The Abbey Road E.P.

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The Abbey Road E.P.
Rhcp4.jpg
EP by
ReleasedMay 1988 (1988-05) [1] (UK)
Recorded1984–1988
Genre Funk rock
Length15:35
Label EMI, Capitol
Producer Andrew Gill, George Clinton, Michael Beinhorn
The Red Hot Chili Peppers chronology
The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
(1987)
The Abbey Road E.P.
(1988)
Mother's Milk
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

The Abbey Road E.P. is an EP by Red Hot Chili Peppers, released in the UK in May 1988 through EMI America as a way of introducing UK fans to the band's back catalog as they were touring the UK that year. Out of the five tracks included on this EP, four had already been previously released on the band's first three albums while the other would end up on their fourth album Mother's Milk in tribute to Hillel Slovak, the band's original guitarist who died of a heroin overdose and plays guitar on the track. All songs on the EP were also featured on the band's hits compilation, What Hits!? . [2]

Contents

The only "new" track at the time of release was a cover of the song "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix, which was recorded during the sessions for The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and included in a different mix as the B-side to "Fight Like a Brave".

Cover photo

The title and cover were a tribute to The Beatles' famous album Abbey Road . Like the Beatles, the cover depicts the four bandmembers walking across a zebra crossing in single file, the twist being that they are all naked except for white tube socks covering their genitals. Wearing only socks in this manner was something they regularly employed in their stage shows at the time.

British photographer Chris Clunn took the cover photo in February 1988. He had to do the shoot twice over consecutive days, because the first time he realised he'd had no film in his camera. Clunn told Kerrang: "It was the first sleeve picture I'd ever taken and I was a bit nervous. I had two cameras – one black and white, one colour. I could finish a roll of film in about 40 seconds so it should have been very quick. It was only when I got back home that I realised I hadn't put any film in the cameras." Clunn told the band's UK record company EMI, which organised the shoot, that the films had fallen out of his pocket and been run over by a lorry. "I actually got two new films and rode over them on a scooter as 'evidence'. I got a phone call about half six the next morning asking me to do it again... Fortunately, both the band and EMI bought the story." [3]

Clunn said another idea for the shoot was to replicate the cover of Please Please Me , where the Beatles are looking down over the stairwell inside EMI's London headquarters in Manchester Square. "We decided against that because they [the Chili Peppers] couldn't get their todgers out," Clunn said. [4]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Fire" Jimi Hendrix 2:02
2."Backwoods" Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Jack Irons, Hillel Slovak 3:06
3."Catholic School Girls Rule"Flea, Kiedis, Cliff Martinez 1:57
4."Hollywood (Africa)" The Meters 5:04
5."True Men Don't Kill Coyotes"Flea, Kiedis, Martinez, Jack Sherman 3:38
Total length:15:35

Release history

Note

Some versions of 12" do not include "Fire" while the 7" version does not include "Fire" and "Catholic School Girls Rule"

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References

  1. "RHCP Timeline". Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Sytsma, Sara. "The Abbey Road E.P.- Red Hot Chili Peppers". AllMusic . Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  3. Kerrang Legends, Issue 4, 2003, page 23
  4. Kerrang Legends, Issue 4, 2003, page 22-23