Paul McCartney - 1964: Eyes Of The Storm (2023)
I was among the many visitors who went to see the now closed Paul McCartney photography
exhibition at the
Brooklyn Museum
featuring 275 pictures the former Beatle took with his 35mm Pentax camera
from late 1963 through early 1964.
As it turns out I didn't have to take the train to Manhattan's Penn Station and then the subway to New York City's most populous borough because all of the photos shown at the exhibit can easily be found in 1964: Eyes Of The Storm, a perfectly executed, hard cover, coffee table book McCartney released in 2023.
The star had a front row seat to everything that was happening to him and his newly world famous bandmates, so his photos were taken with an entirely personal perspective - one we rarely saw - as opposed to those with journalistic or business motives.
It all began when the photos were discovered in the ex-Beatle's personal
archive. Before their discovery the whereabouts of McCartney's photos
were unknown for decades and he barely remembers taking them.
As it turns out the Liverpool native is a good photographer. He knows
how to frame a picture. There are many shots of his bandmates taken in
different settings. Some are candids and others are posed. The
majority are in black and white, but most of the ones from Miami are
in color.
The legend's collection includes many important people who were part
of the The Fab Four's world at the time, including Brian Epstein,
Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans and Beatle parents. There are pictures of
Cynthia Lennon and siblings Jane Asher (McCartney's girlfriend at
the time) and her soon-to-become famous brother, Peter. There are
pictures of the group's insanely devoted fans and a few musical
artists who appeared on concert bills with them.
Sites of famous locations in America are also included along with
some as-they-happened news events.
The pictures are presented in chronological order from six
different locations that were very important to The Beatles during
a brief time period: Liverpool, London, Paris, New York City,
Washington D.C. and Miami. There is a preface and a forward, and
McCartney wrote an introduction for each section. Otherwise, the
336 page book is all photographs.
I found Eyes Of The Storm to be more interesting and
enjoyable than the massive two volume set,
The Lyrics, that McCartney released three years ago, partially because it
focuses on what can be considered the most important time in The
Beatles career, the period when they went from being just very
big English stars to worldwide phenomenons. It's also a lot of
fun.
The book is expensive. The regular retail cost is $75.00, but
there is no need to pay full price because there are many
outlets where you can buy it for substanially less.
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