Suffragette City Lyrics

Top 10 London Album Covers

1. The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’: Abbey Road, NW8.

Let’s be honest, as soon as you saw this post you thought of this album. It was nearly left off the list for fear of it being too obvious, but that would have been silly so let’s get it out the way first.

Anyone who loves music and lives in London has made / has plans to make / has been too-cool-for-school-and-deliberately-avoided-making a pilgrimage to the most famous road crossing in the world. Go there on any day of the week and you’ll see the traffic being held up as Beatles fans from around the world re-create the cover.

At the time of recording The Beatles were on the verge of splitting up after the death of Brian Epstein in 1967, triggering their downward spiral toward law suits and slanging matches in the press. They got together for what was pretty much acknowledged beforehand by all as their last album. They put aside their differences and pulled a blinder with the album which contains not one single bad tune (we’ll settle with fisticuffs anyone who says that the macabre ‘ Maxwell’s Silver Hammer ’ is a dud, even if Lennon referred to it as ‘More of Paul’s granny music’!)

Photographer Ian Macmillan was given ten minutes to climb a stepladder while a policeman stopped traffic and at approximately 11:30 am on 8 August 1969 music history was made.

Conspiracy theories that stated Paul McCartney was dead and replaced in the band by a look-a-like went into overdrive after the release as the number plate on the Volkswagen Beetle behind the band read LMW 28IF – 28 being McCartney’s age, had he still been alive.

Pub quiz fact: The sleeve was designed by Apple Records’ creative director Kosh and is the only original UK Beatles album sleeve to include neither their name or the album title.