The front cover always seemed to me perfectly to match the name, which to me signified peace, or perhaps more accurately, peacefulness. The picture connotes a fantastic air of serenity and calm, and the lack of words just adds to this beautifully restful effect. Oddly, I believe the US version featured something wholly different, pink elephants or something of that ilk. That detracts greatly from the overall album package. Curiously I now have a copy of that US album.
I later learned that the two old people were Sandy Denny’s parents.
The back cover has another wonderfully homely picture, below the names of the band and the record. This shows a meal table, with Sandy Denny on the left, Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson and Martin Lamble facing the camera, and Ashley Hutchings on the right. The meal is in full swing, e.g. Richard Thompson is holding a piece of bread from which he has evidently already taken two bites. There are two other plates of food visible, for persons who would have had their backs to the camera, presumably Mr and Mrs Denny. It seems they temporarily left the table to allow the photograph to be taken.
One super touch, which I have always loved, is the bottle of HP sauce visible just in front of Richard Thompson’s left arm.
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