ROLLING STONE: The Complete Covers 1967-1997
Introduction by Jann S. Wenner
Abrams, $39.95
Over the 30 years of Rolling Stone magazine’s existence, its cover has been home to a lengthy parade of rock ‘n’ rollers, actors and celebrities of other stripes. Jimi Hendrix, Tricia Nixon and Chuck Berry have appeared on the front of the magazine, as have–to name just a few more–the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Hope, Bob Marley, Jim McMahon, Julia Roberts, Eric Clapton, Tiny Tim and Neil Young.
Those people and many others are included in this 273-page display of more than 700 Rolling Stone covers that range from the first issue in November 1967–a photo of John Lennon accompanied by various unrelated stories–to a November 1997 number featuring Courtney Love, Tina Turner and Madonna.
In his introduction, founding Editor-Publisher Jann Wenner sketches the photo/design history of the magazine, and excerpts from stories, tributes and interviews appear throughout the book. The assembled covers include some run-of-the-mill efforts, but there are also a lot of arresting images, among them David Crosby resembling both wild man and imp in a 1970 head shot; a moody, wintry-gray photo of Bruce Springsteen ice-skating on a frozen pond; and a striking, uncluttered study of Sinead O’Connor that consists of eyes, nose and mouth floating in a field of white.
According to publisher Harry N. Abrams Inc., “The Complete Covers” is available in five different “reversible” jackets, each jacket having a full-size cover image on the front and back–pairing, for example, Elvis Presley on one side with Jerry Seinfeld in Elvis-impersonator garb on the other.
TALL IN THE SADDLE: Great Lines From Classic Westerns
By Peggy Thompson and Saeko Usukawa
Chronicle, $14.95 paper
A sampling of dialogue and one-liners from Western films of the 1930s through 1960s, “Tall in the Saddle” should appeal to anyone who’s a connoisseur of cowboy cinema.
The collected quotes are liberally illustrated with posters and photos from the films that are their sources. Whether all are great, as the book’s subtitle suggests, is open to question. But they at least make up a diverting assortment of the colorful, crotchety and courageous, ranging from terse bits of wisdom (“A man’s gotta do his own growin’ no matter how tall his father was”–from “Gun Fury”) through a variety of putdowns (“Hey, you fellas. Move any slower and you’re going to be doing yesterday’s work”–rancher to cowhands in “Jubal”) to prime examples of plain speaking such as the exchange between Sheriff Bullock and a doctor in “Rancho Notorious”:
“How is he, Doc?”
“Well, he suffered lacerations, contusions and concussion. His jugular vein was severed in three places. I counted four broken ribs and a compound fracture of the skull. To put it briefly, he’s real dead.”
LOST IN LOST IN SPACE
By Mark Cotta Vaz
HarperPrism, $19.95 paper
There’s not much here about the recent “Lost in Space” movie, but there’s plenty of material, often engaging, related to the ’60s TV series, including reminiscences about the show or their lives and careers from cast members Jonathan Harris, Bill Mumy, Marta Kristen and June Lockhart.
Be prepared for a few side trips, however, as the book also touches on, among other topics, Tom Swift Jr. books, “The Ed Sullivan Show,” computer-generated imagery and a 1951 issue of Collier’s magazine that was an imagined history of World War III.
(Dedicated fans of the “Lost in Space” TV series might want to seek out Lost in Space: The Ultimate Unauthorized Trivia Challenge for the Classic TV Series, a book of series-related questions and “fast facts” by James Hatfield and George “Doc” Burt that’s available as a $14 trade paperback from Kensington Books and as a $6.99 mass-market paperback from Pinnacle Books.)
