MusicUK

Fifty years ago, the Beatles walked across a street in London for a photo shoot that would become the cover of their next album, Abbey Road — an anniversary that was commemorated on Thursday with crowds and news crews. But for John Kosh, the Apple Records art director who had to turn those shots into an album cover, that was only step one in creating one of rock’s most recognizable covers.

In 1969, Kosh was what he calls the “creative art director” for Apple Records, the Beatles’ label, and had an office on the first floor of the building. He’d already designed album and single covers for John Lennon (including his and Yoko Ono’s Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions) and other Apple artists. He’d witnessed Lennon and Paul McCartney record “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” watching as the two supposed nemesis had fun playing all the instruments themselves. “Paul was on drums, John was doing the lead vocal, Paul came down and played bass,” he recalls. “It was two guys having as much fun as you can imagine — but they’re not supposed to be talking to each other! It’s almost as if they were back in Hamburg.”

more...