The Association – Birthday album art
Fourth album by The Association. Art direction by Ed Thrasher; cover art and design by Wayne Kimbell, Windows, Unlimited; with photography by George Rodriguez. The front cover photograph was shot at Whittier Narrows Dam, California. [Rodriguez]
The album title is based on capitals from a German Jugendstil typeface named Siegfried. It was designed by August Glaser and first cast in 1902 by the Wilhelm Woellmer foundry in Berlin. Glaser lived from 1868 to 1934 and started his studies at the Munich Academy in 1892. From 1908 to 1934 he was employed as a painter in the drawing office of the Deutsches Museum [Türk]. Siegfried was his only foray into typeface design.
The band name is in Cavanagh Bingo, a set of bold stencil-like caps not unlike Futura Black, but distinguished by dots for the middle bars in E and F. It was drawn by John Albert Cavanagh for Photo-Lettering, Inc. before 1965. Siegfried was adopted by PLINC around the same time.
“BIRTHDAY” in spaced out Siegfried, with the characteristic separated bowls in B and R (cf. Separat by Or Type, 2013), the H with minuscule/blackletter construction, and the A with double bar.
The back cover photograph was shot by George Rodriguez in Los Angeles, Westlake Park area (studio).
1 Comment on “The Association – Birthday album art”
This is great info! Having been a big fan of this album for many years, I never realized what you mentioned about the fonts, nor did I know about the shooting locations, especially the front cover…very interesting!! :)