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Oasis photographer still searching for Rolls-Royce from album cover 25 years on
Some 25 years later, Michael Spencer Jones is determined to retrieve this piece of Britpop history
It’s been 25 years since the release of Oasis’ third album Be Here Now and with it, that famous cover shot by Michael Spencer Jones.
An updated version of the six-times platinum-selling album is being released with remastered audio to mark the occasion, but they won’t be able to recreate the cover anytime soon for many reasons, one of which being one very large prop is nowhere to be found.
In 1997, Spencer Jones managed to snag a 1972 Silver Shadow Rolls-Royce from Flying Spares for the album shoot. A year later, it was sold at auction for £1,200 and where the vehicle went after that remains a mystery.
Now, Spencer Jones is attempting to track down the white vehicle from music history despite not finding any leads to its whereabouts in decades.
Neil Arman, Director of Flying Spares, has said that the car wasn’t roadworthy at the time of the shoot having already been stripped for parts, including the engine. He also confirmed there was no record of the car being scrapped.
They are now working with Spencer Jones in the hopes of tracking down the piece of Britpop history.
But if you’re attempting to aid the search, don’t use the license plate on the album cover as some sort of clue.
Fun fact: while the license plate on Oasis’ album cover might read SYO 724F, that same license plate featured on a police van used on the cover of The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road.
