Travel guides tend to describe places. Under Covers. Historias en cubierta presents records. This travel guide shows the places that appear in 100 emblematic covers of music albums. Julio LeMarchand created a book that travels through the locations presented in 100 mythic records. Here we see how highways and cars are the protagonists of many records: not the road but the destination.
Maybe the most famous thoroughfare in the music industry is Abbey Road, immortalized by photographer Ian McMillan for the album of that name by the Beatles. This London street has a zebra crossing (now always full of tourists reliving the mythic photo) and cars parked on the sidewalks. On the day the photo was to be shot, there just happened to be a Beetle there –license plate LMW 281F. The photo was completely improvised and the car really was parked there just by chance. A very profitable chance, because this Volkswagen was auctioned off in 1985 for 50,000 dollars. Since 2001 it has been exhibited in the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg (Germany).
Here Comes The Sun, The Beatles
That same license plate number is also seen on the Rolls Royce that appears on the cover of Be Here Now, the third studio album by Oasis. The license plate was false, in a tribute to their idols, but the car was authentic and was seen inside a swimming pool. What’s amusing is that the photo would come out costing 100,000 dollars. The Gallagher brothers had presented a road on their previous album: What ‘s the Story, Morning Glory? The photo that illustrates the cover was shot on Berwick Street, in London’s Soho neighborhood.
Stand By Me, Oasis
The Black Keys titled their seventh album El Camino, a reference to a Chevrolet model. But on the cover of the record this car doesn’t appear: instead, it’s a Plymouth Grand Voyager. The confusion was intentional: a nod to the vehicle they traveled in when they were on tour. In the booklet that accompanies the record there are photos of several cars.
Lonely Boy, The Black Keys
For the cover of his first record, rapper Frank Ocean also chose a car. In his case it was a BMW 3 Series (E30). The artist has several times expressed his admiration for the German firm.
Many artists have featured cars on the covers of their albums, but few have done it as often as Bruce Springsteen. The creator of Born in the USA is a passionate car collector. He has featured some models on his records Tunnel of Love, Nebraska (although more than a car it’s a photo taken from inside of one), Chapter and Verse and Cover Me.
Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen
Music is closely linked to cars and the highway. It may be because any trip includes a ‘soundtrack’: cars are improvised karaokes for the musicians as they spend hours traveling on their endless tours. In any case, that’s how many groups and singers have explained it. We’ve looked at just a few examples here, but there are many more.
