viernes, 2 de agosto de 2019

Old Absynthe House New Orleans - Led Zeppelin

Las fotos del album emblemático de Led Zeppelin (¿El último realmente destacable?).



"(...) “In through the out door”, posee una de sus más creativas e innovadoras portadas. Publicado por Swan Song Records el 15 de agosto de 1979, se convertiría en el octavo y último disco de estudio realizado por Led Zeppelin, y en el único que contiene temas de la banda en los que no figura Page como autor, teniendo a su bajista John Paul Jones como principal protagonista, escribiendo seis de las siete canciones que lo componen.


Diseñada por Storm Thorgerson y Aubrey Powell del colectivo de diseño gráfico Hipgnosis sobre un concepto de Jimmy Page, para la carátula se recreó en Londres el viejo bar “Old Absinthe House”, donde en 1918 el ocultista, escritor y poeta británico Aleister Crowley, redactó su ensayo titulado “The Green Goddess”, cuyo eje central son las reflexiones filosóficas sugeridas por la absenta, con descripciones de la posada, sus invitados y la ciudad. En aquel bar ubicado en la esquina de Bourbon y Bienville de Nueva Orleans, los Zeppelin solían reunirse cuando estaban de gira por la ciudad para tomar un descanso y beber tragos, allí también el guitarrista conoció a su esposa."





"The original album featured an unusual gimmick: the album had an outer sleeve which was made to look like a plain brown paper bag (reminiscent of similarly packaged bootleg album sleeves with the title rubber-stamped on it), and the inner sleeve featured black and white line artwork which, if washed with water, would become permanently fully coloured. There were also six different sleeves featuring a different pair of photos (one on each side), and the external brown paper sleeve meant that it was impossible for record buyers to tell which sleeve they were getting (there is actually a code on the spine of the album jacket which indicated which sleeve it was—this could sometimes be seen while the record was still sealed). The pictures all depicted the same scene in a bar (in which a man burns a Dear John letter), and each photo was taken from the separate point of view of someone who appeared in the other photos. The walls are covered with thousands of yellowed business cards and dollar bills. The photo session in a London studio was meant to look like a re-creation of the Old Absinthe House, in New Orleans, Louisiana."



The Old Absinthe House bar is located at 240 Bourbon Street. This stucco building at the corner of Bourbon and Bienville Streets, one of the oldest in New Orleans, dates to approximately 1806.
In the nineteenth century, the Old Absinthe House became famous for its cocktail, the absinthe frappe, also known as the “green monster,” a mixture of absinthe and sugar water. On October 1, 1912, the U.S. Government banned the importation and sale of absinthe, alleging it was “dangerous to health.” Interstate shipment of the beverage was prohibited since it contained “wormwood, or absinthe (artemisia absinthium), an added deleterious ingredient.” Prohibition of absinthe was predicted to be the Old Absinthe House’s “death knell.”
Legend suggests that Major General Andrew Jackson conferred with privateer Jean Lafitte in a secret chamber on the second floor of the Old Absinthe House prior to the Battle of New Orleans. In 1950, the Old Absinthe House installed a commemorative plaque, stating: “Old Absinthe House. Legend has it that Andrew Jackson and Gov. W.C.C. Claiborne met here with Jean Lafitte on the secret floor to plan for the defense of New Orleans. The Battle of New Orleans was fought Jan. 8, 1815.”
The owner of Maspero’s Exchange at 440 Chartres Street filed suit against the Old Absinthe House over the right to post the historical plaque on the building. Both establishments claimed to be the location where Andrew Jackson had met with Jean Lafitte. In February 1951, a Judge in Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, dismissed Maspero’s lawsuit, ruling: “Legend means nothing more than hearsay or a story handed down from the past.” Both Maspero’s and Old Absinthe House still lay claim to the legend.


**
La banda c.1979








No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario