THE Beatles almost called their iconic ABBEY ROAD album Everest after a brand of cigarettes. Recording engineer GEOFF EMERICK was a fan of Everest cigarettes and while the Fab Four were considering a title for their landmark album, they came across an empty packet and were inspired. They even considered flying to the Himalayas for an album cover photo shoot. Emerick recalls, "The album was going to be named after my cigarettes, Everest, that I used to smoke because they were stuck for an album title. "Ringo didn't like traveling and they thought of going to Mount Everest to do a photo shoot." And it wasn't the only time cigarette packets helped to give the Beatles inspiration. Emerick reveals, "Ringo Starr's snare drum sound came from a soft packet of Lark cigarettes that he always used to keep on top of the snare drum. "If you put a different pack of cigarettes there it didn't sound the same."