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For the Beatles-obsessed, here are 3 never-before-seen photos from 1964

"The crowds chasing us in <em>A Hard Day's Night </em>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."
Paul McCartney
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1964: Eyes of the Storm
"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."

When the Beatles embarked on the tour that helped launch the British Invasion in 1964, Paul McCartney had a 35mm camera on hand to help document the history-making mayhem. Now, more than half a century later, McCartney's never-before-seen photos from that tour are getting the coffee-table book treatment — as well as an exhibit at London's National Portrait Gallery.

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.

John Lennon and George Harrison, photographed in Paris in 1964.
Paul McCartney / 1964: Eyes of the Storm
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1964: Eyes of the Storm
John Lennon and George Harrison, photographed in Paris in 1964.

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.

Paul McCartney's self-portrait, taken in a mirror in Paris in 1964.
Paul McCartney / 1964: Eyes of the Storm
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1964: Eyes of the Storm
Paul McCartney's self-portrait, taken in a mirror in Paris in 1964.

"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."

The book 1964: Eyes of the Storm comes out June 13. McCartney's photos will be part of an exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery running from June 28 to October 1.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Stephen Thompson
Stephen Thompson is a host, writer and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist and guest host on All Songs Considered. Thompson also co-hosts the daily NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created with NPR's Linda Holmes in 2010. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)