The Rock Spot – Band on the Run
By WTJU Rock
Annie de Blanco reflects on the brilliance of the album cover of Wing’s masterpiece, Band on the Run.
If there is one album cover that I linger over more than others when flipping through albums, it is Band on the Run by Wings. It shows a bunch of very famous people posed as prisoners being caught breaking out of jail. A big spotlight illuminates their desperate faces as they are backed up against a brick wall.
I imagine how much fun they must have had getting the scene together; how fortunate, if the rumours are true, that they were the only ones home when Paul McCartney called to ask if they were available and how hard it must have been choosing the right shot because there must have been many to choose from. Or not.
And all those people were famous in 1970s Britain. There is Paul McCartney of course, Linda McCartney and Denny Laine. The band. On the left is Michael Parkinson who was one of the first chat show hosts, who made that genre of television popular. In1970s Britain there were only three TV channels and it seemed like everyone watched the same programmes including Parkinson on Saturday nights. I remember one occasion when he had Sandra Bullock on the show, and he asked why she hadn’t changed her surname since Bullock was a little, you know . .. She leaned in towards him and said she didn’t see it that way, and started to repeat her name in a sensuous manner that had him blushing and flustered and that was the way shows went and we tuned in week after week.
On the right is the boxer John Conteh who was a world champion and as handsome as hell.
On the top is the actor James Coburn, no introduction needed, what luck to be in England when Paul called. Actor Christopher Lee is also there, Dracula all over his face.
Clement Freud was a peculiar chap. He’s the gruff looking one holding onto Linda. He might have been a TV chef but was mostly known to us young ones as the man on the dogfood advert with his dog Henry. Henry also had a rather downcast face making them a perfect match. See below.
Finally, there is the singer Kenny Lynch, a versatile singer, actor and songwriter.
I hope they had as much fun as I envision them having.
The other thing it provokes in me is an aversion to photographs of people sitting around. People sitting around a table, or sitting stiffly in chairs. Or groups of people lined up for a group photo. The front row dipping down a little so the back row can be seen. I’ve been in them all. Thank goodness for the person who does the little rabbit ears behind someone’s head, or the goofy face.
But why not pretend to be an album cover? Think Bohemiam Rhapsody, or that record by The Damned post pie fight, or backed up against a wall pretending to be an escaped convict. Think Band on the Run.
Have you ever stared in rapture at an album cover?! What never? Get ye to a record shop! Be mesmerized by the cover art and send in your thoughts for the Rock Spot at [email protected].
