Yesterday I was treated to a preview of the amazing "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography" show currently being installed at the Portland Museum of Art. The museum's chief curator Tom Denenberg gave me a tour of the exhibition, which features almost 300 images drawn from the country's largest private collection of rock photographs. The collector, who summers in Maine, generously made his collection available to Denenberg and the museum and only asked in return that he remain anonymous.

Here preparator Kris Kenow is hanging the first grouping of works. This section features images of jazz musicians, such as Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Charlie Bird Parker.

Nearby, these images of Elvis Presley wait to be mounted on the wall.

The Beatles command a whole wall to themselves.

So do the Rolling Stones. In the beautifully produced catalogue accompanying the show, music journalist Greil Marcus writes about Philip Townsend's 1963 image depicting 19-year-old Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and says "He is going to put them on one side, force the Beatles onto the field on the other, and fight and win a war. He is going to take over the world."

The anonymous collector goes for images of artists taken at the height of their careers and away from the stage. He also prefers works where the musicians look directly into the camera. As a result, an electric energy of youth and the power of stardom practically pulses from the gallery. The show features all the major rock legends from the '60s, '70s and '80s - everyone from Jim Morrison and Led Zeppelin to the B-52s and the Beastie Boys. When the show opens to the public on Jan. 22, it's sure to attract blockbuster crowds.

Because doesn't everyone want to gaze into the eyes of a superstar and try to tease out what kind of mojo makes a rock god stand out from the crowd?