‘1964: Eyes of the Storm’: New Book By Paul McCartney
In early 1964, the Beatles’ first U.S. tour catapulted them to worldwide fame. Paul McCartney captured the beginning of “Beatlemania” with his 35mm camera at the time. The resulting photos were only rediscovered in 2020. On June 13, the British PRH imprint Allen Lane will publish “1964: Eyes of the Storm,” which contains 275 of these previously unpublished pictures.
In early 1964, the Beatles’ first U.S. tour catapulted them to worldwide fame. Paul McCartney captured the beginning of “Beatlemania” with his 35mm camera at the time. The resulting photos were only rediscovered in 2020. On June 13, the British PRH imprint Allen Lane will publish “1964: Eyes of the Storm,” which contains 275 of these previously unpublished pictures.
“Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us,” writes ex-Beatle Paul McCartney in the foreword to “1964: Eyes of the Storm,” his new book of photographs and accompanying texts to be published in its original English-language version in Great Britain and the Commonwealth by the Penguin Random House imprint Allen Lane on June 13. The musician returned the gaze of these millions of eyes through the lens of his 35 mm camera, which he used to record his impressions of the Beatles’ concerts in 1963 and 1964 in their British homeland, on the European continent, and in the U.S. They thus document the beginning of “Beatlemania,” when enthusiasm for the “Fab Four” swept the entire world.
The photos taken at that time – nearly a thousand in all – disappeared into the famous musician’s private archives and were only rediscovered in 2020. 275 of them have now found their way into the opulent photobook “1964: Eyes of the Storm,” which captures a very special moment in the Beatles’ career: “A picture I will never forget for the rest of my life,” as McCartney writes. Anyone who rediscovers such a personal treasure, the musician continues, is immediately flooded with numerous memories and feelings. “That’s exactly the experience I had when I saw these photos, all taken during an intense three-month trip that culminated in February 1964,” he continues. “It was a wonderful feeling to be transported directly back in time.”
The photographs selected for “1964: Eyes of the Storm” were taken in six cities that the Beatles visited within three months at the time: Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami. This period also includes the band’s famous appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” in the United States, which made them a household name once and for all. Also included are many never-before-seen portraits of his fellow Beatles John, George and Ringo. In his foreword and the introductions to each city, McCartney recalls this “what else can you call it – pandemonium” and describes his impressions of Britain and America in 1964 – the moment, according to the publisher, “when the culture changed, and the sixties really began.”
McCartney’s photographs and texts in the book will be complemented by other texts including “Beatleland,” an introduction by Harvard historian and New Yorker essayist Jill Lepore, and a preface by Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery. The famous museum in London will complement the book’s publication with an exhibition of the photographs, running from 28 June to 1 October.
