UT39 Brian Jones

BIG SHOTS: ROCK LEGENDS AND HOLLYWOOD same way I shot rock ‘n’ roll.” Jack Nicholson, Den- ICONS: The Photography of Guy Webster, by nis Hopper, Jeff Bridges, Joan Collins, Jane Fonda, Harvey & Kenneth Kubernik (Insight Editions, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Sean Connery San Rafael, California; 2014; 272 pages) are among the Hollywood actors included in this second-half section, which also includes some of Aptly titled, Big Shots is a hefty coffee table hard- Webster’s work from the ‘70s and ‘80s. cover stuffed with large, eye-pleasing images of some The accompanying text by Harvey and Kenneth of the biggest names in music and film in the 1960s. Kubernik is eloquent and informed, and the weighty, Guy Webster is one of the giants of rock & roll pho- large-format book is beautifully presented through- tography. His work graced some of the most iconic out. Brian Wilson wrote the foreword. (MS) album covers of the era: Simon & Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence, the Byrds’ Turn! Turn! Turn! and The Notorious Byrd Borthers, the Mamas & the Papas’ If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, the first Doors album, the back cover BATHED IN LIGHTNING: John McLaughlin, the of Love’s Da Capo, the 60s and the Emerald Beyond by Colin Harper US edition of the Roll- (Jawbone Press, UK; 2014; 512 pages) ing Stones’ Big Hits (High Tide & Green The title of Colin Harper’s penetrating biography Grass), Paul Revere & of jazz guitarist John McLaughlin lays out the author’s the Raiders’ Midnight brief, and he delivers what’s expected: the Ride, Captain Yorkshireman’s move to America in 1969 on the Beefheart’s Safe As Milk advice of drummer Tony Williams; working with and Strictly Personal, Miles Davis on foundational fusion albums like Nico’s The Marble In- Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, and the rocking Jack dex, and Van Dyke Johnson; spiritual tutelage under self-promoting guru Parks’ Song Cycle—to Sri Chinmoy; critical and commercial success with name just a few. Each The Doors, 1967. (Photo: Guy Webster) the original Mahavishnu Orchestra; and the bruis- one of these album cov- ing ego battles with Jan ers is a masterpiece of color, composition, and char- eral of Guy’s subjects interviewed for the book. Hammer and Jerry acter. “My photographs are about creating work of Webster’s photographs resonate because they ring Goodman that would art,” explains Webster. “I’m always striving for bal- true. They are, in the words of the authors, “unclut- eventually sink the ance, anything that draws the viewer in.” Part of tered, unsentimental, unburdened by anything that band. But that takes up that artistry is its feeling of authenticity. The photog- contravened the artist/subject’s quest for authentic- barely the last third of rapher interacted with his subjects one on one, with- ity.” this densely packed nar- rative, which focuses out the corrupting filter of PR people, handlers and On the rare occasion he felt any styling was mostly on John’s forma- handlers. “I shot alone,” says Webster. “I didn’t want needed, the photographer did it himself. Like the tive years in the English any help, never had an assistant. No makeup or time the Doors showed up for their first session at music scene. hair people. I would never invite the record label to his studio. “Jim was wearing a bad hippie shirt he’d come on a shoot. I would go out with these guys and probably gotten on the boardwalk in Venice,” re- Who would have have all this personal contact without any distrac- lates Guy. The shirt had to go, so Morrison was known that the man tions.” persuaded to be photographed bare-chested. The who gave Hendrix a Webster shot his subjects in whatever clothes they result was one of the most recognizable and imi- run for his money and happened to be wearing. In the case of the Mamas tated album covers of all-time—the Doors’ debut. scored hit albums with & the Papas’ first shoot, “We were in the only clothes No Photoshop in those days, the art of photography jazz-rock landmarks like The Inner Mounting Flame that we had,” reveals Michelle Phillips, one of sev- was hand-crafted and time-consuming: “I took indi- (1971) and Birds of Fire (1973) was once a jobbing vidual shots and put them to- sideman for any number of major and minor talents gether mechanically when I in the early Sixties? Harper describes some of John’s was doing my dye transfer,” unexpected collaborations: soul with the Night-Tim- relates Guy, “the headshot of ers and Gino Washington, trad jazz with Mick Eve, Morrison and the other three a package tour with Dickie Pride (and Rolf Harris!), in the window area of his a substantial musical partnership with the talented eye.” The difficult dye trans- but troubled singer Duffy Power, and even a stint in fer process took a hundred Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames—though not with Alexis hours to complete—longer Korner, as is mistakenly believed. The consummate than it took the band to record hired hand, McLaughlin also worked alongside stu- the album itself. dio guitar legends Joe Moretti and Big Jim Sullivan, backing everyone from Petula Clark to a young David Big Shots is full of fascinat- Bowie (for whom John played his last-ever session ing revelations like this. gig), and the variety of tracks on which he appears Webster relates anecdotes would make a wonderful compilation if one could about shooting everyone from only negotiate the licensing. Bobby Darin to Captain Beefheart (“We related to each We learn that John experienced the rock band other and he trusted me”); cliché of driving the length of England in a battered Spirit to Sergio Mendes; Liza van, in this case with the Graham Bond Quartet Minnelli to Nico (“I noticed (later Organization) and thus bandmates Ginger her amphetamine lips, and I Baker and Jack Bruce (RIP). Baker, Pete Brown, Brian knew I had to get that into the Auger, Narada Michael Walden, and even several picture”; Hendrix, the Who, members of Aerosmith offer recollections and anec- and Janis Joplin at Monterey; dotes about the self-effacing guitarist at work and in and an array of actors and ce- his private life. McLaughlin was known for his cour- lebrities. “The [movie] studios tesy and professionalism but also for his absolutist realized they needed a hip leadership style. He wasn’t averse to a joint or a photographer because their glass of red wine, either. More surprising is his se- stuff was pretty square,” ex- ries of marriages (five and counting), a seemingly Nico, photographed by Guy Webster in 1968: plains Webster. “So I started Hemingway-esque pattern of “Throw her away and “I noticed her amphetamine lips, and I knew I had to get that shooting Hollywood in the get a new one,” right down to this classic abandon- into the picture.” (Photo: Guy Webster) ment scenario: to leave his second wife, he went out

Issue 39 Ugly Things 27