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Throughout the explosive period in the early 1960s when the Beatles rose to unprecedented fame with hits like “Please Please Me,” “From Me to You” and “She Loves You,” Paul McCartney was quietly snapping shots on his 35mm camera to commemorate the moments that we now know would change music history forever.
These largely unseen photos are now featured in a new book by McCartney himself, alongside historian Jill Lepore. “1964: Eyes of the Storm” includes more than 274 images from the legendary months between 1963 and 1964, when the Beatles became an international sensation and performed in Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Miami and Washington D.C, where they induced near-hysteria and deity-like worship among fans.
In a personal forward written by McCartney, he recalls the pandemonium of British concert halls, followed by the hysteria that greeted the band on its first American visit: “Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us, creating a picture I will never forget,” he writes.
McCartney’s candid recollections precede each city portfolio, coming together to create an autobiographical account of the period that he refers to as the “Eyes of the Storm,” plus a coda with subsequent events from 1964.
Also included in the hefty tome is Lepore’s essay “Beatleland,” in which she describes how The Beatles became the first truly global mass phenomenon.
“You could hold your camera up to the world, in 1964. But what madness would you capture, what beauty, what joy, what fury?” she writes.
The book is currently available to pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which is offering the chance to win a signed, limited-deluxe edition with every pre-order. The sweepstakes ends June 12.
Pre-order “1964: Eyes of the Storm” below:
Courtesy of Amazon