The Lost Rolling Stones Photographs: The Bob Bonis Archive, 1964-1966

Bob Bonis was the Stones' US tour manager from '64-'66, affording him the kind of intimate, access-all-areas relationship with the band which most of the press could only dream of. He was also an avid amateur photographer who amassed an incredible 2,700 pictures of the group during the first flush of its success.Bonis was keen to avoid exploiting the Stones and sanctioned only a few of his images for commercial use in contemporary teen magazines. When his association with the band ended he selected some personal favourites to place on the wall of his study before storing the slides and negatives in a duffel bag, where they remained until his death in 1992.Now, in conjunction with Bonis' son Alex and rock auctioneer Larry Marion, this wonderful treasure trove of previously unseen images has finally been made available. Rest assured, this is not a hastily-assembled hodgepodge of snapshots or blurry Polaroids. Bonis shot with a Leica M3 and the images, mostly black-and-white, are all high-quality. He was a fantastic photographer whose passion and skill behind the lens are evident throughout. Many of these images stand proudly alongside iconic shots from the same period by Bent Rej and Gered Mankowitz.The Stones are captured on the cusp of US success in '64 at the legendary T.A.M.I. show, recording at Chess studios, and later in '65 when they were about to commence a thrilling run of classic singles, working flat-out but clearly loving every minute of it. As the Stones' tour manager, Bonis was able to select any vantage point he desired during the shows and the live images presented here are thrilling, particularly those of Jagger on the rioutous tour of West Germany in September '65, where the energy of his performance explodes from the page.Bonis also captured many quieter moments, which are among the best photographs in this book. There are particularly wonderful studies of Charlie Watts sitting alone backstage, and of Brian Jones at his resplendent Little Lord Fauntleroy best. One photograph of Jagger posing with an executive's little besuited son is worthy of Diane Arbus in its unsettling weirdness. Some studio highlights are the recording sessions for `Time Is On My Side', `Get Off Of My Cloud' and the `Aftermath' album.The print quality is wonderful and the images and text are well-presented. Happily, almost all of the book's 266 pages are devoted to the photographs.I would recommend this wonderful collection to any Stones fan. For once, we are presented with a supposed "holy grail" of rock photographs which more than exceed the hype. I would urge anyone to grab a copy of this whilst it's still in hardback, and at such a good price. I now cannot wait to see Bonis'  The Lost Beatles Photographs: The Bob Bonis Archive, 1964-1966  !

Very good value

This wonderful collection of photos is for all music and photography fans.If you are an early Stones fan it is almost beyond any expectation of how good the photos are.It quite simply is the best collection of photos to depict a band or artist. I am more of a Beatleand Elvis fan but this photographic record surpasses all others that I own.One image, although not representative of the others, shows Mick Jagger walking along the verge of the M1 motorwayafter their car had broken down. In the longshot of the motorway their are only 2 vehicles.It is a stunning book.

Me this group only till 1971 interests. Further stones have started to die. In the book are presented a photo of young stones. It pleases me. A quality photo. It is a lot of photos.