GET BACK / LET IT BE REVIEW
(Disney+ Special, The Book and The Deluxe 50th
Anniversary Box Set)
In order to fully appreciate the “Get Back” / “Let It Be”
sessions, one has to consider all of the following material that has been or
become available over the past 52 years:
The original, Phil Spector-produced album; the multiple
bootlegs of sessions that were already circulating prior to the official
release of the album, including the Glyn Johns “stripped down” versions of
these songs (and their original running order), not to mention the Paul
McCartney mandated “Let It Be – Naked” CD that came out decades later; the
original Michael Lindsay-Hogg film, “Let It Be,” released in theaters in May of
1970 (along with the Spector version of the album / soundtrack); the
recently-released 50th Anniversary (actually 51st
Anniversary, thank you very much, Covid) box set including (essentially) mixes
of all above releases; and the excellent “Get Back” book that accompanies all
the new hoopla surrounding the new well-over-six-hour “Get Back” film produced
by Peter Jackson.
Once you have assembled the sum of all these parts … and all
the hype and bad will you’ve read about for the past 51 years … along with the
supposed white-washing of Jackson’s new film showing only “the happy Beatles,”
what you’re left with can be summed up with the title of a George Harrison song
…
It’s All Too Much
To state that the Jackson film is for die-hards only is an
overstatement doesn’t do it justice … because I’m a die-hard and have always
been a die-hard and even I found it to be WAY more than I ever needed to sit
through … and I’ve been waiting for this on the edge of my seat for the past
four years!
To someone just discovering The Beatles, or wanting to gain
more insight into the process of their recording methods, there is simply too
much information here being thrown at you repeatedly to actually ENJOY all that
you’re seeing … which really defeats the whole purpose of what The Beatles set
out to do in the first place. Sadly, the
pace and the repetition make The Beatles the one thing they never were in real
life …
Boring.
When first conceived back in 1969 as a television special
(the original intent), it might have run an hour or two, heavily edited to show
only the best bits, not every run-through of the same set of songs. It was devised as a documentary filming The
Beatles at work on their new album, culminating with what was supposed to be
their first live show in front of an audience in nearly three years, ideally in
some elaborate, exotic location for invited fans … but filmed (or broadcast
live ala “All You Need Is Love”) for the whole world to see. The concept was simple … let’s strip things
down to the way it all began … just the four of them, playing together as a
band with their core instruments, without all the fancy overdubs and added
horns and strings … just the four Beatles, writing, rehearsing, recording and
then performing their new LP.
(That original concept of The Beatles getting back to where they once belonged was thought to be lost forever when the original "Get Back" tapes were turned over to Phil Spector to "see what you can do with these" ... buried under Phil's lavish and lush arrangements, the end result was exactly what The Beatles said they DIDN'T want ... nor did it represent the soundtrack to the documentary anymore. As was so often his way, Spector was trying to turn what the world was now calling The Beatles' "Let It Be" album into a Phil Spector album, showcasing HIS trademark traits rather than their original intent, thus leaving The Beatles' wishes behind in favor of his own agenda.)
In a sense, Peter Jackson’s film accomplishes the same result, just in a different way, by showing the oversaturation of these sessions to the nth degree.
I’ll give you an example.
Much was being touted about Jackson’s film showing, for the
first time ever, the COMPLETE 47-minute rooftop concert. But do we really need to see them performing
“Get Back” three times? Or “Don’t Let Me
Down” and “I’ve Got A Feeling” twice each?
Especially after having already heard these same three songs a dozen
times each during the previous five hours of footage? Or is the “best take” all we really care about
and want to see?
