here's a cool gallery of Philip Townsend shots: [www.morrisonhotelgallery.com]

the ones taken outside, in the Edith Grove/Chelsea Embankment vicinity, are among my very favourites.
it was the Stones' first photo session outside of shots taken during/between sets at clubs.
the shots always seem to be attributed to Philip Townsend, so i gather he owns the rights to them,
but in ALO's Stoned he's quoted as saying: "Crispian Woodgate took the first set of serious photographs on the Thames Embankment."
i'm not sure whether he means Crispian Woodgate took all the shots that day -
the ones on the street, outside a pub, etc - or just the ones that are literally on the Embankment.
does anyone here know for sure, please and thank you very kindly?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-02 13:30 by with sssoul.

WOW! THANKS!

smile: glad they groove you, Edith Grove.
here are a few more from that may 1963 session that's attributed to Townsend:









Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-03 22:34 by with sssoul.

another question is when exactly that session took place - ALO, James Phelge and Bill all seem to recall it differently.
Bill says it was the same day as the Battersea Park gig, and the way they're dressed seems to support that -
the may 1963 Stones didn't have very extensive wardrobes, of course,
but i don't know if they'd all show up dressed the same on two different dates.


- Battersea Park may 1963 (courtesy of chippy - don't know who took it, sorry!)

which leads neatly to: does anyone have any "hard evidence" of the date that Battersea Park gig took place?
i've always thought it was may 4th (as Bill has it) but someone recently told me it was actually may 11th.

Ahhh thank ya with sssoul...Beautiful Stuff

Geez Andrew Loog looks like Prince Harry...!!!!!



ROCKMAN

And Keith looked cool even then...

Awesome pics. Thanks for the link, with sssoul.

Will phone Philip , hope to give you the answer later.

wow thank you, the juf - please convey my thanks & praises & best 08 regards to him
(and to yourself as well!)

Methodologically I'd vote for Bill's report of the facts as the most reliable. His source are his diaries and it is hardly likely he messed up those dates, assuming he did write in his diary shortly after the events took place.

Thanks for those pictures with sssoul. They made me realise that I once bought a calendar with those pictures ... now where is that thing ?

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

>> Methodologically I'd vote for Bill's report of the facts as the most reliable. <<

for the most part Bill is pretty reliable, i agree, but he makes mistakes just like everyone else, bless him!
and when in doubt, hard evidence is always nice, which is why i'm hoping someone might have something
like an announcement of the gig or a review of it or something. it wasn't the hottest event around,
but it was sponsored by the News of the World, so it seems like there should be some news clippings about it.

According to Nico Zentgraf:
4th May: London, Battersea Park, Pleasure Gardens, 'Battersea Funfair'
Note: Charity concert organised by 'News Of The World'-newspaper.
Partly circulating on (silent) private film.

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

But indeed, 11th May is also mentioned on many websites

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

thanks for taking an interest, Rolling Hansie!
Nico's brilliant site is one of the sources i rely on a lot,
and i'm sure he's taken the main & noteworthy sources (like Bill) into account.
but again: when in doubt, it's nice to have hard evidence like an actual clipping with the date.
the thing about this kind of historical detail of course is that sources often copy each other,
and if one crucial source is wrong about something, the error gets proliferated all over,
so "i've found 17 sources all saying X" doesn't always mean too much.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-02 14:56 by with sssoul.

hey hey what a gift; thank you with sssoul; i had never seen 9/10th of those and it's a beautiful experience and a revelation. I guess most of the promo shots never made it to USA where they wouldn't break big for another year or so...really enjoyed this, thnx.

bill is playing electric piano or organ or something in one of the performance shots...hmmm, circa May of 63, anyone have a clue to what song that could be??
(bill did cool backup vokes on 'tell me' as well, did he not? but that was later on, when the m & k had started writing.
GREAT and soulful pix and a window into the young group and also, right into the times...cool.

glad they groove you, Beely! yeah, Bill sang back-up pretty regularly in the way-early days
as for the photo ... [peering hard:] i think he's not on keyboards in it - i think that's an amp.
ah yeah: see the shot of just Bill, on a stool amid the amps?

(and just to make sure i've been clear enough: not all the shots on that site are from may 63 -
they all seem to be 63, but the ones i know are from may 63 are the outdoor pre-houndstooth-jacket ones.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-02 16:47 by with sssoul.

Thanks sssoul....cool pics, my fave was Charlie on the kit pretty much alone

Marv Peck

Y'all remember that rubber legged boy

The review of the Battersea gig appeared on Beat Monthly.
Guess I have the article somewhere.

Regarding Philip Townshend pix, all the dates indicated by him in his website are probably wrong or confused. I've no time now but I'll be back with my findings.

here's the link to Townshend archive:

[www.philiptownsend.com]

>> The review of the Battersea gig appeared on Beat Monthly.
Guess I have the article somewhere. <<

it would be great if you can find it, straycat58!
meanwhile, thanks for that Townsend link - i haven't looked at it in a while,
but yeah i remember some of the dates being way off - some 67 shots were listed as 63 or something.
ah well, it gives us historically fidgety types something to do :E

1 foto not in here was taken in April 1963 -- of the boys in a kind of beat up alley in Chelsea, all smoking cigarettes.

I bought this at the Bonnington Hotel show during the O2 shows. He told me about it (the info above) and also said that that particular site (and I think others as well) no longer exist. (redevelopment?)


Plexi

Very cool! Those pics were taken on the day I was born.
I like this one, very Beatlesque, especially with the Beatle boots.

>> Those pics were taken on the day I was born. <<

so is that may 4th or may 11th, or some other date?

with sssoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >> Those pics were taken on the day I was born.
> <<
>
> so is that may 4th or may 11th, or some other
> date?
May 23...probably the month and not the day then huh?

right. thanks for clarifying

If somebody can explain the A.L.O quote concerning "crispian woodgate"..?!?
the other photo from him I know is on the cover of his book..where are the others.....?

Gosh sssoul...
I never knew that Townshend had this photographic talent,
besides his musical talent.

; )

(ps thank you!)

>> If somebody can explain the A.L.O quote concerning "crispian woodgate"..?!? <<

not sure what your question is, jpM! in ALO's book, Townsend states what you see above:
"Crispian Woodgate took the first set of serious photographs on the Thames Embankment."

>> the other photo from him I know is on the cover of his book <<

the other from whom - Woodgate? what book, please and thank you?

update: it took me a while, but i finally figured it out:
you mean Woodgate took the shot on the cover of ALO's book. right.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-03 22:38 by with sssoul.