The Lightpower Collection – Where it all starts

No Future without Origin

At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s: I was 13 years old at the time and did not have the slightest idea of what the older guys would be up to.

The lucky kid was the one, who not only had a big brother, but a progressive one to boot. My best buddy was fortunate enough to have this lucky strike within his family. His brother was seventeen at the time, spending a lot of time on the road, especially on weekends.

He allowed us to sleep in his room, while he was gone. We took the cover of his Philips 047 – which is a loudspeaker – under the blanket and started to listen to the good music. The Who, Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After. We had already learned at the time that every piece had its own defined place. The Monkees, for example, had their place  down below, while The Beatles were to be found somewhere in the middle, whereas The Doors and Pink Floyd were up on top.

One morning, on the bus, we saw the older guys on the rear bench seats, quietly crying. Jimi Hendrix had died. This very moment we all knew, this was supposed to be our ”world”. A world to live, love and suffer. ”Good times, bad times, you know I had my share”.

Later, at the age of fifteen, we started to hang around rehearsal rooms, only to help loading the bus for some talented junior band. We were never close to being good enough to enter be on stage ourselves, but we always wanted to be part of this crazy circus. Finally it became ”Light” instead of music. The equipment was slim, but our passion so much the bigger.  

Somehow we finished school. We even learned a ”decent profession” just to make our mothers happy. But right after that we went back to light. And this is still so today. Obviously a lot of things have happened in the decades in between. But with those ”roots”, there are certain things that will pop up and come back to life at some point in time. This is when I started my search and began to collect Album Cover Art.

Sometime later I came across Neal Preston’s unique R’n’R photographs. Snapshots of stars and one-offs and their stories. The more intensely you look at them, the more each picture will tell you. Have the matching piece of music in mind and you will end up with a spectacular play, in black and white and sometimes in colour.

When Neal invited me to join him for a ”picture party” and we sat up until the early morning hours, this basic instinct came back to life after 40 years in the ”background” of my mind. I was fascinated by what I saw and by the stories Neal told me.

Immediately I sensed that I had finally found what I had been looking for in all this time: the real Rock’n’Roll DNA captured on film. Sincere and unadorned, which is why it was all the more genuine and of such immense expressive power. Besides Neal had obviously built up the most extensive work of body in R’n’R history. I had finally reached to eye of the hurricane and I had found myself the most outstanding among the best of photographers.

From that day on Neal Preston’s works became the centerpieces of the Lightpower Collection and since then and over the time we have brought together quite some of his treasures. Dave Brolan, one of the most renowned specialists and archivists in Rock’n’Roll photography has accompanied us on this path with lots of passion, engagement and patience.

The result today is a journey from the springs all the way up to the big river, that carries Rock’n’Roll not only as music as such but Rock’n’Roll as a mentality of life. A mentality that will tell you clearly, that conformity is not an option, but autonomy and self-determination is what makes life worthwile. Be critical, be loud, but don’t fight a war. Neither in your mind nor in your heart. Because this is where you need enough space and freedom for the real deep thoughts and the real love. This is one of the messages that many of his pictures will tell you and for this message I will be grateful to Neal evermore.

Ralp-Jörg Wezorke