Last week, when I posted a review of Super Black Market Clash, I noted that the band was responsible for “some exceptional and perfectly conceived album covers, and Super Black Market Clash is an excellent example of that, its imagery suiting the album’s largely rebellious content perfectly”… but I actually had no idea of the history behind that particular sleeve. This week, rather coincidently, some info popped up in my Twitter feed which helped to fill in a few blanks (h/t @thatpommybloke): the photo features longtime band associate Don Letts (Big Audio Dynamite, The Slits) approaching police during the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival, which was noteworthy for serious confrontation between revellers and police ...
The pic below superimposes the album sleeve into a current day photo of the exact location where all the action took place.
More on this from Wiki:
In 1976, police had been expecting
hostility due to what they deemed as trouble the year before. Consequently,
after discovering pickpockets in the crowd, police took a heavy-handed approach
against the large congregation of blacks and it became "no-man's
land". The 1600 strong police force violently broke up the carnival,
resulting in the arrest of 60 people.
