In 1975, young illustrator Colin Elgie was approached with a brief he couldn’t resist: to design the cover for Genesis’ first post-Peter Gabriel album A Trick Of The Tail. The catch – there were no songs, no lyrics and he hadn’t even met the band. Marking the record’s 50th anniversay, Elgie looked back on the commission that helped establish his career.
Colin Elgie is, as he cheerfully admits, “a lucky bugger.” As a young man he studied at East Ham Technical College under the tutorship of George Hardie, the graphic designer and Hipgnosis affiliate behind covers for the first Led Zeppelin album, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, and 10cc’s Sheet Music.
Elgie recalls that “prospects for getting work were not very good” as he neared the end of his course – but some helpful advice from his teacher provided a handy shortcut to employment.
“When I left the college after three years, Hardie said, ‘Go and see the guys at Hipgnosis,’ so I did, and that was about it! Over the course of 10 years I worked freelance. I was never part of the inner circle, but I was often there or thereabouts!”
In 1975 a particularly appealing assignment dropped into Elgie’s lap – Genesis were looking for someone to provide artwork for A Trick Of The Tail, their first album after Peter Gabriel’s departure. “They had always had illustrated covers,” says Elgie. “They had the Betty Swanwick one [Selling England By The Pound], which I loved. Before that they had the trilogy of Paul Whitehead designs, and those were really nice.
(Image credit: Courtesy Colin Elgie)
“But Hipgnosis were photographers, so it wasn’t something they could really do. I remember Storm Thorgerson saying, ‘The album’s got all these different characters, so make it a theatrical thing, like they’re all in a row, taking a bow.’ That’s what I went with.”
While Genesis were beavering away in Trident Studios on their new material, Elgie had virtually no contact with the band. Instead he was given a few song titles and the rest was left to his imagination.
“I’d worked out the characters I wanted to draw, but really they have nothing to do with the characters in the songs. I got a tracklisting – because there was nothing to listen to yet – and maybe some brief notes about what each track was about. I don’t even think there were lyrics; it was really vague!
“I now realise that their squonk looks nothing like my squonk! But I put together scenes with two or three characters interacting, and the band liked it. I did a rough version of the cover and they said, ‘Fine – go with it!’”
In contrast to previous outing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’s modernist imagery, A Trick Of The Tail’s rabble of eccentric characters was purposefully designed with an quasi-Victorian feel. “I always loved those kinds of engraved cartoons and illustrations,” says Elgie. “I’ve got loads of books about old Punch magazines with lovely engravings in them and the satirical prints you used to get. I love the texture of it. It was a perfect fit for the music, I think.
(Image credit: Courtesy Colin Elgie)
“It was all done with a pen, and the background was done separately. The characters were done in black and white, and then toned into sepia or whatever it was.”
Elgie did finally get to meet Genesis at the Hipgnosis office in London’s Denmark Street, sometime after A Trick Of The Tail was released. “They were in for a photoshoot, I believe. They were very nice; very charming. Subsequently I did some work for Mike Rutherford on his solo album, Smallcreep’s Day – which he rejected!
The music and the artwork was a perfect marriage. That’s why those things have lived on
“The only time I ever saw Genesis play was when they gave me a freebie ticket. They weren’t my favourite type of music at the time; I was into more bluesy stuff. But I was knocked out by their show.”
Genesis would employ Elgie again for their next album, Wind & Wuthering. He also found himself in demand with other artists, notably Al Stewart for his big-selling Year Of The Cat album, and Renaissance’s Scheherazade And Other Stories.
“Wind & Wuthering was completely different,” he says. “It’s a watercolour with a tree – very wild and very free. Then I did Year Of The Cat in another style I was into at the time; this very airbrushed look. If you saw all three of them, you wouldn’t think the same guy had done them at all. I like that.
(Image credit: Courtesy Colin Elgie)
“With the Renaissance album, the miniatures were so detailed, so beautiful, and I could’ve spent a lot more time doing it. But in all the time I was doing albums, no one ever wanted me to change anything. The bands were always far more concerned with the music!”
Still busy with an assortment of projects, Elgie quit the album cover game over 40 years ago, but has subsequently contributed to occasional reissues and box sets, Wishbone Ash’s Live Dates included. Meanwhile, he admits to being thrilled to be talking about A Trick Of The Tail 50 years on.
“I’ve realised lately that 1976 was an amazing year for me! The music and the artwork was a perfect marriage. That’s why those things have lived on. At the time I probably wouldn’t have expected them to last the way they have. If I’d known, I would have tried to do it all better than I did! The bands might say that about the music too; it’s all easy with hindsight!”
(Image credit: Courtesy Colin Elgie)