On a warm evening in New York City, talk show legend Conan O’Brien and everything legend Paul McCartney sat down at the Tribeca Film Festival in downtown Manhattan to discuss Paul’s extraordinary new photography book 1964: Eyes Of The Storm as part of the Storytellers series. The book documented Paul + the Beatles first U.S. tour and the flurry of activity which led up to that pivotal moment in music history. For just over an hour, Paul talked at length about his memories of the time as he and Conan went through over forty photographs, with Paul sharing many heretofore unheard stories as the photos brought up long-forgotten memories from Paul. It was a unique moment for Beatle fans to hear Paul share his memories of that first tour and what America meant to him and his fellow group members. The show was recorded for Conan’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend and was quickly aired, albeit as an audio-only podcast, which naturally was a less than ideal format to present something that relied heavily on the visual for most of the dialogue.
The main feature on this disc has been carefully reconstructed from multiple camera angles with the audio also being worked over, utilizing both podcast and fan recordings to present the full event in real-time. As any fan probably already knows, the event was NOT recorded on video by Conan - it was strictly an audio-only podcast, which is not the ideal way to present something that relies heavily on the visual. Thankfully, many in attendance had cameras and were not shy to use them to capture as much video as possible and this footage was carefully reconstructed from multiple camera angles to provide the best view at all times. The podcast was originally heavily edited but has now been restored to as it happened in real-time. The audio is also available in stereo and 5.1 on the blu-ray. The 5.1 mix places the viewer right in the center of the auditorium for an immersive experience.
As the interview itself is just over an hour in length, over two additional hours of bonus material has been added to the disc, including the full 65-minute interview with Stanley Tucci, a 20-minute slideshow presentation (set to Macca instrumentals) of the ENTIRE photographic repertoire of the Eyes Of The Storm book, an additional slideshow of the event itself, TV appearances on The One and CBS Sunday Morning and several trailers and additional clips. The blu-ray also has an additional audio-only 33-minute interview with Martha Kearney about the book and the photographs contained within. All in all, it's quite the comprehensive set for anyone interested in this portion of Paul's life.
Please look at my other listings, as I have plenty of other Beatles/McCartney discs available for the true fans out there!! Perfect gift for any Beatles/McCartney fan.