Many, many things McCartney’s written in the past 50 years are easily as good as anything he wrote in The Beatles: “My Brave Face” ( Flowers In The Dirt, 1989), “Every Night” ( McCartney, 1970), “Young Boy” (1997’s Flaming Pie) or “Some People Never Know” ( Wild Life, 1971) or “Ever Present Past” ( Memory Almost Full, 2007). Imagine “Monkberry Moon Delight” ( Ram, 1971) on the White Album or “Letting Go” (the 1975 single) on Abbey Road. Try replacing “Good Day Sunshine” with “Let ’Em In” ( Wings At The Speed Of Sound, 1976), say, or “Martha My Dear” with “Girlfriend” ( London Town, 1978). Yet his work has continued to pop and fizz and it’s possible to imagine lots of his solo work sitting quite happily next to Lennon’s abrasive psychedelia or Harrison’s partially composed complaints on any number of Beatles LPs. Although it inspired the 1973 Wings hit of the same name, in the song’s video McCartney drives an open-topped Rolls-Royce. It was bought in 1970 to get around his farm in Scotland and to drive to and from London. McCartney with his beloved Land Rover, ‘Helen Wheels’. What could top being – along with David Bailey, The Rolling Stones and Michael Caine – pretty much responsible for the 1960s? What could top being a Beatle? Here is a man who gave his name to The Ramones (Paul Ramon being McCartney’s old stage and hotel check-in name), whose “Yesterday” is the most popular song of all time (2,400 mangled cover versions and counting) and who conjured up the bass part for John Lennon’s “Come Together” in a jot. And listening to Paul McCartney talk in 2020, it would be easy to believe that he is the biggest Beatles fan of them all.Īnd why wouldn’t he be? Come on, what could possibly top having five records in the American Top Ten at the same time? What could top playing Shea Stadium to the loudest crowd in history? Or making Sgt Pepper? Or “Hey Jude”? Or “Let It Be”? What on earth could possibly top being revered by an entire generation? Or two. The success of Craig Brown’s recent (and highly entertaining) book One Two Three Four: The Beatles In Time demonstrates the continued fascination with the most important group in pop. However, even I was surprised by how willingly he volunteered stories about The Beatles when I interviewed him recently. 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.And in the past 25 years or so, he has often talked about the band – or, more specifically, his friends John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – with the same enthusiasm his fans always have. It was a wonderful sensation to be plunged right back. “This was exactly my experience in seeing these photos, all taken over an intense three-month period of travel, culminating in February 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 a statement. Captured in Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami, the photos convey the “pandemonium” in which Paul, John, George, and Ringo found themselves in - say it with us now - the eye of a storm. Out June 13th via Liveright, 1964: Eyes of the Storm compiles 275 photographs McCartney took near the end of 1963 and beginning of 1964, just as Beatlemania caught on like wildfire in the United States. That’s essentially what happened to Paul McCartney, who captured a treasure trove of 35mm photography during The Beatles’ heyday that will be shared in an upcoming book titled 1964: Eyes of the Storm. Imagine if you suddenly found a roll of film you hadn’t seen since you used it nearly 60 years ago.
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