Two sumptuous coffee-table books on The Beatles have recently been released.
The newest book of the photographs from Paul McCartney is yet another beautifully designed coffee-table book that fans of The Beatles will love, but as it is also an eyewitness photographic trip back to the ’60s—it’s really much more than just a book on The Beatles. The book is primarily divided up among the six key places (Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington D.C., Miami) that were the geographic launching pads for the international Beatlemania invasion of 1963 and 1964, along with a coda that brings together a miscellany of additional and related photos.
In the beginning of each section, Paul intros the six locations and there’s a contact sheet included of the time and place in question. The book also includes a timeline covering October 1963 through December 1964. There is also an Introduction entitled Beatleland by Harvard professor and journalist Jill Lepore; a preface by Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, a foreword by Paul; and an essay, Another Lens, by Rosie Broadley, Senior Curator, 20th Century Collections, National Portrait Gallery, London.
The hardcover book comes with an OBI strip and lovingly evokes the first flush of Beatlemania, primarily capturing the monochromatic black-and-white world of the group’s early look, which was also how they were seen in A Hard Day’s Night. McCartney proves to be a very adept and talented photographer. As a member of the group, he is able to capture moments that no press or portrait photographer could have been privy to, let alone be able to photograph so candidly.
The book doesn’t feature just The Beatles, but members of their inner circle, other British Invasion artists, the men from the press, and those who were part of the pop firmament of the time. The book also includes a coda that goes beyond the first flush of Beatlemania.
Along with the previous The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, from 2021, McCartney has now added two very valuable books to the history and scholarship of the Beatles.
Terry O’Neill, along with fellow Brits Brian Duffy, Terry Donovan and David Bailey, redefined photography in the post-WWII era, long before The Beatles and the British Invasion. This new book, which includes black-and-white and color photos, is packed with some of the earliest photographs of The Beatles at Abbey Road studios after they signed their EMI contract. These photos and others taken just after this period make a perfect complement to those in the London section of the McCartney book.
The photos in the beginning of the book of The Beatles at Abbey Road studios, outside in the garden, are some of the most iconic early photos of the group. O’Neill continued to photograph the band during the Swinging London and psychedelic periods of the band, along with Ringo Starr on set for The Magic Christian and those photos are included here. His relationship continued post breakup and there are some wonderful pictures of Ringo, George Harrison, Paul with Wings and the former Beatles together, including from Ringo’s wedding to Barbara Bach.
The hardcover tome is the kind of high-end coffee-table book that will appeal to fans of The Beatles and those who like beautiful coffee-table books of serious and historic photography. O’Neill was one of the photographers who wasn’t involved in the album and singles cover art for The Beatles, but who was a key lensman of the times and beyond.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
1964: Eyes of the Storm – Photographs and Reflections
by Paul McCartney
A+
The Beatles: The Definitive Collection by Terry O’Neill
A
