Benson was commissioned to accompany the Beatles to Paris in January 1964, where he took his famous photograph of the pillow fight the night they learned that "I Want to Hold Your Hand" had climbed to number one on the U.S. pop charts. He was with them on February 7, when they stepped out of their plane in New York and into the pandemonium of Beatlemania, American-style. In Miami, he introduced the Beatles to Muhammad Ali, and later that year he covered the filming of A Hard Day's Night. He was with them in Chicago in 1966, when John Lennon was quoted as saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, and covered their last tour as a band. He documented the eye of the hurricane: four guys in their twenties at the center of the known universe. This handsome, large-format book is a record of those amazing times.

What makes this book such a treat is that there are some cute anecdotes about some of the photographs and I like the way an index print (or contact sheet) is included in a photo series of the Beatles, in February 1964 horsing around in their hotel room. They were like big children, natural and full of fun and the photographs do a good job of capturing that.

I love this book. Although there is very little in the way of new information, if any, it is still guaranteed to bring smiles to the faces of all who read it. I give it a hearty recommendation and a resounding, "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!"


The Beatles forever   March 1, 2004
Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

It grieves me to give any Beatles photograph book only four stars, but I have to say these photos have almost all been published previously. If you're new to the Fabs or don't have many photograph compilations of them, then this will be a magnificent book. But if you've collected on them for years and own Benson's previous book, then many of the pictures will be recycled ones to you.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter, any book featuring the boys is always a treat, even if the information has been read a thousand times before. The quality of the book is good, the photos are reproduced beautifully, what's not to like? Incidentally, the cover photo of John, Paul and Ringo is one of the more evocative photos in the book, they usually crop poor Ringo out of this one. Enjoy!