Learning all that went into staging this “concert event” …
the last time all four Beatles would ever perform together live in front of an
audience (albeit one several stories below that couldn’t actually SEE them) was
interesting … the number of cameras used and their strategic placement, even
having one placed both inside and outside the door of their Apple Records
Headquarters, thus capturing what everybody already suspected (and hoped) would
be the ultimate conclusion to the film … the crowd reaction below as The
Beatles disrupted their workday … all of this provided interesting insight into
the event. But then, after all the
hoopla regarding including all this additional footage, to show the concert in
various split screens rather than from an “as it happened” point of view, made
it all a bit difficult to watch. Again,
the best performance of each track, intercut with what was happening down below
around them while they were playing, would have made for a far more enjoyable
viewing experience … which is, essentially, what the first “Let It Be” film
did. (In fact, to my eyes and ears, Michael
Lindsay-Hogg’s vision made the whole experience feel a lot more exciting.)
I will say this … each episode got stronger as the series
moved forward. I remember remarking
after Part One finished that even with all that I had seen and heard over the
past fifty years, probably close to 95% of Part One was new to me … which is a
great experience for any die-hard Beatles fan.
But, now having seen it, I don’t know how much of that material I can
honestly say that I really feel a need (or even a want) to ever see it again. There’s just not enough compelling footage
and material here to entice me to give it a second viewing. (I can only imagine how someone not nearly as
devoted as me watching the film must have felt!) In fact, when the series completed, I felt
that my “personal edit” would have scaled the film down to maybe a four hour
special tops … showing only the very best bits and coming away with a far
stronger and more moving film. Quite
honestly, the other 3-4 hours was just overkill and too repetitious to hold the
interest of a mass audience.
And even then, I didn’t feel like I had seen all that we
deserved to see.
For example …
After they finished filming the rooftop sequence, The Beatles
wanted to come back inside and film themselves performing the remaining tracks
of the proposed album. (In total, only five
songs were performed live on the roof:
“Get Back,” “Don’t Let Me Down,” “I Dig A Pony,” “I’ve Got A Feeling”
and “One After 909.” The original
intention was to create a 14-track album.)
The Beatles filmed stage promotional videos of three other
songs: “Let It Be,” “The Long And Winding Road” and “Two Of Us.” The Jackson film hinted at these but then
never actually delivered them, while they were one of the highlights of the
original film. It was impossible not to
feel cheated out of these “staged” performances simply because Jackson didn’t
want to duplicate anything that Lindsay-Hogg had shown in the original film,
never taking into consideration that those of us who WERE die-hard fans would
want to see these again in their gloriously revamped color and sound. Or that we would want to see them in their
entirety.
Those songs bring the tally to eight. Still missing are George’s two tracks, “I Me
Mine” and “For You Blue,” “Across The Universe” (GROSSLY neglected in Jackson’s
film … they may have shown one complete run-through during the entire film …
and even that wasn’t the final take … along with two or three VERY brief
rehearsals), and John Lennon’s “Dig It,” which I’ve always felt never deserved
to make the cut in the first place! In
fact, “Dig It” (one of the worst songs The Beatles ever recorded) ended up
getting far more total screen time than Beatle classics like “Across The
Universe” and “The Long And Winding Road” … and even to a degree, “Let It Be.”
Jackson’s refusal to use any of the original footage as shot
became a real sore spot for me as I watched the film. His boast of “Even if we happened to show the
same scene, we show it from a different angle, which we can do because there
were so many cameras filming at the time” made very little sense on a couple
occasions … such as Paul’s long rap about George not wanting to do a film
(“even ‘tho this is a film”), all shown from the perspective of the back of
Paul’s head instead of as an actual conversation between him and John, both
shown at full face in the original “Let It Be” film. I also found cutting out two of the extended
jam session segments that were a key part of the original film quite annoying …
in Jackson’s edit, we don’t get George (a HUGE Smokey Robinson fan) leading the
group through “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” or Paul camping it up on “Besame
Mucho,” both of which were highlights in the original film.
But perhaps most annoying of all was seeing the very brief bit
of John and Paul sharing a mic during a sped-up run-through of “Two Of Us”
where Paul goes into his full-on Elvis imitation, sneering lip and all, the
entire effect of which is now completely lost due to the far less flattering
angle that Jackson chose to use so as not to repeat the original footage.
