Biography
Bethnal were a British punk band formed in 1972. In 1978, they released two albums on Vertigo Records: Dangerous Times, produced by Kenny Laguna and Crash Landing produced by Jon Astley and Phil Chapman, with special thanks to Pete Townshend. They supported Hawkwind on their 1977 UK tour and, after disbanding, went on to form Hawkwind frontman Robert Calvert’s backing band for his 1981 album Hype. Key members were George Csapo (vocals, keyboards, violin), Pete Dowling (drums), Nick Michaels (guitar) and Everton Williams (bass). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethnal
Album & Cover
This is the second album released by Bethnal.
Peter Christopherson came up with this idea that love is a ‘crash landing’ and the cover is a visual pun of the album title. Two survivors falling into each others arms. According to Po, Peter was fascinated with accidents and used to recreate accidents for the police, fire brigade, etc. Notice no blood is seen on the cover or anywhere else… Richard Manning describes the process: The album cover design as a three print montage. The base print was mounted onto double weight mount board, the plane was cut out and the back stripped and mounted with Columbia Cement. The print of the couple was cut out with a scalpel, cutting halfway through the print so as to strip the backing away to leave the edge as thin as possible. The edge was greyed to kill the white of the photographic paper and mounted in position with Columbia Cement. http://www.richardmanning.co.uk/hipgnosis-album-cover-art/bethnal-crash-landing–/47
Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Photography: A. Powell/ P. Christopherson
Label: Phonogram 9102 029(K)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue
| Side One Crash Landing Summer Wine I Gotta Go Sometimes The Fiddler |
Side Two Clown In The Crowd Talk Of The Town Odd Man Out You’re A Dreamer Nothing New |
Credits
Bass Guitar, Vocals – Everton Williams
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Pete Dowling
Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Guitar [Slide Guitar], Vocals – Nick Michaels
Producer – Jon Astley, Phil Chapman
Violin [Electric], Grand Piano, Keyboards, Lead Vocals, Synthesizer – George Csapo
