That unforgettable image of John, Paul, George and Ringo crossing a
north London street is still inspiring artists to follow in their
famous footsteps. Paul Bignell reports
Sunday, 26 July 2009
It was 40 years ago (almost) today that the Beatles took the short
jaunt, hastily captured on film, that spawned one of the most famous
and celebrated record covers of all time.
More than 12 million album sales later, Abbey Road's famous cover
picture (and indeed some of its songs) has as you can see here
spawned dozens of imitations around the world.
Beatles fans are preparing to celebrate the album, with thousands
expected to make a pilgrimage to the zebra crossing that John, Paul,
George and Ringo bestrode outside the Abbey Road recording studios on
8 August 1969.
It's hardly a long and winding road: more a few yards of black and
white tarmac in a nondescript north London high street. Photographer
Ian Macmillan, who died in 2006, recalled that he had spent only 10
minutes up a stepladder snatching a handful of pictures of the band.
But it was a 22-year-old Londoner, John Kosh, Abbey Road's creative
director, who made the final decision to use the particular image
that has since become famous around the world. Speaking from his home
in Los Angeles yesterday, he said: "It was a bit of a panic actually:
EMI needed an album cover on Wednesday and it was Monday.
"My main claim to fame was insisting that we didn't need to write
'the Beatles' on the front cover because they were the most famous
band in the world. The record label were totally devastated. They
said: 'We'll never sell any albums if you don't tell us who the band
is.' But I got away with it."
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment