Yesterday: The Beatles Once Upon a Time

by Astrid Kirchherr, Max Scheler

(Book). The Beatles Once Upon A Time documents the Beatles and the city of their birth during the making of their first film, A Hard Day's Night , in 1964. It captures the rhythm and texture of the tough English port city where the smell of cigarettes and seawater mingled and the strains of pop music were transformed by an early 1960s music scene that gave birth to the Mersey Beat and the greatest band of all time. Before they achieved world fame, the Beatles perfected their craft in another port of call, the northern German city of Hamburg. There they met Astrid Kirchherr, a budding photographer who became close friends with the band and later was engaged to the Beatles' original bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. Some four years later by which time the Beatles had conquered the world Kirchherr, with Max Scheler, visited the band and took the photographs that appear in this book. Kirchherr and Scheler focused on the Beatles in private and public moments, during the filming, and also on the city itself, on the streets, the music scene, the people, evoking for us today the gritty humor and passion of 1960s Liverpudlians. This book offers a moving testament to the inspirational effect of the Beatles' success on their hometown as well as an important chapter of the Beatles' almost-mythic story.

Genres: Photography, Music

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good Beatle book to own because the photos are fantastic. Astrid Kirchher (knew the Beatles since their early German years) and Max Scheler took intimate photos of the fab four at their most fab period - Hard Days Night era. What's charming is the series of photographs of Ringo with his parents in a middle-class 60's era flat or housing. The one image alone say a lot about the Beatle roots in 60's UK. Amazing and really beautiful. Also great photographs of British teenagers doing what they do best - kissing and having fun.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool little book overall, with a couple of issues, for me at least. First, despite the title, there are several pictures of people who had little, or nothing, to do with The Beatles, other than living and/or working in Liverpool in 1964. Also, it was a bit annoying that all of the captions are on two pages at the end of the book, rather than on the same pages as their respective photos, which makes for a slightly awkward viewing experience. But the book is still a fun look at a very exciting period in the history of The Beatles.

[Chita Hazna · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice memorabilia