No-Fi in Notting Hill
TWO LOVERS IN SILHOUETTEAGAINST THE SETTING SUN. UNDERTHE COVER OF THIS PHOTO ALBUMLIES A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF A GROUP OFFRIENDS ON THE FOLK ROCK SCENE TRAVELING IN IRELAND AND LIVINGIN THE CENTRE OF ALTERNATIVE LONDON.
The palm fringed cover maybe the height of seventies kitsch but the contents of this album are quite something else. The photographs are semi-professional, some of the subjects are somewhat well-known, most are not. No one in it is instantly recognisable but as a whole it provides a unique view of alternative life in the late sixties and early seventies.
Wow. This is the most amazing photograph. The man on the left is credited elsewhere in the album as Dell. He was a musician. The man standing on the right is Robin, whose album this is. He may have been a musician but was certainly a photographer - and a very good one at that.
Our favourite photograph. A woman cooks in a huge pan as an Afghan hound looks on. There are dogs all over this album. Generally of the long-haired and skinny variety: much like the men. See more of the album
here. We have shown the Irish rural idylls here but the album is mostly London: Oxford Gardens, Portobello Road, Ladbroke Grove... amazing.
Johnny Moynihan and Anne Briggs. Singer songwriters who worked together in the 70s and were photographed by the owner of the album. Anne Briggs appears to have been a legend of the folk scene. Richard Thompson wrote that he met her twice and on both occasions she was drunk and unconscious. She has her eyes closed in this photograph!
The Incredible String Band and Stone Monkey, again presumably photographed by Robin Birch in what might have been his only commercially exploited image. From a fashion point of view the double group shot is a collection waiting to happen!
Click to see details. Crochet, smocking, everything!
And then there is this gem of a photograph. One of three photographic prints that were loose in the back of the album. Taken at an Irish horse fair, they are stunning. We don't think we have ever seen anyone looking better than these two girls. The clothes on the girl on the right!! In another shot you can see
her skirt. It really is a dream of an album. The most brilliant find.