James Hamilton: You Should Have Heard Just What I Seen

Thurston Moore's new book publishing arm of the growing Ecstatic Peace conglomerate will soon be offering "James Hamilton: You Should Have Heard Just What I Seen". From the looks of it, this is a wonderful & eclectic collection of music photography shot beginning in the New York music scene of the 1960's, and covers as wide a swathe of music as one could hope to see from one photographer.

James Hamilton’s portraits of music world luminaries, reveal a previously unearthed master photographer, with compelling and rarely seen images of visionaries and artists from Madonna and Nico to Run DMC and the Beastie Boys. This very first book devoted to James Hamilton’s music photography unveils a treasure trove of arresting images, previously unpublished, or available until now only fleetingly in print periodicals.

James Hamilton served as staff photographer for the seminal music magazine Crawdaddy! in the 1960s, before later serving on staff at The Herald, Harper’s Bazaar, the Village Voice, and The New York Observer in turn. During his tenure at these iconic publications he recorded the rock, punk, disco and hip-hop eras as they simmered in Manhattan . His images capture such emerging artists Suzanne Vega, and Run DMC posing with a young Russell Simmons to relaxed visions of Joan Jett, and poet/songstress Patti Smith with Television’s Tom Verlaine. James Hamilton’s work moves beyond the label of “photojournalism” and into the realm of art, bringing a rarely seen soulfulness to the oversaturated world of celebrity photography.

Enter the world of James Hamilton, and gain access to a secret stash of rarely seen and previously unpublished celebrity images, predating the age of the internet, and existing for years only in print archives. Peter Tosh, LL Cool J, John Zorn, James Brown, Yoko Ono, Jerry Garcia, Joey Ramone, Rick Rubin, Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell, Sarah Vaughan are all captured with stunning sensitivity and clarity—in 300 delicate duotone images—granting the viewer unprecedented contact to subtleties of his subjects’ personalities. Hamilton visually embraces his subjects, capturing them in all of their glorious humanity, and presenting portraits of celebrity in a light that is more personality than persona.

Featuring rare and previously unpublished photographs of: Patti Smith * Count Basie * Debbie Harry * Iggy Pop * Sonic Youth * Nico * Glenn Branca * Carole King * Ronnie Spector * Yoko Ono * Tom Verlaine * James Brown * Rick Rubin * Beastie Boys * Run DMC & Russell Simmons * Pussy Galore * John Fogarty * Ray Davies * BB King * Joni Mitchell * Dolly Parton * Jerry Lee Lewis * Paul Weller * John Zorn * Joey Ramone * Liberace * Laurie Anderson * Madonna * Jerry Garcia * John Lurie * Stevie Wonder * Roberta Flack * Dusty Springfield * Dizzy Gillespie * David Johansen * Danny Fields * Joan Jett * Jimi Hendrix * Bono * Phillip Glass * Rod Stewart * Prince * Bing Crosby * Captain Beefheart * Frank Zappa * Bette Midler * Van Morrison * The Feelies * Sun Ra * Suzanne Vega * Sarah Vaughn * Sean Cassidy * Bob Marley * Bobby Womack * Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and more

Pre-order it from Amazon here.
Order direct from the publisher here.

Thanks to Ward for the word. While you're over at the Ecstatic Peace Library website, check out Party With Me Punker, which I mentioned back in March.