Beatles- Get Back Documentary

[Mad Kiwi]

Being in NZ we are a day ahead so I've just finished it.

Really enjoyed it. Totally different perspective of John now. Much more fun and less sarcastic than I have ever given him credit for. Yoko was MUCH less a factor than we've all been led to believe.

Interesting how Paul (at this stage) is kind of the default musical director. Interesting little barney he and George have where they both are struggling with that concept.

The total off the cuff way the whole thing was managed, the final show, the mess that was Magic Alex they didn't realise was happening behind the scenes, the whole "Apple Corp" mess they didn't realise was costing them so much money at the time....kind of a commercial shambles that was clearly visible in hindsight.

I really liked Ringo sitting at or by the piano watching Paul play, almost infatuated. At one stage he says he could watch him at the piano for an hour. One of the few actual compliments heard, struck me as nice.

A couple of quick thoughts.

- Interesting how they often are showing each other the chords and not quite getting it, just like every band practice I've ever been in. But amazing how unbelievably good the song suddenly is when they do get it.

- It's weird to see such unbelievably classic songs developing and knowing the words and melody before they do!

- George is obviously fighting some serious song writing insecurities (and to be expected) but you can see despite him introducing a couple of great songs, he is (at this point anyway) dwarfed by the combined genius (?) that is Lennon / McCartney.

While it was obviously a great hands-on learning experience or demonstration of how to write songs, it must have been horrifically hard to be underneath (for want of a better description).

I think they did an amazing job with the footage but am left with a slight sense of it missing the mark slightly. I totally enjoyed it however so maybe after a few days, I might retract that thought.

Anyway, I'm really Interested to hear other thoughts.

 

[Telekarster]

Being in NZ we are a day ahead so I've just finished it.

Really enjoyed it. Totally different perspective of John now. Much more fun and less sarcastic than I have ever given him credit for. Yoko was MUCH less a factor than we've all been led to believe.

Interesting how Paul (at this stage) is kind of the default musical director. Interesting little barney he and George have where they both are struggling with that concept.

The total off the cuff way the whole thing was managed, the final show, the mess that was Magic Alex they didn't realise was happening behind the scenes, the whole "Apple Corp" mess they didn't realise was costing them so much money at the time....kind of a commercial shambles that was clearly visible in hindsight.

I really liked Ringo sitting at or by the piano watching Paul play, almost infatuated. At one stage he says he could watch him at the piano for an hour. One of the few actual compliments heard, struck me as nice.

A couple of quick thoughts.

- Interesting how they often are showing each other the chords and not quite getting it, just like every band practice I've ever been in. But amazing how unbelievably good the song suddenly is when they do get it.

- It's weird to see such unbelievably classic songs developing and knowing the words and melody before they do!

- George is obviously fighting some serious song writing insecurities (and to be expected) but you can see despite him introducing a couple of great songs, he is (at this point anyway) dwarfed by the combined genius (?) that is Lennon / McCartney.

While it was obviously a great hands-on learning experience or demonstration of how to write songs, it must have been horrifically hard to be underneath (for want of a better description).

I think they did an amazing job with the footage but am left with a slight sense of it missing the mark slightly. I totally enjoyed it however so maybe after a few days, I might retract that thought.

Anyway, I'm really Interested to hear other thoughts.

Thanks for the review man. I haven't seen it yet. I'll probably wait till it comes out as a package and buy the whole thing at some point. What's interesting to me is some of the stuff you say in this review, cause we're going through a lot of this right now in the recording studio. We are recording lost songs that a buddy of mine wrote, literally back in those days! Just last night the bass player thought he had the part down, but the artist corrected him and even added to his work, and it took another 2 hours LOL! All kinds of stuff like that going on as we recapture these lost songs, and I can completely related to all of this! LOL!!!

 

[Cloodie]

Not a fan of the Beatles but I do love a decent music documentary so I'm watching it at the moment.

