Weather Report by Weather Report
Weather Report was a prolific and influential jazz fusion band, active from 1970 till 1986. This was their tenth album; their first had also been simply titled Weather Report.
The title at top left as well as the text on the back is set in a typeface known as Palisade Graphic [see comment].
The striking cover art would have been done with an airbrush — Adobe Photoshop wasn’t invented for a few more years. The design credits are extensive: first, Richie Powell and Joseph Futterer of Starwind Design Group are listed under “Art Direction.” Then, credit for “Concept” is given to Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, both members of the band, as well as Starwind. (You often see musicians given credit for graphic design concepts — I wonder how much Zawinul and Shorter really contributed?) Next, credit for “Lettering” goes to Chris Dellorco, Todd Waite, and Dick Bernot; the artwork for the sky background was done by Don Dixon/Creative Associates. Finally, the concept for the back cover is by Michael Olsen, and the photo is by Starwind. This one took a village!
6 Comments on “Weather Report by Weather Report”
The original name of the typeface appears to be Palisade Gothic. It is listed in Photo-Lettering’s One Line catalog, without designer credits. BigBlack — not to be confused with Christophe Féray’s Big Black (T-26) — is a limited digitization by Willie Ford (Lazy Dog Foundry AKA Franklin Type Founders, 1992). Fast Freddy NF is another, more mature revival by Nick Curtis (Nick’s Fonts, 2011).
Urban Blues. Blues Uptown (UK, 1969) is another LP with (condensed) Palisade Gothic on the cover.
Strange that Palisade isn’t credited in PLINC’s index because it’s shown in Alphabet Thesaurus (1960) as Cavanagh Palisade. Still seeking the original source for this typeface. Perhaps it was indeed John Albert Cavanagh.
That’s interesting, and surprisingly early! Is it shown or just listed by name, i.e. is Cavanagh Palisade definitely identical to Palisade Graphic?
FIU reader Andrew claims Palisade Graphic was created by Milton Glaser for Bobbie Gentry’s album Ode to Billie Joe in 1967. I haven’t been able to confirm this yet.
In Alphabet Thesaurus Vol. 2 (1965) it still is shown as Cavanagh Palisade. In Vol. 3 (1971) the same (?) face appears as Palisade Graphic. My understanding is that Vol. 3 only includes new additions. Could it be that Palisade Graphic is a reworking, made by the PLINC staff sometime between 1965 and 1971, which replaced the original Cavanagh Palisade? This would explain dropping the credits. Other faces by Cavanagh are still listed with his name. From a quick glance, I don’t notice any striking differences between the two (limited) one-line samples, except maybe for the smaller counters in CP (but this might have to do with overexposure and the fact that it is shown reversed).