The Specials - Coventry 1979
We were doing the cover for the Specials LP and just when I thought we were finished Jerry Dammers asked if we could do one final group shot.
He took us over to this abandoned and decaying boat that was located in another part of the Coventry Basin. Although I thought he was nuts wanting his photo taken here, we carefully arranged the band members on the boat.
Jerry had this huge smile on his face, positively beaming at the camera. When we were selecting the photos for the first LP he asked for a print, saying he was not going to use it now, but maybe it would have a use in the future.
The second LP was shot deliberately out of focus on an SX70 Polaroid camera, this was because Jerry wanted it to look just like an old sleeve and less than one pack of film was used, Jerry was so enamored with one of the Polaroids that he declared the session over. Worried that the American record company might not be too thrilled at the idea of an out of focus sleeve I insisted we shot a roll of film on the Hasselblad as well.
I asked him what he wanted for the back cover. We already did the back he proclaimed with a huge toothy grin. A little confused by this I asked him to explain, it's the photo on the boat that you did when we shot the first LP he gleefully replied.