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The images, taken in a London recording studio
and at a gig in Cardiff, Wales, were stored under photographer
Gus Coral's bed for more than 50 years before he decided to dust
them off.
They capture the humble beginnings of a band that would become a
household name around the world, and include a picture of the
musicians getting money together for a cab fare and a tiny crowd
waiting in the rain before they and other acts on the tour went
on stage in Cardiff.
Coral, 26 when he took the photographs, remembers thinking at
the time the band was going to be big.
"Obviously ... I didn't know they were going to last for all
that many years and be that special, but I knew they were
special," he said.
"We were just climbing out of World War Two and there were
certain people who were kind of leaders in finding a new way, a
new culture to go forward. And they were one of them."
While watching Mick Jagger and band mates Keith Richards, Bill
Wyman, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones before recording "I Wanna
Be Your Man" in London, Coral was struck by their
professionalism.
"(People) want the - 'we smashed the hotel up and had a chain of
16-year-olds waiting outside the door'," he said. "It wasn't
like that at all. It was a serious man doing a serious job and
getting a recording done."
Coral and some friends drove to Cardiff to record the concert
there, and were given unrestricted access.
"We went to the theater. No, no press, no other camera people,
no access-all-areas badges or anything of that sort. I had
completely free rein and they were completely natural. They
weren't posing or looking for publicity of any sort."
Coral's pictures go on display in an exhibition called "Black &
White Blues - Where it all Began" at The Curtain in east London
from Nov. 18 to Dec. 2.
(Reporting by Sarah Mills; Writing by Mike Collett-White;
editing by John Stonestreet)
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