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The Photo Session
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Ron Gorden's Account
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I was asked to share my recollections of the production of the cover for the Louis Paul album, "Reflections of the Way It Really Is". My name is Ron Gorden. My Friendship with Louis began when I became the organist with his band. The Blues circus in 1967. I later became a member of the Bar-Kays and traveled the country with them for two years. In 1970 I began working for Stax Records in the advertising department and later became advertising manager. One of my responsibilities was directing the development of album covers. Sometimes the concept for the cover design originated and was produced completely from my department. On some occasions I received design suggestions, artwork, photography or other elements from people connected with the project, and I coordinated those elements into the finished package. The Louis Paul album cover idea was submitted by his producer.
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I learned after-the-fact that the clown make-up was used to disguise Louis' race. The reasoning behind that was logical if the intended market was non-white. However, it seemed a shame both then and now that a picture of Louis without the clown make-up wasn't included somewhere in the package. The front cover illustration was done by Ellis Chappell, who when at his best, is one of the most talented commercial artists in the business. as I rememeber, that artwork was completed before I became involved.
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The one thing that was needed was photo session was scheduled. The idea was to show a picture of the recording studio with Louis playing all the instruments. It was a good idea, but it wasn't well executed. With today's technology it would be a simple task, but in the 1973 it was a challenge.
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That photo session was pretty crazy. On the album credits there are listed four "art directors" and a photographer. Ordinarily TWO art directors would be more than enough, so this was definitely a case of "too many cooks!" Someone else selected the photographer and he was not very responsive to my direction. There were about five different bullheaded people who all thought they should be in charge. Poor Louis in the clown suit just tried to do what we all were telling him.
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I wanted the photographer to open his shutter in the dark and spotlight louis in the various locations around the studio. Louis would change positions, and the spotlight would flash on to expose him in each place all on the same frame of film. Then the photographer should advance to the next frame and do it again with a different length of flash for the spotlight, taking the whole roll at different levels so that we could use the best exposure.
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The photographer's idea was to shoot the WHOLE roll with Louis in one spot, then REWIND the film and shoot the same roll again with Louis in a different locationand continuing to rewind until he had all the locations on the roll. My fear was that it would not line up properly if he rewound and it didn't. But, thankfully, it still came out according to the original plan. Even though I was disappointed, I always hoped Louis liked the outcome.
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Louis and I want to thank Ron for taking the time to give us the account of the photo session. It answered a lot of questions about the way it was photographed. We only wish that the photographer had listened to Ron. It would have more accurately portrayed the way Louis recorded the album, playing most of the instruments and singing all the vocals.
Ron did a terrific job on the cover with what they gave him to work with. It was put together very well. The shame is they didn't let him do his job in the first place. It would have helped if the photographer had more experience in his craft. He should have known what he tried to do was almost impossible even for the most skilled photographer.
The only other thing that would have been nice is a picture of Louis on the inside cover out of the clown make up. This would have made his mom, Mary, very happy. We realize, of course that Ron didn't have that option.
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In the last few years I have found the album for sale on E-bay several times. If it is a sealed album they usually call it Louis Paul, this is the name that appears on the front. The title Reflections of the Way It Really Is printed on the back cover. Don't bother to look on the edge to get the correct title, it's not there either.
It has also been compaired to Kiss, because of the clown makeup. Of course this album was out several years before Kiss. Maybe they copied him, who knows?
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Ron Gorden (pictured far right) with the Escapades (1966-67).
You can read about the Escapades and other groups in Ron Hall's book, A History of Garage & Frat Bands in Memphis 1960-1975. Contact Shangri-La Records at www.Shangri.com in Memphis for information on ordering your copy today.
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