 

[Crashbelt]

Can't wait for it to be available on some other platform/format.

I'm not giving my money to Disney

 

[Mad Kiwi]

I think this summarises my thoughts pretty well actually.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertai...doco-fab-or-folly/O7KKU7KRFPTM5RJPNDD7HCQY4Y/

 

[Vocalion]

I’m most of the way through the first episode. Beatles fanatic that I am, I am drinking it all in, but I could see where some might find the content and pacing a bit tedious. The real fascination for me is learning how Michael Lindsay-Hogg interacted with the band. He appears to be far more of a negative distraction than Yoko Ono.

 

[AngelStrummer]

Being in NZ we are a day ahead so I've just finished it.

Really enjoyed it. Totally different perspective of John now. Much more fun and less sarcastic than I have ever given him credit for. Yoko was MUCH less a factor than we've all been led to believe.

Interesting how Paul (at this stage) is kind of the default musical director. Interesting little barney he and George have where they both are struggling with that concept.

The total off the cuff way the whole thing was managed, the final show, the mess that was Magic Alex they didn't realise was happening behind the scenes, the whole "Apple Corp" mess they didn't realise was costing them so much money at the time....kind of a commercial shambles that was clearly visible in hindsight.

I really liked Ringo sitting at or by the piano watching Paul play, almost infatuated. At one stage he says he could watch him at the piano for an hour. One of the few actual compliments heard, struck me as nice.

A couple of quick thoughts.

- Interesting how they often are showing each other the chords and not quite getting it, just like every band practice I've ever been in. But amazing how unbelievably good the song suddenly is when they do get it.

- It's weird to see such unbelievably classic songs developing and knowing the words and melody before they do!

- George is obviously fighting some serious song writing insecurities (and to be expected) but you can see despite him introducing a couple of great songs, he is (at this point anyway) dwarfed by the combined genius (?) that is Lennon / McCartney.

While it was obviously a great hands-on learning experience or demonstration of how to write songs, it must have been horrifically hard to be underneath (for want of a better description).

I think they did an amazing job with the footage but am left with a slight sense of it missing the mark slightly. I totally enjoyed it however so maybe after a few days, I might retract that thought.

Anyway, I'm really Interested to hear other thoughts.

I've not seen it, I might not, ever. I do know enough of the music and possibly a good enough deal about the band in general to say this: the popular music industry at that time was much more of a work in progress than it is now. More amateurish and with that, probably more fun. Which also means more wasteful or inefficient from a business standpoint.

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, in as much as the songs remain. And it's likely because of it that so many people obsess over the story to make it commercially viable for third parties - when half of that legendary popular beat combo is still alive.

That's how good they were. The rest is the noise that comes with that kind of phenomenon

 

[AngelStrummer]

Double post

 

[dublindave8456]

Being in NZ we are a day ahead so I've just finished it.

Really enjoyed it. Totally different perspective of John now. Much more fun and less sarcastic than I have ever given him credit for. Yoko was MUCH less a factor than we've all been led to believe.

Interesting how Paul (at this stage) is kind of the default musical director. Interesting little barney he and George have where they both are struggling with that concept.

The total off the cuff way the whole thing was managed, the final show, the mess that was Magic Alex they didn't realise was happening behind the scenes, the whole "Apple Corp" mess they didn't realise was costing them so much money at the time....kind of a commercial shambles that was clearly visible in hindsight.

I really liked Ringo sitting at or by the piano watching Paul play, almost infatuated. At one stage he says he could watch him at the piano for an hour. One of the few actual compliments heard, struck me as nice.

A couple of quick thoughts.

- Interesting how they often are showing each other the chords and not quite getting it, just like every band practice I've ever been in. But amazing how unbelievably good the song suddenly is when they do get it.

- It's weird to see such unbelievably classic songs developing and knowing the words and melody before they do!

