THE CLASH are to sell original artwork from their seminal album London Calling at a Knightsbridge auction later this month.
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Before the gavel goes down at Bonham’s on 16 December, it is thought £70,000 will have been cleared for a series of sketches and drawings that formed the creative process behind the album’s design, famous for Pennie Smith’s photo iconic photo of Clash bassist Paul Simonon.
The sell-off comes in the week of the 30th anniversary of the release of London Calling.
Like the album itself, the cover has gone down in music history as one of the most memorable since God created rock ‘n’ roll.
Regularly voted among the best album designs of all time, it came 6th in an album cover vote run by the BBC and 38th in one by Rolling Stone.
It features a lettering style used on the first Elvis Presley LP, but whereas the King is seen smiling next to his guitar, in the London Calling take-off, Simonon is an angry, shadowy figure smashing up his bass on stage at the New York Palladium in 1979.
