The Beatles as you’ve never seen them

The ominous dictum “What goes on tour, stays on tour” has been popular with rock stars for decades now, and tends to be ushered out in unison with a sly wink and/or cheeky grin.

However, while musicians may feel obliged to adhere strictly to this vow of secrecy, their managers don’t. That’s if The Lost Beatles Photographs is anything to go by, anyway.

Released at the beginning of next month, this weighty hardback features previously unseen snaps taken by the band’s US tour manager Bob Bonis during their first Stateside jaunt in 1964. The youthful Scousers are captured on plane journeys, swapping guitar licks backstage and having their mop tops lovingly pruned in a local barber shop. There’s even evidence of the Fab Four’s first trip to an American bowling alley, during which observers found themselves near the gutter but looking at the stars.

The book also features shots of the two years that followed, as they returned to the USA to soak up more screams.

Aside from offering an insight into the group’s shenanigans on their first trips across the Atlantic, The Lost Beatles Photographs harnesses the energetic glee that charged this pivotal period in their history, as the biggest band in England quickly became the biggest band in the world. Head to page 9 of the magazine for another exclusive shot.

The Lost Beatles Photographs: The Bob Bonis Archive 1964-1966 by Larry Marion is published by HarperCollins Publishers priced at £14.99