from collecting psych and prog, and being a psychedelic person who is also an artist I was fascinated by artists who were doing posters ,record covers ,light shows and anything underground, there is a whole bunch of interesting artists that came out of those scenes around the world, Martin Sharp for one, a fascinating guy, .... anyway that was really interesting,I actually looked up Barney bubbles and this came up,which was weird as I just watched your Will Birch video yesterday,. And it was Wills mention of Barney that got me thinking about his work again,I am going to go and buy that book. Good on ya fellas most entertaining, I'll definitely be watching more of your vids, g'day from OZ.☯️☮️
Another visual artist in a rock context you guys might find interesting is
Reg Mombasa ,the guitarist from Mental as Anything, I have a great book of his art, a lot of which was used by the Mambo surfwear brand, it's all very original, in fact all of Mental as Anything are artists, Also Split Enz an amazing original band ,all artists but Noel Crombie is responsible for a lot of their visual design,LP covers clothes,etc.