FireFly

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Hidden away in photographer Rej's archives for 40 years, the photos in this book catch the Rolling Stones as they were making their transition from a British pop group with a few hits under their belts to becoming perhaps the most famous rock band on the planet. A friend of the band as well as a photographer, the author followed the Stones on their 1965 European tour and, subsequently, photographed them in other settings through much of 1966 (and, later, in 1970). Catching the band members in performance, in limos and hotel rooms, and at home, Rej's excellent photographs open the door to a period in the Stones' career that has not been particularly well documented, at least in terms of images. While this book will appeal to many readers, those who've read Keith Richards' recent autobiography will find it especially interesting.
-   Book News  2011 04 01

There's a certain wistfulness in Rej's vivid photographic record of a time when the mere image of a Rolling Stone was a thrown gauntlet. On page after page in this sumptuous time capsule, we're shown a band looking like alien future beings dropped into an austere black-and-white world. ... The tension leaps off the pages of [this] amazing book.
- Ian McGillis  Montreal Gazette  2005 12 02

In 1965, the Rolling Stones released their album Out of Our Heads, which included their hit "Satisfaction." During that time--between spring of 1965 and summer of 1966--when the band had just gained worldwide attention, Danish photographer Rej was on the scene and granted unprecedented access to the band members as no other future photographer would be. In this book, Rej collects the shots he took of the very young, very hot band just as, Bill Wyman writes in his introduction, they "were able to buy good houses, great cars, and as Keith [Richards] said at the time, we were able to eat in places that our fans couldn't afford to." The book is filled with candid and staged photos--both color and black and white--of the band members with all the awkwardness of musicians in their early 20s who are "beginning to appreciate how very big we could become." The captions accompanying the photos--some by Rej, others by the band members--are alternately insightful and mundane. But they, along with the photos, warmly capture the band at this critical moment in their lives.
-   Publishers Weekly  2006 09 18

Say what you want about the Rolling Stones, but these bad boys of rock music have definitely withstood the test of time. Although now in the senior citizens category, they still can make music and work old-time and newer fans into a frenzy, listening to their biggest hits from the 1960s and beyond. In the Beginning is filled with classic photos of the band taken from a time when people were experiencing their music for the first time... All the photos were taken by Bent Rej, who shadowed the band wherever they went. The sheer volume of photos here is amazing... There are photos of the band members individually, or together, and yes they show Brian Jones, whose untimely death years later changed the dynamics of the band and their music. Rej really captures these bad boys' days to a tee, but there was still an innocence to the band, as they slowly created a rock and roll legacy second only to the Beatles. In the Beginning is a great nostalgic read for fans old and new, and shows us how the Stones conquered the world, one country at a time.
-   Shelf Life  2010 12