Robert Fraser (art dealer) first met John Lennon. Fraser art-directed the cover for The Beatles' 1967 LP "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – he dissuaded the group from using the original design, a psychedelic artwork created by the design collective The Fool, instead suggesting the pop artist, Peter Blake, who created the famous collage cover design. Fraser also gave McCartney a small painting of an apple by René Magritte which is believed to have been the inspiration for the name and logo of the Beatles' record company, Apple Records. It was also through Fraser that Richard Hamilton was selected to design the poster
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band placement of random gibberish in the run-out groove, is one of the album's defining features. In Mark Lewisohn's opinion, "Sgt. Pepper" represents the group's last unified effort, displaying a cohesion that would begin deteriorating immediately following the album's completion and that had entirely disappeared by the release of "The Beatles" in 1968. Martin recalled in 1987 that throughout the making of "Sgt. Pepper", "There was a very good spirit at that time between all the Beatles and ourselves. We were all conscious that we were doing something that was great." He said that while McCartney effectively led the project, and