63teaching positions at Worthing
and unable to keep our full-time
jobs, handed in our notice and in
1977 formed Ansell Sadgrove.
We managed to pick up work from
Adrian’s contacts at EMI including
my very fi rst album sleeve, Seven
Seals by Matumbi.In 1981, your portfolio
exploded with sleeve design
commissions for John Foxx,
Can, The Human League,
D.A.F., Japan and many
others. It must have been an
exciting time for you...
John Foxx (See Classic Pop Issue
20) had been to the Royal College
of Art and was extremely particular
about how he wanted his music to
look so I was commissioned to work
with him on The Garden making sure
everything was printable, had the
necessary technical spec and was
delivered on time.
D.A.F. were a really interesting
couple. They would arrive at our
studio with the pictures they wanted
to use and my assistant Kathy and
I would spend almost as much time
engaged in tense games of table
football with Gabi and Robert as
we did discussing their covers. The
meetings were very enjoyable and
perhaps due to a slight breakdown
in communication (neither Kathy or I
could speak German), very amusing.
The Japan sleeves for The Art Of
Parties and Visions Of China were
pretty much the creation of David
Sylvian and in contrast to the D.A.F.
projects were discussed duringKEN ANSELL POP ARTas Virgin were always rushing to
release products at short notice and,
unable to put too much pressure on
the band, I had to take up some of
the slack.
I worked on one Can sleeve
and never met or had any contact
with the band. Being fondtranquil meetings at Virgin Records.
Obviously, very style-conscious,
David wanted everything ‘just so’.
I can’t quite remember how the
handwritten Japan logo came about
but the band must have liked it as we
ended up using it on other sleeves.
Speed was often the priorityClockwise, from right, Deutsch
Amerikanische Freundschaft’s Gold und
Liebe (1981), Japan’s The Art Of Parties
12” vinyl single (1981) and John
Foxx’s The Garden (1981)CP30.pop_art.print.indd 63 08/06/2017 09:10