Radio X walks the highways and byways of the world to discover album cover art’s most iconic locations: from The Beatles and Bowie to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
The Beatles – Please Please Me
The Beatles’ Please Please Me album cover.
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Alamy
Album released: 22nd March 1963Photo taken: 16th February 1963Cover photo location: 20 Manchester Square, W1U 3PZ
Producer George Martin’s original idea for the cover photo of the Fab Four’s debut album was to have the musicians pictured at the insect house at London Zoo, but the ZSL turned him down. In the event, the band were pictured in the stairwell at their record label EMI’s Central London offices at 20 Manchester Square, Marylebone. Photographer Angus McBean lay on his back in the entrance of the building to get the iconic shot, which has been parodied countless times since – not least by The Beatles themselves, who recreated the image in 1969 for their unreleased “Get Back” album.
The Beatles 1967-1970 album cover.
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Press
An outtake from the original 1963 shoot and a 1969 version of the pose were used as the sleeve photos for the 1973 compilations The Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970. EMI moved out of the building in 1999 and the block and was refurbished in June 2024 to become a seven-storey office complex.
Manchester Square in Marylebone, with the former EMI offices in the background.
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Alamy
The Beatles – Abbey Road
The Beatles – Abbey Road album cover.
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Album released: 26th September 1969Photo taken: 8th August 1969Cover photo location: Abbey Road, London NW8 9AY
Perhaps the most famous cover to feature a London location, the Fab Four’s last recorded album created a landmark out of the EMI studios at 3, Abbey Road, St John’s Wood. The shot shows George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon walking across the zebra crossing outside the studio where they’d made history.
Thankfully, the crossing has been given Grade II listed status by English Heritage, meaning it can’t be tarmacced over, although Westminster City Council thinks that the original path was moved slightly in the years following the album’s release.
Abbey Road remains a world-renowned recording facility to this day, with recent albums from The Cure, Coldplay and Shed Seven being recorded or mastered at the studios.
The Abbey Road zebra crossing in St John’s Wood, London in August 2023.
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David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars album cover artwork.
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Alamy
Album released: 16th June 1972Photo taken: 13th January 1972Cover photo location: 23 Heddon Street, W1B 4BQ
Brian Ward shot a murky black and white photo of a flu-ridden David Bowie outside his studio in Heddon Street, between Regent Street and Saville Row. The image of the Starman was later colour-tinted for the album cover that made Bowie into a superstar.
Today the doorway is an entrance to an office block, while the street outside has been pedestrianised and now forms the plaza outside a Piccolino restaurant.
Heddon Street in London in 2021.
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Alamy
Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy
Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy album cover.
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Alamy
Album released: 28th March 1973Photo taken: circa winter 1972/72Cover photo location: Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland BT57 8SU
A mystical image for Zeppelin’s fifth album, created by Aubrey Powell of design team Hipgnosis from images of the basalt columns of the natural wonder the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim. When the required posed photo wasn’t achieved on location, Powell saved the day by combining different shots of children Stefan and Samantha Gates in various poses to complete one surreal montage.
The Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim.
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Alamy
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti album cover.
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Alamy
Album released: 24th February 1975Photo taken: circa autumn 1974Cover photo location: 95/98 St. Mark’s Place, New York, NY 10009
Designer Peter Corriston held up the release of Zeppelin’s sixth studio album when his intricate design for an album cover with die-cut windows proved to be trickier to produce than he’d first anticipated.
The cover photo features two blocks in the East Village of New York City’s St Mark’s Place and the cut-out windows feature such notable figures as astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Elizabeth Taylor and Lee Harvey Oswald. The sleeve was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Recording Package”, but lost out to Honey by Ohio Players.
Corriston had further fun with die-cut sleeves on the Rolling Stones’ Some Girls album three years later, while Mick Jagger and Keith Richards visited 96/98 St Mark’s Place for the video to Waiting For A Friend in 1981.
The Physical Graffiti building at St. Mark’s Place in New York City in 2016.
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Eagles – Hotel California
Eagles – Hotel California album cover artwork.
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Alamy
Album released: 8th December 1976Photo taken: autumn 1976Cover photo location: Beverly Hills Hotel, 9641 Sunset Blvd, Beverly CA 90210
Built in 1912, this iconic Mediterranean Revival styled building was the natural location to depict the Californian rock band’s fantasy guest house. Elizabeth Taylor spent six of her eight honeymoons there and the Rat Pack made it their favourite watering hole. In January 2025, the Beverly Hills Hotel offered refuge to those fleeing the horrific Los Angeles wildfires.
Photographer David Alexander stood in a cherry picker to get the iconic cover shot, but the hotel itself wasn’t so keen on the unauthorised image. Sleeve designer John Kosh told Rolling Stone: “Lawyers threatened me with a ‘cease and desist’ action, until it was gently pointed out by my attorney that the hotel’s requests for bookings had tripled since the release of the album.”
The Beverly Hills Hotel in 2011.
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Alamy
Pink Floyd – Animals
Pink Floyd – Animals album cover artwork.
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Press
Album released: 21st January 1977Photo taken: 3rd December 1976Cover photo location: Battersea Power Station, SW8 5BN
Roger Waters was inspired to include the iconic Battersea Power Station on the cover of Floyd’s tenth studio album after living near the building during the recording period. The 40 foot inflatable pig slipped its moorings on the second day of shooting – it landed in Kent – and the final product was a combination of the sky from earlier photos, plus a superimposed piggy balloon, taken by Howard Bartrop. In 2025, of course, the former power station is home to luxury apartments and designer shops.
Battersea Power Station in December 2024.
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Alamy
The Clash – The Clash
The Clash – The Clash album cover artwork.
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Album released: 8th April 1977Photo taken: circa February 1977Cover photo location: Stables Market, Camden, NW1 8AF
The London punk band’s debut album featured a cover photo by Kate Simon of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon stood on a trolley ramp just outside their rehearsal rooms in Camden Market, by the lock. The ramp has since been replaced by steps.
The famous “Clash steps” in Camden Market.
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The Jam – This Is The Modern World
The Jam – This Is The Modern World album cover artwork.
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TheCoverVersion / Alamy Stock Photo
Album released: 18th November 1977Photo taken: circa September 1977Cover photo location: Westway roundabout, W10
The cover of The Jam’s second album sees the trio of Paul Weller, Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton photographed by Gered Mankowitz under the imposing structure of the Westway road in West London. In the background, you can see two of the tower blocks on the Silchester estate, Markland and Frinstead House.
A different view of the Westway in 2013.
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Wings – London Town
Wings – London Town album cover artwork.
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Alamy
Album released: 31st March 1978Photo taken: circa January 1978Cover photo location: Tower Bridge, SE1 2UP
“Silver rain was falling down upon the dirty ground of London town” sang Macca in his ode to the capital. The album of the same name featured a shot of Wings – which at the time comprised of Paul and Linda McCartney plus Denny Laine – in front of the imposing suspension bridge that spans the Thames, completed in 1894. The photo of the group was in fact a composite of three different portraits, put together by Aubrey Powell and George Hardie, aka the design team Hipgnosis. Nowadays, you can get married in the walkway that connects the two towers!
A foggy day in London Town: Tower Bridge on 27th December 2024.
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Vuk Valcic/Alamy Live News