RUSH Art Director HUGH SYME Talks Changes To Original Caress Of Steel Album Artwork - "The Record Label Thought It Wasn't Rock And Roll Enough"
September 29, 2020, 4 years ago
Rush art director Hugh Syme - who worked with the band from 1975 onward - is featured in a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock discussing his first piece of work for the band, which was the cover art for the band's third album, Caress Of Steel. He revealed that changes were made to his finished work by the record company without his knowledge.
Syme: "I was a huge (M.C. Escher) fan. My original drawings were in pencil: clean, monochromatic, simple homages to Escher. But when the record label got a hold of these, they thought it wasn't rock and roll enough, so they added this chromium lettering and swung the tint of the whole image over to a brown sepia tone - none of which was requested or under my purview at the time."
But there was one positive to the annoying interference: future creative control.
"When the band said, 'What happened?,' I said, 'I don't know.' That began the premise that they would consider most A&R people attending their sessions - and, more so, their comments - as unwelcome. Because they weren't interested. And when they realized that other people were meddling in the process when it came to my art, they said, 'Don't listen to anyone. We're talking to you directly.' That set up a feature in my life."
Read the complete interview here.
