Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Circle Of Sound

Design by Graphreaks

 

Oh You Pretty Things ...

sang David Bowie in 1971 as he gazed adoringly at his prized collection of Polydor Circle Of Sound easy listening lps.  Well he may have done so but we’ll never know for sure.  The date is about right.  Soul Condor by Certain Lions and Tigers was the first release in this visually distinctive series and appeared early in 1970.  A further nineteen followed before the design template was retired at the end of 1971, though the Circle of Sound series itself continued.

 

 All nineteen lps plus the plural Circles Of Sound sampler carry the credit Design by Graphreaks which also appears on the lp sleeves of many major label 70s releases including ones by Yes, The Faces, The Who, T-Rex and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It's difficult to select a most famous Graphreaks design but the cover of Led Zeppelin IV probably takes the prize.

 

 

Are there anymore?

The lps are shown here in their correct chronological order from the excellent Soul Condor by Certain Lions and Tigers through to the last and less-than-essential The Paradise Islanders, though I have placed the plural Circles Of Sound sampler at the end next to the logo as it’s completely different design would have wrecked the whole Wall Of Groovy effect.  The sampler was the eleventh in the series after Xylos Inc’s Pretty Percussion and before Kurt Edelhagen & His Orchestra’s Sunshower.

 

I possessed eighteen of these and for three years believed I had the full set. In the summer of 2010 Rick Muench aka Mr Muench on the VG+ music forum posted up one I had never seen before. It was The Paradise Islanders and raised the question...'Are there any more candy-striped Graphreaks Circle Of Sound lps out there?'

 

 

70s illustration techniques

The circle with candy stripes template by Graphreaks acted as a complementary canvas for resonant images from top contemporary illustrators. With no Photoshop wizardry available these old school illustrators were all exceptionally fine artists and just a cursory glance over the sleeves reveals their dazzling proficiency in oil paint, gouache, coloured inks, watercolour and mixed media.

 

All highly respected illustrators, many of them graduated into other creative areas. Alan Lee who designed the hypnotic faun flautist on Flutes n' Flugels went on to be the lead concept artist for Peter Jackson's 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy of films.

 

 

Early 70s Imagery

The imagery spread across the series is a graphic design time capsule of 1970 and 1971 as clear as any Penrose Graphic Design annual from the same period. There's an innocence to these designs which also seem bright with child-like optimism for the new decade dawning hot on the heels of the first moon landing.

 

In a hangover from the 60s everything groovy was still selling and Polydor were very keen to cash-in, dressing up some pretty ropey old easy listening mutton as fresh and multi-coloured lamb. They even managed to sneak some risque new-fangled permissiveness onto several sleeves in a wink directly aimed at older hipsters. With nipples, bananas and cleavage these lps are targeted at 70s thirty-somethings familiar with hippies, festivals, cannabis, protests and permissiveness even if they only read about these things in newspapers or saw reports about them on the news.

 

Viewed collectively the designs are an intriguing confluence of druggy psychedelic hallucination and post-Pop Art sensibility. Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts Movement and Bubblegum influences shine through and mingle to create an air of child-like optimism.

 

 

Music Minus

Individually many of these lps are poor but collectively they make an interesting historical archive laying bare the range of easy listening tastes in existence at the cusp of the seventies. 

 

A sickly and poor imitation of 60’s Trad Jazz is present in the mock knees-up evening in the local pub provided by the dreadful Big Ben Banjo Band. Dying gasps of Exotica can be heard on the Paradise Islanders Through Hawaiian Eyes which contains the lamest versions of 70s chart hits you are ever likely to hear.

 

Elsewhere there are organs that grind, orchestral crimes and vocal harmony travesties to cry for.

 

 

Music Plus

It's not all bad though and there are some seriously good and very collectible Circles lurking amidst the dross. The good ones come in two distinct categories. They are either reissues from Polydor’s subsidiary labels or specifically commissioned lps to create fresh material using top studio session musicians. 

 

The reissue category contains the best two lps of the whole series, the Latin rhythm-fuelled Certain Lions and Tigers - Soul Condor and Augusto Alguero’s pop gem Laugh Laugh.  They're both getting harder to find but if they haven't turned up at a car boot sale yet they are both well worth boutique digging for as Voodoo Funk Frank may phrase it.

 

Collectors may argue the toss but the sleeve of the Circle Of Sound reissue of Certain Lions and Tigers is infinitely better than the original German BASF silver-foil coated one which scratches, fades and dulls as soon as you look at it. For fuller reviews of all the lps here head for the Circle Of Sound link in the forumusic Music section.

 

 

Commissioned lps

Representing the best of these is the trombone feast by the aptly named ‘Bones Galore. There are some fantastic tracks on this including a blasting version of latin standard The Frog.

 

Polydor must have been pleased with sales of this instrument themed idea as they repeated it for xylophones with Xylos Inc and woodwind / brass for Flutes n Flugels. Xylos Inc's lp is very enjoyable in a Space Age Bachelor Pad Music kind of way as is Frank Barber's Happy Percussion, though the latter is a reissue of an earlier Polydor lp and was not a specific commission.

 

 

The Circle is broken

In 1971 someone at Polydor Records decided it was time for the round-faced and over-excitable Circle Of Sound child to grow up.  It’s high-pitched colours had screamed from the brown wooden record racks of Woolies for two full years and then overnight it’s voice suddenly broke. 

 

The series continued but the circle stiffened into a rectangle, the logo grew an orange, beige and yellow background and the high key multi-coloured stripes disappeared completely and were replaced by a single rich colour.  It was as if the hormonal noise from the teenagers at Abigail’s Party was suddenly muffled by the mature conversation of their parents who were aspiring to be chic on the deep orange velour sofa next door. 

 

 

Gotta Catch 'Em All    

These candy-striped treats can still be found at car boot sales and in record and charity shops throughout the UK but from a musical point of view there are only a handful worth owning. Regardless of that the sleeve designs alone beckon unsuspecting punters with an allure similar to that of brightly coloured confectionery in a sweet shop demanding to be purchased for pence despite their lack of nutritional value. 

 

Collect them like bubblegum trading cards, dispense the vinyl to your racks in plain paper inners and whack the sleeves up on the wall of your record room.

 

 

Postscript

After this short run the Circle of Sound lp sleeves became much simpler and fairly elegant in their own way. The legend Design by Graphreaks was suddenly replaced by Design by Hamish Grimes. The logo remained but was subtly changed suggesting the original one belonged to Graphreaks. Hamish Grimes designed many other lp sleeves and he's name-checked in a Yardbirds song entitled Introduction by Hamish Grimes. Further research reveals he was an extremely popular character who designed the Yardbirds band logo and was also involved in music management.

 

Later Circle Of Sound lps are a similar mixture of lacklustre easy listening but secreted amongst them is the legendary Gentle Rain - Moody. It's a great lp with a firmly established reputation for being extremely difficult to find in the wild.

 

We're presently pursuing artists and designers who worked for Graphreaks and would love to hear from anyone who could contribute to a fuller article on this grooviest of 70s design companies. Contact us on the forumusic forum where there is a Polydor Circle Of Sound / Graphreaks thread ready and waiting. All the lps featured here are reviewed our Music section.

Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Circle Of Sound
Forumusic Copyright: All aspects of this web site – design, text, graphics, applications, software, underlying source code and all other aspects – are copyright forumusic.co.uk and of its affiliates, members and content providers. In accessing these web pages, you agree that any downloading of content is for personal, non-commercial reference only. No part of this web site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the Website Owner