The Mamas and the Papas, If You Can You Believe Your Eyes and Ears Album Cover Session, 1966
Print Details
About this photograph
“I think it was Cass who pulled out the grass from tinfoil and lit it with all the windows and doors closed. We all got really stoned. I couldn’t even get my lens cap off. I said, ‘We gotta shoot something.’ The apartment had a 1920s-era bathroom with all of this funky tile. I put them in the bathtub, set up my tripod and my big two-and-a-quarter camera, and shot the cover for If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears with my wide-angle lens."
"There was a toilet in the corner and I left it in. That was a big mistake. You can’t put a toilet on the cover of anything and sell it at Sears or one of those chain stores. They will not allow it. So Lou [Adler] came up with the great idea to put a little sticker on the shrink-wrap that read ‘Including California Dreaming’. And that covered the toilet. It became one of the most controversial album covers of its day, which pleased us to no end. I became famous overnight. The Mamas and the Papas blew up, and I guess I blew up with them.” - Guy Webster
Print sizes and editions
16" x 20" - Edition of 50
20" x 24" - Edition of 50
30" x 40" - Edition of 50
Print type
Archival pigment print
Paper type
Hahnemuhle Fineart paper
Signature
Estate stamped
About the photographer
Guy Webster is known as one of the early innovators of rock and roll photography. His work has spanned the worlds of music, film and politics during his fifty year career. In the 1960s, Webster shot almost every band that came through Los Angeles, eventually branching out to photograph actors, composers, writers, athletes, and directors. Known for his evocative, painterly style, he created iconic album covers for The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas & the Papas and many others. His life's work is collected in the award-winning book Big Shots: The Photography of Guy Webster published in 2014 and his photographs have been exhibited in galleries and in private collections all over world.
© Guy Webster. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.