BRIAN JONES' LAST PHOTOSHOOT WITH THE STONES (50 YEARS AGO TODAY)

On May 21st, 1969, 50 years ago today, The Rolling Stones held their last photo session with Brian Jones near Tower Bridge and George Nichol's studio in London, resulting in the cover used for the compilation album THROUGH THE PAST, DARKLY

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2019-05-22 03:05 by JordyLicks96.

Do you know whereabouts near Tower Bridge? Thanks for the photos!

Even in 1969, Brian was still the most photogenic Stone. I wonder if he realised then, that his time with the group was nearly up.
Just a thought....had the US tour been confirmed at this point?

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jlowe
Even in 1969, Brian was still the most photogenic Stone. I wonder if he realised then, that his time with the group was nearly up.
Just a thought....had the US tour been confirmed at this point?

Really? I think by then Keith had taken even that from him. He's got the hair by now; and IMO looks pretty dashing.
I love that top picture because it is a throw-back to my very earliest Stones memories. "Buttons" was my first, then came 'Exile', and then I think it was "stone Age". I came at them kind of ass backwards. But looking back now, I think I was just too young for "Exile"; in years and in Stones-years both. I wasn't even a teenager, an "Exile" is so deep.
And "Stone Age" was there. That photo is on the back of SA. I looked all over Rome for snake skin boots in little boy size. As impossible as wingtips.

Man, 50 years ago I never would have guessed that the 4 remaining Stones would still be around, much less 3 of them still touring the globe. It is a remarkable feat.

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jlowe

Just a thought....had the US tour been confirmed at this point?

I don't see how it could have been. Brian was fired precisely because Mick wanted to tour, but knew he couldn't as long as Brian was in the band. The Hyde Park show wasn't even announced until after Taylor had replaced him. Actually, I think those two events were announced simultaneously on June 13th; the Hyde Park show, and the name of Brian's replacement, who would be making his debut there.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2019-05-21 21:49 by tatters.

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redkev
Do you know whereabouts near Tower Bridge? Thanks for the photos!

I'm not sure actually. I got the info on where the photoshoot was from "timeisonourside.com"

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jlowe
Even in 1969, Brian was still the most photogenic Stone. I wonder if he realised then, that his time with the group was nearly up.
Just a thought....had the US tour been confirmed at this point?

I think they knew at that point they wanted to tour the US in the Fall, but Brian could not obtain a working visa. According to "timeisonourside.com" they announced to the press that they would tour the United States in the Fall on September 14th, 1969.

dang hippy drug addicts if you ask me!

Those holding hands shots seem to clash a little with their bad boy image!

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JordyLicks96

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jlowe
Even in 1969, Brian was still the most photogenic Stone. I wonder if he realised then, that his time with the group was nearly up.
Just a thought....had the US tour been confirmed at this point?

I think they knew at that point they wanted to tour the US in the Fall, but Brian could not obtain a working visa. According to "timeisonourside.com" they announced to the press that they would tour the United States in the Fall on September 14th, 1969.

Always seemed a bit odd, that bit about Brian and potential Visa problems.
Some other musicians of the time had drug convictions (Jagger/Lennon) but were able to visit and work in the US. Maybe it was just a convenient excuse.

I, personally, think it's a sad photo; you can see him diminishing within the group he founded. However, that's also apparent from the Between The Buttons photo session.

Dear Mr Fantasy -- Ethan Russell



ROCKMAN

St Catherine's dock/boat house in London





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-05-22 14:49 by 2000 LYFH.

You can't read too much into it, but they look happy. They had found their sound, were recording a great new album, had plans to tour.

One if the greatest photo session of the Stones..............a bit gay but compared it with the Euro Song Contest it is just cute Ha ha

__________________________

They all look pretty jaded but happy….
Don't really see any sadness in Brian …
Between the Buttons yeah … he looked lost but it was daybreak ….



ROCKMAN

Mick en las primeras fotos está vestido con en la segunda parte del show del Hyde Park!!

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JordyLicks96

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redkev
Do you know whereabouts near Tower Bridge? Thanks for the photos!

I'm not sure actually. I got the info on where the photoshoot was from "timeisonourside.com"

St. Katherine’s Dock, I think.

There are more photos available e.g. Brian with the little girl.

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Big Al

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JordyLicks96

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redkev
Do you know whereabouts near Tower Bridge? Thanks for the photos!

I'm not sure actually. I got the info on where the photoshoot was from "timeisonourside.com"

St. Katherine’s Dock, I think.

Yes I think it was St, Katherine's Dock.
Looks like they changed their clothes unless the pictures took place over a couple of days.
Brian has massive bags under his eyes, very noticeable in the second picture in this thread.
Am I correct in thinking that there's a letter to (or story that) Brian was told or to be told by Mick via the Stones office that the photo session was taking place and if he didn't show up he would be fired ? I seem to remember seeing either such a letter or reading a story alluding to this.

The very album that turned me onto the Stones. My cousin's older brother had it. My cousin said 'You gotta listen to this.' I did and that was that.

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jlowe

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JordyLicks96

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jlowe
Even in 1969, Brian was still the most photogenic Stone. I wonder if he realised then, that his time with the group was nearly up.
Just a thought....had the US tour been confirmed at this point?

I think they knew at that point they wanted to tour the US in the Fall, but Brian could not obtain a working visa. According to "timeisonourside.com" they announced to the press that they would tour the United States in the Fall on September 14th, 1969.

