In NOW AND THEN, a sumptuously and revealingly illustrated coffee-table-sized collection of photographs and recollections from many of his past and present colleagues and fellow musicians, Paul McCartney is given his due as the glue that held the Beatles together for much of their storied career. Beatles publicist Tony Barrow recalls that though people always assumed Lennon was the band's prime mover because he had the loudest voice, McCartney early on established shrewd control of their decisions (and was also a shameless cadger of Barrow's cigarettes). There are also tributes from legendary producer George Martin, McCartney collaborator Steve Miller, and rival composer Brian Wilson. It's not all a love fest, however; former Beatles drummer Pete Best reveals McCartney's darker side, recounting illuminating episodes of McCartney's baiting of doomed Quarrymen bassist Stu Sutcliffe. But the main attraction of NOW AND THEN is the array of pictures from the earliest days of the band, with McCartney photographed in Hamburg in 1962 in a moody picture by Beatle associate Klaus Voorman, in assorted typical thumbs up poses (one observer wryly comments that McCartney is almost never off duty), and of course in a magnificent assortment of pictures from throughout the rest of his career.
