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| Mahavishnu
Orchestra album covers were a very important
aspect to the marketing of the band. Four of the covers were the design
work of Chris Poisson. Details of his creative process are included in
the book. Power, Passion and Beauty’s black and white format
can not do justice to the vibrancy of Chris’ designs. Therefore,
his four Mahavishnu Orchestra cover designs are reproduced here. Poisson’s
first album cover design, for Mahavishnu John McLaughlin’s classic
release My Goal’s Beyond, is also presented. Chris was
also responsible for the cover layout of the John McLaughlin/Carlos Santana
collaboration Love Devotion Surrender.
Chris Poisson: The whole spiritual thing at the time had everything to do with how I was designing. That, and the fact that I was a pretty inexperienced artist competing against a lot of the big-name designers and illustrators of the period, which was a huge time for album art. So although I was a few years from the ad business where I formally learned about branding, I instinctively knew that what I created for Mahavishnu had to be special. There was a fine line between spirituality and the drug culture of the time, and I felt it was important to do something that more reflected the former.
Chris Poisson: The OM symbol was used on a lot of artwork for or relating to the Sri Chinmoy Centre. I don’t remember much about the symbol for the t-shirts except drawing the OM. It's a calligraphic nightmare, sort of like drawing Olde English. I thought it was a pretty good one. Did Chris design any other album covers? Chris
Poisson: Yes, I did a couple for a label called Chess records,
for which I was never paid when they went out of business. But that
was really about it, as I just got involved with television work and
eventually got into the advertising business, which just held more allure
for me at the time. That and the fact there was a job offer!
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