Aerosmith: In Full Flight by Tony Mottram book review

Photographer Tony Mottram shot shy, retiring wallflower Steven Tyler and the bad boys from Boston for Sounds, Kerrang! and other mags in the 80s and 90s. Usually only one or two shots from a session were used, so he had a surplus of candids. Many, ranging from plentiful live captures to off-stage poses – “You have to grab hold; sometimes it’s your crotch, sometimes it’s reality,” offers the eloquent Tyler – are presented in this expensive hardback book, which lands in an oddly appropriate silver flight case. There are close-up, feel-the-sweat shots from the Marquee in 1990 with Jimmy Page guesting, and broader photos from the Monsters Of Rock festival. An eyebrow-raising session at the band’s Wherehouse rehearsal studio shows Tyler laughing heartily as the Mottram sports a gigantic dildo found on site. You just don’t get that kind of access with these Ed Sheerans the youngsters have nowadays.