SMILER came across this amazing new book by Robert Landau that includes some great photographs of Rock ’n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip that include some stunning billboards advertising Rod and The Faces,
The Sunset Strip, circa 1967. Buffalo Springfield called it right: “There’s something happening here…what it is ain’t exactly clear.” What was happening then is now absolutely clear. Rock ’n’ roll and the kids who lived it were coming of age—right there on The Strip. And, as if to define the era, a few independent minds in the music industry posted giant, temporary monuments that said it all. Billboards. Bigger than life. Hand-painted homages to rock. The Doors led the way. It seemed that billboards would chronicle rock forever.
In Rock ’n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip, author/photographer Robert Landau showcases these signs of the time, a time when rock was the most important music ever recorded, when youth, politics, and art merged to turn counterculture into mainstream culture.
Landau was right there, a kid destined to be a professional photographer, shooting his first pictures. Decades later, he rediscovered his Kodachromes, the only extensive collection of photographs that document those iconic billboards. Impassioned, he interviewed the artists, record producers, and designers who shaped those placards, bringing fresh insight to the culture of the day and its lasting impact on the world. He tells it like it was, through the people who lived the music, the time, the energy…and the billboards.
A must for every rock lover, pop-art aficionado, and socio-culture freak, Rock ’n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip is a coffee-table book to read and reread, view and review, a book with a beginning and, perhaps tragically, an end. Yes, the true rock ’n’ roll billboard era ended, but Robert Landau has created a bound museum of its best artwork, a gallery that shows what was happening there. On the Sunset Strip.
Robert Landau was born and raised in Los Angeles and has spent the better part of his life documenting various aspects of his native city. Beginning with the Sunset Strip billboards in the Seventies, Landau has compiled a vast archive of images depicting the unique characteristics of L.A.’s urban landscape and reflecting the city’s offbeat character. Rock ’n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip marks Landau’s fifth book; previous works include Outrageous L.A. (Chronicle Books, 1984) and Hollywood Poolside (Angel City Press, 1997).
Designer Frans Evenhuis moved from his native Amsterdam to Los Angeles in 1977, in part to catch the wave of the record-design scene. He worked for many years as an art director and designer of magazines, and has designed hundreds of packages and promotions for current and classic movies for various film studios, particularly Warner Bros. In 1997, Evenhuis conceived and produced, with Robert Landau, the critically acclaimed book Hollywood Poolside (Angel City Press). This book marks their second publishing collaboration.
ISBN 978-1-883318-39-0; $50.00; 12″x10″; hardcover
To buy a copy of the book and see some fantastic Rock ‘n’ Roll Billboards go to Robert’s website
www.rockandrollbillboards.com
Robert told SMILER If any Rod fans would like to buy limited edition prints of the Footloose image and the stunning Blondes Have More Fun board they are available through him as limited edition prints, If you click on the “print” button on Roberts site it takes you to page where he has begun by offering the Beatles Abbey Road image, but most of photos in the book are available at the same sizes and rates.