- George is obviously fighting some serious song writing insecurities (and to be expected) but you can see despite him introducing a couple of great songs, he is (at this point anyway) dwarfed by the combined genius (?) that is Lennon / McCartney.

While it was obviously a great hands-on learning experience or demonstration of how to write songs, it must have been horrifically hard to be underneath (for want of a better description).

I think they did an amazing job with the footage but am left with a slight sense of it missing the mark slightly. I totally enjoyed it however so maybe after a few days, I might retract that thought.

Anyway, I'm really Interested to hear other thoughts.

loved it , every second of it !!!
john gets a hell of a lot more respect
than I thought i'd have, george less,
but the 2nd and 3rd will see george shine, methinks
paul is paul as expected....

 

[Skully]

It's a fascinating historical document because it's The Beatles. It also proves that watching people create is boring, even when it's The Beatles.

 

[Ed Driscoll]

I’m most of the way through the first episode. Beatles fanatic that I am, I am drinking it all in, but I could see where some might find the content and pacing a bit tedious. The real fascination for me is learning how Michael Lindsay-Hogg interacted with the band. He appears to be far more of a negative distraction than Yoko Ono.

I finished watching it a couple of hours ago, and it's quite a slog. From all accounts the Beatles were in better spirits in their basement studio at Apple, and with Billy Preston sitting in.

It is fascinating watching Lindsay-Hogg constantly trying to drum support for the big ending his envisions even as the group is (spoiler alert) imploding. I had no idea how sudden George's quitting the group was, and that it came several days after the famous guitar argument with Paul originally seen in Let It Be.

 

[soul-o]

I enjoyed every second of the first episode (and Twickenham has always been portrayed as where the vibes were really bad- I saw mostly a lot of laughs and fun with brief bursts of resentment from George). I imagine the next two episodes are going to be even better. The asides and little quips are clever as hell with all their inside jokes. They were so in the same level with their humor. They just immediately get where the other person is going like an improv group.
I really felt for Paul, trying to motivate the guys to just get on with it and cajoling John to bring some songs to the session. It’s clear that he’s trying to make it a proper collaboration except that he’s got about 12 good songs to offer and John hasn’t brought very much they can work on. And one can certainly understand George’s frustration, but it’s not helping them get anything done.
It’s funny how Paul strums the chords on bass while showing them to the others, like he’s busking on his Hofner. Such a killer sound with those black tapewound Rotosounds when he gets down to playing for real. God, he’s good, that Paul.
Good ol’ Ringo. He’s ready to go every time.

 

[Ed Driscoll]

And one can certainly understand George’s frustration, but it’s not helping them get anything done.

But he could have been -- virtually all of George's first solo album, All Things Must Pass, was written before the Beatles broke up.

I really lost it when over the closing credits, the demo version of "Isn't It a Pity" was played. Yet another fantastic song of George's that John and Paul nixed for the Beatles. That and George's abrupt (temporary) walkout from the group are the two real kicks in the gut from the otherwise very long first episode.

 

[tap4154]

I wasn't going to order Disney +, but I decided to do it tonight because I'm just hanging out, doing the extended family Thanksgiving next week.

I watched the first episode and loved it! I only have a lousy miracast dongle on my TV, so it occasionally pixelated as I cast it from my cell phone, but it was good enough.

Man... Lennon and McCartney and Ringo were so talented, and it seemed like George was just hanging on as far as a band member. But I really love a lot of his solo stuff. I also think they would not have been what they were without him. But the dynamic between Lennon and McCartney is absolutely magic.

I'm just at the point where they had a meeting with the band members to get George back, and they said it didn't go well. I'll watch the rest tomorrow and over the weekend, but it really is worth watching so far. Especially if you're older guy like me that was mesmerised when they came on the scene, and learned your first chords from Beatles books. That's the reason open F and B7 are so easy for me

 

[DougM]

I'm a fan, but 56 hours worth? No thanks

 

[tap4154]

I'm a fan, but 56 hours worth? No thanks

I believe the documentary is three episodes and only runs about eight hours total.

