Rej’s unprecedented level of access also resulted in some of the most fundamentally human images of the guys before they became pseudo mythical rock gods. Photogenic Brian is very often depicted pulling one of his hideous “nanker” faces. In one shot, he’s doing it while standing with the group in his underwear. Not yet the wasted pirate of infamy, Keith Richards often looks like a fresh-faced kid thrilled to be entertaining a crowd or fiddling with a new instrument. Charlie is ever in the presence of his wife, Shirley. Rej even managed to cajole the eternally image-conscious Mick into letting his guard down, and shots of the singer proudly posing in his ultra-groovy pad or kissing a middle-aged magazine editor manage to make the ultimate rock titan look like an actual person. Amazingly, Rej snapped a few shots of a near fatale incident in which Bill rescued Mick from electrocution and ended up getting knocked unconscious himself. He also took more pictures of guys picking their noses than a kindergarten yearbook photographer.
Many of Bent Rej’s Stones pictures were collected in a volume called The Rolling Stones in the Beginning: With Unseen Images published in 2006. Between now and then, he passed away and his daughters unearthed several additional pictures. Those 20 images of the Stones performing, warming up backstage, and arm wrestling appear in a new revised edition. The most illuminating pics tend to be the ones included in the original publication, but for those who do not have that edition and value completeness, the new one is naturally the one to get.
