FEATURE:
With the Beatle…
IMAGE CREDIT: Paul McCartney/Allen Lane
Why Paul McCartney’s 1964: Eyes of the Storm Is a Must for Every Fan of the Band
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IT seems…
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul McCartney/Allen Lane
that there is always something to talk about when it comes to Paul McCartney and The Beatles. The legend celebrated his eightieth birthday last year, and I remember, when researching, thinking how much he has achieved through the decades! One would think that, as the genius gets older, that there would be less to enjoy and find. That is never the case with Macca. Whether he brings out a book of lyrics, a children’s book, or simply posts onto Twitter, we are always aware of this beloved colossus! I was wondering what treats we would get from McCartney in 2023. I am sure he will appear in a documentary or interviews later in the year, and we all hope there is going to be a follow-up to 2020’s McCartney III. I think that we will get some material later in the year. Before any of that, there is something interesting from the archives. I often wonder about The Beatles and photos. Paul’s late wife Linda was a photographer. The Beatles were involved with press photos, but what about journaling their everyday lives? Obviously, as it was the ‘60s, it was not as convenient and easy to take a lot of photos as it is now. It seems that Paul McCartney had his own camera and spent time at the height of Beatlemania taking some interesting shots. They are going on display at the National Portrait Gallery:
“An unprecedented exhibition, revealing – for the first time – extraordinary photographs taken by Paul McCartney.
In this show, we focus on portraits captured by McCartney, using his own camera, between December 1963 and February 1964 – a time when The Beatles were transitioning from a British sensation to a global phenomenon. These never-before-seen images offer a uniquely personal perspective on what it was like to be a ‘Beatle’ at the start of ‘Beatlemania’ – and adjusting from playing gigs on Liverpool stages, to performing to 73 million Americans on The Ed Sullivan Show. At a time when so many camera lenses were on the band, it is Paul McCartney’s which tells the truest story of a band creating cultural history – in one of its most exciting chapters”.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles’ John Lennon and George Harrison/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul McCartney/Allen Lane
There is something very evocative and cool looking at some of the images that will appear. In black-and-white, you get this very authentic and vintage look from the point of view from a man who was experiencing something that nobody else had and ever will again! The Beatlemania time must have been a swell of excitement, exhaustion, and nerves! Not knowing what it meant or where it would head, McCartney could not have had much downtime or chance to get away. I imagine that late-1963 period as being so full-on and crowded. Constant Intrusion and endless performances, getting these candid photos from a man who was changing Pop music forever, we also get a book with so many fascinting shots. I would advise anyone who even has a passing interest in The Beatles to pre-order it (it is available on 13th June - five days before McCartney’s eighty-first birthday):
“Capturing the moment when the sixties truly began, this stunning volume of recently rediscovered photographs - boasting must-read commentary from Sir Paul McCartney - chronicles the whirlwind months from the end of 1963 to the beginning of 1964 when Beatlemania erupted, with an immediacy, vividness and authenticity unmatched by any previous works on the era.
Photographs and Reflections by Paul McCartney
'Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us, creating a picture I will never forget for the rest of my life.'
IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney during his Got Back tour of 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: MJ Kim
In 2020, an extraordinary trove of nearly a thousand photographs taken by Paul McCartney on a 35mm camera was re-discovered in his archive. They intimately record the months towards the end of 1963 and beginning of 1964 when Beatlemania erupted in the UK and, after the band's first visit to the USA, they became the most famous people on the planet. The photographs are McCartney's personal record of this explosive time, when he was, as he puts it, in the 'Eyes of the Storm'.
1964: Eyes of the Storm presents 275 of McCartney's photographs from the six cities of these intense, legendary months - Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami - and many never-before-seen portraits of John, George and Ringo. In his Foreword and Introductions to these city portfolios, McCartney remembers 'what else can you call it - pandemonium' and conveys his impressions of Britain and America in 1964 - the moment when the culture changed and the Sixties really began.
1964: Eyes of the Storm includes:
- Six city portfolios - Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami - and a Coda on the later months of 1964 - featuring 275 of Paul McCartney's photographs and his candid reflections on them
- A Foreword by Paul McCartney
- Beatleland, an Introduction by Harvard historian and New Yorker essayist Jill Lepore
- A Preface by Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, and Another Lens, an essay by Senior Curator Rosie Broadley”.
There have been quite a few Paul McCartney/The Beatles-related books from the last few years. Some would say this is inessential or money-grabbing. Rather than this being McCartney looking through his old photos and archives and putting this out knowing that the book will sell big, it is actually vital and beautiful insight into days in the life of a member the greatest band ever. It is called 1964: Eyes of the Storm. That sense of thrill and absolute spectacle will be put alongside more intimate and goofy photos. Beatlemania is one of the most fascinating periods in musical history. I think that there will be a lot of new Beatles converts following the Peter Jackson documentary-film, The Beatles: Get Back, from 2021. I am going to wrap up in a minute but, in this article we get a quite from McCartney himself about why he is making these photos public:
“Both collections will be titled 1964: Eyes of the Storm, both are due out in June and both will compile 275 photos taken as the band toured through Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, D.C. and Miami. McCartney himself wrote the book's foreword, as well as notes reflecting on the shots he took — which include portraits of bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
The archive's title alludes to the massive attention the band received, as Beatlemania took hold — as McCartney asks in his foreword, "What else can you call it [but] pandemonium?" — and the four musicians experienced life-changing upheaval. The three never-before-seen photos on this page capture not only that overwhelming change, but also moments of quiet contemplation.
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul McCartney/Allen Lane
"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," McCartney writes in 1964: Eyes of the Storm. "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. 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”.
I think that this is going to be one of the most interesting and essential Beatles releases. It takes us back almost sixty years to a time that not only when Pop was changing and growing, but the world around it was also transforming. In the U.S. on 22nd November, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. There was unrest across America. In 1964 Britain, Top of the Pops first aired on 1st January. Radio Caroline started on 28th March, and Labour’s Harold Wilson became Prime Minister later in the year. It was a changeable, turbulent, and exciting time, and Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were right in the middle of it. How strange it must have been for these young men to be in such a weird and wonderful position. It makes Paul McCartney’s upcoming photobook (and exhibition) a must for…
IN THIS PHOTO: "The crowds chasing us in A Hard Day's Night were based on moments like this," McCartney writes. "Taken out of the back of our car on West Fifty-Eighth, crossing the Avenue of the Americas"/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul McCartney/Allen Lane
ALL fans of The Beatles.