Reviews 2008

	WILLIAM "POPSIE" RANDOLPH PoPsie photographed everybody who was anybody on the music scene by David Bell An impressive photographic book seemed to leap off the shelves at Borders bookshop whilst Mick and I were picking up our tickets at the Lincoln Centre for Darlene Love's Christmas show. I've always been a lover and hopeful collector of classic 1960s black and white 8x10 photographs and this book has certainly indulged this passion of mine. Who can fail but be impressed at these works of art produced by the likes of James J. Kriegsmann and William "PoPsie" Randolph in New York and Bruno of Hollywood? PoPsie "scuffled for money" in a variety of jobs - towel boy in a midtown bordello, a shoeshine boy and then as a manager for bands, including Woody Herman and his idol, Benny Goodman, who gave him his first camera as a present. After marriage, he became a professional photographer in New York and was soon kept busy with publicity photo sessions, parties, concerts and club dates. The photographs selected for this book, chosen by his son Michael, certainly reflect the fast lane in which he lived his life, as they are filled with the vibrancy and pure joie de vivre of the big city music business. PoPsie shot everybody who was anybody on the music scene and also a lot of the minor celebrities and hopeful newcomers. He photographed the jazz scene of the 1940s and stunning pictures are included of Billie "Lady Day" Holliday, Glen Miller, Mary Lou Williams and Louis Prima. He continued snapping the stars of entertainment until his early retirement in the mid-1970s. His photographs for recording studios and music magazines are unique and detail an era of music that means so much to us all on Spectropop. I was astounded to find out that PoPsie left behind 100,000 negatives after his untimely death in 1978 and in this book we have a small representation of this astounding body of work. He photographed all the major music idols like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley when he came to New York to record his first records for RCA, Bobby Darin signing his contract for Atlantic Records and the king of the calypso craze, Harry Belafonte. Then there were the teen idols, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Jimmy Clanton, and the British Invasion, led by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the best female singing export from Britain, Dusty Springfield. There are also stunning images of the performers who played for Alan Freed at the Fox and Paramount theatres in the '60s - Bill Haley and his Comets, the Platters, the Cleftones and the Coasters. I was thrilled to see Motown stars in their youth and prime - the Supremes on the mean New York streets, the stunning Marvin Gaye in close up and also Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the Ed Sullivan show in 1968. I could go on and on, naming all the big and lesser known artists that I love, but I will instead limit myself to just two more, who delighted crowds with their Christmas shows during that wonderful weekend in December of 2007 - La La Brooks with the very young looking Crystals and Ronnie Spector in the RCA Victor recording studios with her fellow Ronettes, Estelle and Nedra, at the "I'm On The Wagon" recording session. My two favourite New York girl groups are together in one book. You might have gathered by now that I'm a great admirer of this very interesting photographic book and I would like to recommend it wholeheartedly to fellow members of Spectropop. I'm already looking forward to a second volume of PoPsie's wonderful work. My personal choices for inclusion omitted in this volume are Connie Francis and the first Queen of Motown, Mary Wells. POPSIE: POPULAR MUSIC THROUGH THE LENS OF WILLIAM "POPSIE" RANDOLPH Michael Randolph, with foreword by Quincy Jones (Hal Leonard Corporation) More info: http://tinyurl.com/ynvfs9 http://tinyurl.com/25huc9 http://www.popsiephotos.com