Paul McCartney Publishes Beatles-Era Photo Book Today

Out today (June 13th) is Paul McCartney's first book of original Beatles photos, titled, 1964: Eyes Of The Storm. The collection features 275-shots of his long unseen photographs spotlighting six city portfolios — Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami — along with McCartney's personal recollections of the photos.

On Thursday night (June 15th), McCartney and Conan O'Brien will be live and in conversation in Manhattan at Tribeca's OKX Theater at BMCC TPAC. The pair will discuss “Macca's” new book and the chat will be recorded for a future episode of O’Brien’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend.

McCartney wrote about the historic nature of his long-lost Beatles photos in the book's introduction, which reads in part:

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. 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.

By the time I was taking photos I was on the road with The Beatles and had developed a pretty good understanding of composition, framing and patterns in art which I was subconsciously applying. Being on the road meant I also had a host of new subjects to try to capture in the quickly evolving medium of photography.

Paul McCartney said a lot of fathers didn't enjoy what they were seeing on their TV screens during the Beatles' TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show: “We came out of nowhere with this funny hair and all going (makes musical sound), looking like marionettes or something, y'know? And a lot of people's fathers said, 'It's a wig. They're wigs! Nobody's got hair like that!' I've got a lot of people who tell me that story — 'Y'know, my dad thought it was wigs.' A lot of fathers tried to turn it off, y'know, but a lot of mothers and children made 'em keep it on.”