 

[turftone]

I never realized George was such a drama queen whiner. I was struck also by the low key decorum of yoko (so far), and the great talent of John and clear genius of Paul. He's writing these amazing songs like Get Back and Let It Be virtually on the spot! You can see the respect Lennon has for him during the first hearings of Let It Be, almost like damn, I wish I wrote that!

Speaking of George, his leaving seemed to come out of the blue. One minute he's sitting there playing like everything's fine, and the next he's walking out like "see you in the clubs." Wha??? Where did that come from?

I take that as a real and huge failure on the part of Jackson, as there obviously had to have been a lot of tensions leading up to George quitting that he never really showed. I heard some of those arguments on the excellent Pop Goes the 60s yt vids, and I'm really surprised that Jackson just left all of that out. There's a whole discussion before and after that part where George is saying "I'll play anything you want, or nothing at all," that Jackson didn't even include. Very poor editing, imo, but I haven't read any "spoiler" reviews so I don't know if he tracks back over that again or what.

So far then, I have to say the footage is fantastic, but it's been edited really badly - almost making it seem boring at times. John and especially Paul are really shining, though.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I'd like my 2 hours and 37 minutes back...
Not really, but maybe...

A good friend ( ex-bandmate, Instrument collector, Beatles nut)
had our family over and a few other musician friends over for Thanksgiving- good time. Just got home
As for Beatles doc:

These guys were just all over the place mostly arguing and acting goofy, while trying to put bits and pieces of songs together, and just try to communicate- but not organized, and surrounded by production folks, handlers, idea men, Yoko, Linda too
But as, they were The Beatles, they

could do whatever they wanted, had the $$ to spend on trying to get a bunch of songs together for proposed live show.

George is frustrated as he has almost fully developed songs ( L&M don't!) ready to work on, but Paul and John show little interest-
George will quit...

* guitar notes ( main ones):

- John has a great growly tone coming out of his Casino> SF Twin Reverb

- George is basically noodling around 24/7, trying to figure out what Paul wants, and DOES NOT turn off, his trebly, annoying Wah-Wah between his Les Paul and Twin Reverb

- Paul sounds like Paul with Hofner Bass> SF Bassman

It was cool to hear NOT so much the hammering-out of the songs we love and and hear on the Rooftop Concert, and Let it Be- as expected,

so much as songs we will later hear on Abbey Road, and Paul, John, and George solo albums.

It was LONG though, frustrating, but a cool glimpse into what was going on in 1969, not long after the White Album

 

[Stubee]

Watching it right now. I loved the lengthy Beatles documentary a number of years ago and like this one, but it is truly for those who want to see a band creating and like the group doing so. My wife saw the Beatles in Chicago on their second tour so is a big fan of their music, but this is more for me than her.

 

[loudboy]

Interesting how Paul (at this stage) is kind of the default musical director. Interesting little barney he and George have where they both are struggling with that concept.

I've not seen this new one, but in the original Let It Be, George appears to be barely able to play. The rooftop performances were pretty doctored, after the fact.

It's a fascinating historical document because it's The Beatles. It also proves that watching people create is boring, even when it's The Beatles.

We often had friends and particularly loved ones come to sessions, to see what the fuss was about. They very rarely came a second time. My favorite was when a guys girlfriend sat there for 2 hours while we did some BG vocals, an acoustic guitar part, and a tambourine overdub. Her quote - "I thought it would be a little faster paced." We were both like - "What, I thought we got a lot done?" <g>

George is basically noodling around 24/7, trying to figure out what Paul wants, and DOES NOT turn off, his trebly, annoying Wah-Wah between his Les Paul and Twin Reverb.

My thoughts exactly, from watching Let It Be. Not sure how they got the performances that are on the final tracks out of him, or Lennon to a lesser extent. Paul, Ringo and especially Billy P are pretty much pure gold.