Vanity Fair Music Issue & Annie Leibovitz' photos

From rockcritics daily on Annie Leibovitz' photos:

"Take her Vanity Fair panorama gatefold cover photos. There's something in the way Leibovitz presents her images of pop musicians--always an eclectic bunch, always looking like a Benetton advertisement for the more visible figures of the music industry--that is highly unnerving. Maybe it's that most of the subjects appear so pleased with themselves for being among such esteemed company (could James Taylor, Mary J. Blige, and Lucinda Williams possibly look any more sanctimonious in that photo?). Or maybe it's the complete flawlessness of it all.

Leibovitz seems to demand of her subjects that they give the audience precisely what they expect: so we get on this year's cover gallery a stoic Willie Nelson, a euphoric Queen Latifah (yes, the popular rapper Queen Latifah), former wild man Anthony Kiedis looking humbled but with a slight hint of 'madness' remaining in his glare. (To be fair, a couple subjects manage to transcend the conformist demands of her lens: Dr. Dre, for instance, is as implacable as ever.) "

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