Always seemed a bit odd, that bit about Brian and potential Visa problems.
Some other musicians of the time had drug convictions (Jagger/Lennon) but were able to visit and work in the US. Maybe it was just a convenient excuse.

According to Ian Stewart it wasn't a visa problem, but Jones was simply in no state to tour the US. According to Ian himself, he was the one who came up with the idea to hire Mick Taylor to replace Jones for the tour.

Mathijs

What is most fascinating to me about the first image is how all 5 Stones including Brian Jones are smiling . When do you see and image like that ? Also Mick wearing the two tone Stacy Addams type shoes -shows what a dapper dan fashion plate that he is as well

Interesting to remember that even in 1969 the group were embarking on a major US tour without any new material to promote. Unless you count the Honky Tonk single.

Just a compilation...and the second one at that (Big Hits being the first).
Some things never change!

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jlowe
Interesting to remember that even in 1969 the group were embarking on a major US tour without any new material to promote. Unless you count the Honky Tonk single.

Just a compilation...and the second one at that (Big Hits being the first).
Some things never change!

They were not embarking on a tour at all. At least not while Brian was still in the band. The tour didn't start until November, and coincided with the release of Let It Bleed, much of which they performed on the tour. I really don't think Mick even knew he wanted to play Hyde Park, let alone tour, until he attended the Blind Faith concert at Hyde Park on June 7. It cannot be a coincidence that Brian was fired the very next day, on June 8. Then, on June 13, they held a press conference announcing the Hyde Park show and introducing Mick Taylor to the world. Things happened much more spontaneously in those days. The time frames were much shorter. Not like now, where we're expected to buy tickets for a concert that's not happening until a year from now. Used to be 4 to 8 weeks was the norm. The '69 U.S. tour probably wasn't booked until after the Hyde Park show; the relative success of that event making it clear that the Stones could now compete as a live band in the era of Cream and Hendrix. Remember that as late as his interview in the October 12, 1968 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, Mick expressed absolutely no interest in ever touring again. His head must have been under a rock, but he seemed to honestly believe that it would still be the way it was in '66, thirty minute blasts of noise to a still-screaming horde of girl teeny boppers. It may not have been until he saw Blind Faith in the park that he realized it wasn't going to be like that anymore, and never would be again.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2019-05-22 14:37 by tatters.

My interview with Peter Swales from the Stones office regarding the 1969 photo shoot


I have to guess it must have been circa spring 1969 that all five R. Stones were ever together in one & the same place -- the occasions, (1) a photo of them lying flat on the ground @ St. Catherine's Dock in East London; and (2) the photo you see on the front jacket of Through The Past Darkly. These were two ideas I had had and had put to Ethan Russell, who completely miscarried the first idea in terms of what I had had in mind (a white backdrop so as to give the illusion of guys floating). Anyway, as for (2), the photo-session took place in a photo-studio in a mews just 100 yards or so from South Kensington Underground Station; and again, as per both occasions, I had had to telephone Brian warning him he HAD to attend (or he'd find himself out of the band). During the course of (2) there was a break -- a pause of some kind for a half hour or so -- and Charlie asked me if I didn't want to join him for a pint of beer at a local pub. So off we set and as we walked up the mews I looked around to discover, to my amazement (and mild horror), that we were being followed by the four other members of the band (and no one else). My discomfort was simply that -- I did not fit, I was a 'gooseberry' (as one says in UK) in that situation, yet I could hardly back out. So at risk of being mistaken by members of the drinking public as one of the band (yeah, I too had long hair), I promptly adopted the persona of man-servant and dealt with all matters at the bar, ordering the drinks and taking them over to the table where the five Stones sat.

There shortly followed a bizarre episode -- after a few minutes of stunned silence (don't forget, the band were [over-]dressed for the occasion), a small group of customers started snickering, very audibly, and 'taking the piss'. Whereupon Keith smashed down his glass of beer loudly on the table, thereby commanded silence, and simply stared those guys down with an angry look on his face. Mind, this story does not concern Brian as such, but I tell it because I am as good as certain that that was the very last occasion when the five members of the band were all together as one. I might also mention that, by then, Brian was showing signs of incipient obesity, and looked pretty wrecked by comparison to his younger self. And what perhaps has been overlooked with all the talk about drugs is that he had become habituated to vodka -- he would attend meetings only if he was pretty assured (by Jo B.) that there'd be a bottle of vodka there (that he would consume with the pure purple grape-juice which JB always kept in stock in the office).

^

So Brian shows up for the photo shoot and then finds himself out of the band!

What happened in the 4 weeks between this photo shoot and the band (minus Bill) then going out to Cotchford Farm to boot Brian?

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2000 LYFH
^

So Brian shows up for the photo shoot and then finds himself out of the band!

What happened in the 4 weeks between this photo shoot and the band (minus Bill) then going out to Cotchford Farm to boot Brian?

Mick Taylor is what happened.

Mick Taylor came and played with them at Olympic around the 30th May 1969. He was asked to join and said yes a week or so later.

Blind Faith played Hyde Park on 7th June 1969 and ignited Mick's idea for The New Rolling Stones debut concert.

...

Like was said up above. Things happened fast back then. And they had to or else a weird 1969 would have unfolded.

Had Taylor not already left Mayall mid May, it's quite likely that the stones would have continued as they were past the summer. Mick would have been away filming.

No HTW single with those Taylor fills.
A different Let It Bleed.
No 1969 tour.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2019-05-22 17:17 by His Majesty.

My point earlier about the US tour and no album ready to release:
The Let it Bleed album is released 5 December.
US tour ends 6 December with the free concert (not on the original tour schedule).