Michael Spencer Jones who took all the photos for the new Oasis DVD and the first 3 albums and singles along with all the Verve photography is having a new exhibition in Manchester at the richard goodall gallery including brand new outtakes and unseen photos and a full 3d definitely maybe and a 12 image flip lenticular moving image, and a show exclusive poster and definitely maybe show lenticular. For more info email: oasis@richardgoodallgallery.com


source: richard goodall gallery
+++

HIS lens was omnipresent as the roller-coaster carriage collected Noel and Liam Gallagher from Burnage and delivered them through riotous thrills and spills to the highly-charged annals of rock 'n' roll history.

As Oasis partied, Michael Spencer Jones was there to capture the cigarettes, alcohol and excess. As Oasis mesmerised thousands of fans with blistering live performances, he photographed the testosterone-fuelled fireworks.

And as the battling Gallagher brothers enjoyed rare moments of off-stage intimacy, he was there to record their camaraderie.

So it comes as a shock on the eve of a unique retrospective featuring the most startling pictures from an archive of more than 10,000 images that the photographer who once regarded the Gallaghers as close friends says that their band has lost its ability to excite.

"After 1998, for me it all got a bit corporate to me," says Spencer Jones as he sits in the Richard Goodall Gallery, where his exhibition will take place.

"I think that was when the fun started to disappear. When a band gets so big they become too secure and the gigs at Knebworth two years earlier showed they'd got too big.

"There isn't that warmth and that closeness with the audience. I won't be going to see them at the City Of Manchester Stadium. I saw them so many times in the early to mid-90s - shows that were absolutely blowing people away."

Work

If the name isn't familiar, then Michael Spencer Jones's work certainly will. To some extent, it was he who created the public face of Oasis through a succession of startling images which are still as exciting and thought-provoking as they were when the shutter first clicked.

He believes the rot set in at about the same time as Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs left the band, suggesting that the guitarist's part in Oasis has not been adequately recorded.

"Bonehead's departure was a real loss," Spencer Jones adds. "I always felt he was at the heart of the band. He was the one who could solve disputes. He was the one who had an integrity about him.

"The shot that would appear on the cover of Cigarettes And Alcohol took hours and hours to take. It was supposed to show this rock 'n' roll band inside a bedroom, but it just wasn't happening. There was a knock on the door and it was Bonehead. Then everything took off."

Another of Spencer Jones' most famous pictures is the one taken to appear on the cover of Definitely Maybe, the first Oasis album. Then there was the rock decadence of a Rolls-Royce sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool that provided the cover for Be Here Now.

"That was my favourite, because they actually dared to do it," Spencer Jones says, "It cost £100,000 and four days to set up."

Perhaps most enticing for fans are the pictures that haven't been widely seen - the out-takes, the intimacy and the stories behind the shots.

Which brings us to another Spencer Jones favourite - the blurred picture of two men, presumed to be Noel and Liam, which made up the cover of (What's The Story?) Morning Glory.

"On the day, we were supposed to take the picture for the cover, Noel was suffering from alcohol poisoning and couldn't make it," Spencer Jones reveals. "The art director had to stand in."

Studied

Originally from Sheffield, Spencer Jones headed for Manchester after graduating from Bournemouth and Poole College of Art, where he had studied photography and film for three years.

Fortunately, his arrival coincided with Manchester's musical renaissance. His first commission, photographing The Stone Roses at Spike Island, was secured from the now-defunct Uptown magazine.

He then worked with the Ruthless Rap Assassins (the band featuring Black Grape's Kermit) before moving on to Wigan outfit, The Verve.

"A lot of it is word of mouth," he says. "Moving in those circles, you get to meet people." He got the Oasis gig because Noel Gallagher had seen the work he'd done for The Verve.

Softly spoken and unassuming, with a slight look of a young Woody Allen, he chooses not to answer when I ask him whether he, too, lived the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll life style, although it is clear that he was there before they went corporate.

"Once, when I was touring with them, there was a night when I found myself partying in the same room as the band at 2am. I can remember thinking, `There's absolutely nowhere I'd rather be at this time'.

"They are the greatest people who I have ever worked with. Noel is possibly the greatest songwriter ever to come out of Manchester, while Liam is one of the best singers ever to come out of Manchester. People overlook those points because of that laddish and stereotypical Loaded image which they attained.

"The truth is that as individuals they are great people to be around. They have a fantastic sense of humour. That Loaded thing was only a small part of what they were about."

Sunshine Follows Thunder: Oasis '94 to '04 can be seen at the Richard Goodall Gallery, 59 Thomas Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, between November 12 and December 10.

source: Manchester online

Share Post

[+] 0 comments

For Breaking News visit our flagship site Live4ever Media

Make sure to join the world's largest Oasis Community

Pretty Green - mens clothing from Liam Gallagher

Visit our extensive news archives on the left sidebar for more!