As previously reported, a new exhibit opening in June at London’s National Portrait Gallery will feature never-before-seen photos taken by Paul McCartney during the height of Beatlemania. Well, if you can’t get to London to see them, you’re in luck, because they’ve been compiled into a new book.
McCartney’s 1964: Eyes of the Storm will be released June 13, featuring 275 photos taken in late 1963/early 1964 just as The Beatles were exploding across the world. These photos were all taken on a 35 mm camera and were rediscovered by McCartney in 2020.
The book includes a forward by McCartney, and focuses on photos of him and his bandmates, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, in six cities — Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami — with McCartney providing an introduction for each city.
“Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time,” Sir Paul shares. “This was exactly my experience in seeing these photos, all taken over an intense three-month period of travel, culminating in February 1964. It was a wonderful sensation to be plunged right back.”
He adds, “Here was my own record of our first huge trip, a photographic journal of The Beatles in six cities, beginning in Liverpool and London, followed by Paris (where John and I had been ordinary hitchhikers three years before), and then what we regarded as the big time, our first visit as a group to America.”
The book sells for $75 and is available for preorder now.
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