The Rolling Stones Rare And Unseen

Gered Mankowitz

★★★★

Welbeck Publishing, £35

ISBN 9781802797336, 256 pages

A new angle on old friends You may think you know the work of the famed photographer, but you don’t, not by a long shot. Here are 300 images that might ring a bell (“the shot next to the famous one” he says in his introduction), expanding on those rolled out in books and glossy mags. And some in between, such as the cover photo previously hiding on the back of the Stones' Got Live If You Want It. One glorious 1965 shot taken in his hip Piccadilly studio becomes a dozen, the contact sheet exploding into life. Mankowitz, then almost a group member, talks us through them – including passport photos that Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham requested during one session.

This is a chronicle of 196567, a time of conquering America, and there are photos on planes, on wild west horses and onstage, moving onto sports cars and country mansions, even the London Palladium. Mesmerising is the exploration of the arty shoot for the Between The Buttons album, the cover currently featuring in Mankowitz’s exhibition at London’s Gibson Garage. Visuals aside, there’s plenty to read with essays from music and fashion experts, plus a foreword by Keef and afterword from Loog Oldham. Exhilarating yet quietly touching. Nick Dalton