Rolling Stones 40X20

Rating:
Summary: A photo exhibit of 40 years of the Rolling Stones
Review: The title 40X20 is a take off on an old Rolling Stones album called 12X5. The album contained 12 songs by the 5 Rolling Stones. This book contains 40 years of photos by 20 photographers. It was published in conjunction with an exhibit of the same name held at the Govinda Gallery in Washington, D.C.

The photos are grouped by photographer in roughly chronological order, and each has a caption giving the year, names of the people, and location. Each photographer has written a statement about working with the Stones that is at the beginning of their photos. The 20 sets run from two to ten pages, with half of them four pages long. A majority of the photos are black and white. While many are candid shots, studio shots and album covers are also included.

Some shots are band shots, but many of the photos are of one or a couple of the Stones. Mick Jagger appears in 61 different photos, with Keith Richards in second place at 49 photos. Although Brian Jones died early in their career, he has third place with 23 photos in this collection. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts are tied with 16 photos each. Bringing up the rear are Ron Wood with 7 photos and Mick Taylor with 5. Also appearing are various celebrities like Jimi Hendrix and Andy Warhol.

This book is a visual experience with the text providing background for the photographs, not the Rolling Stones. So if you want to read about the career of the Rolling Stones, this is not the book for you. If you want a visual experience of the Rolling Stones, and you like to read photographers' notes about their work, then this is a great book for you.

Rating:
Summary: very classy
Review: This is a very well-produced and evocative book documenting not so much the Stones as 20 photographers' work with the Stones. Many of the pictures are already well known, and many have now been published elsewhere as well (for example in _According to the Rolling Stones_ and/or Bill Wyman's _Rolling With the Stones_) but it's great to have them collected here in one classy volume; there are also several photos that I'd never seen before and am glad to own. The commentary is sometimes a bit weird, but these are the photographers' comments, and I reckon they've expressed themselves well enough through their work that they don't have to be trenchant writers or music critics as well.

In short, it's a great-looking, great-feeling book of evocative photos that happen to be of one of the most photogenic bands around.

Rating:
Summary: The Stones are not limited to Mick and Keith.
Review: What do you say about a collection of Stones photos that contains two solo shots of Charlie, one of Ron Wood, and none of Bill Wyman? Not much. This collection is definitely the Mick and Keith show, and it suffers for such. If you're a die-hard fan, as I am, you'll want to add this book to your collection, but that's about it. Otherwise..........