While far more conversation is captured in Peter Jackson’s
edit of the film, I found the “Get Back” book to be invaluable in capturing all
of the conversations between all four members … in the context of the book, you
get ALL of the details, exactly as expressed at the time, some of which were
cut or edited from the film. One
particular example would be The Beatles discussing Dr. Martin Luther King,
stating what an incredible speaker he was and citing his “I Have A Dream”
speech as an example, even though King had already been dead for nearly a
year. (In fact, John soon incorporates
the lyrics of “I have a dream” into his “Dig It” ramblings.) According to the book, what was actually said
after this observation was something to the effect of “He would have been
President” which elicited the response, “Yeah, that’s why they shot him.”
The Beatles spend a fair amount of time during the film
reading the daily papers and commenting on such, especially when the articles pertain
to them personally. Some of these are
done in completely camp voices and fashion, even sparking mock interviews
between themselves. The coverage in one
of these tabloids of the incident when George briefly walked out of the
sessions and quit the band had him and John “coming to fisticuffs” when, in
fact, things never escalated anywhere near that far.
That being said, there were also considerably more
discussions that took place revealed in the book than in the film regarding the
reaction to George leaving the session. At
first, it was a matter of what they’d do if George didn’t come back, to which
they decided to “divvy up his equipment,” almost in a joking way … but then it went a step further and
became a bit more serious when John said that he was sure he could get Eric
Clapton to finish up the sessions … going so far as to say that both Eric … and
Jimi … would be pleased to join The Beatles!
Clapton had just guested on The Beatles’ last LP … The White Album … on
George’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” … and Lennon was simultaneously filming
The Rock And Roll Circus with Yoko, Clapton and The Rolling Stones … Clapton
would also join John for his Live Peace In Toronto concert a few months later …
so there may have been more truth to these discussions than originally
believed!
THE HEROES AND THE VILLAINS:
Let’s start by debunking some of the MANY myths that have
surrounded these Get Back / Let It Be sessions for some time.
Throughout Beatles folklore, it has always been believed that
Paul’s bossiness in the studio is what drove George away. (George’s comments in the original “Let It
Be” film, such as “I’ll play whatever you want me to play … or I won’t play at
all if you don’t want me to … whatever it is that’ll please you, I’ll do it”
only helped to fuel the fire.)
It has also long been accepted (erroneously as it turns out) that
by this point, John had already left the group, even if only spiritually. He just wanted to crawl into his little bag
on stage with Yoko … his bed-ins for peace and War Is Over campaigns would
follow.
But the truth of the matter is, John comes across in the film
as VERY pro-Beatles and keeping the group together. In fact, it’s clear that he wants to continue
to rehearse and get things right for the final performance … and is also willing
to travel in order to perform live regardless of where it is ultimately decided
they need to go in order to do so. He’s also
already looking ahead to the next album … and when Paul and George DO clash
(and George storms out with a “See you in the clubs” kiss off), it is John who
tries to analyze the situation by saying that George “has a wound” … and “we’ve
done nothing to try and heal it” … “we haven’t even given him any bandages” …
all quite the opposite of the way he’s been portrayed up till now.
The supposed rift between Paul and Yoko also isn’t evident on
the film … they get along quite cordially, in fact … perhaps even more
obviously in the book, where they seem to agree on virtually EVERYTHING that
comes up. (We even get shots of Yoko and
Linda having conversations while the boys are rehearsing their new material.) Paul also acknowledges that if it came down
to John having to choose between Yoko and The Beatles, there was no question
that he would choose Yoko … and accepting THAT fact is most likely what allowed
all of them to accept Yoko into the studio while they worked, an environment
that had always played out as more of a “boys town” in the past. Perhaps the strangest comment made on film is
Paul speculating that “fifty years from now, people will be saying that The
Beatles broke up because Yoko sat on an amp.”
This is all the more striking in that it really IS fifty hears from now
in relationship to when that scene was filmed!
If there is a villain (and there always has to be a villain,
right?), then it’s got to be George … he is clearly fed up with every aspect of
what they’re trying to accomplish by filming all of this material … and
presenting a live show (especially is it pertains to traveling ANYWHERE in
order to do so) for the bulk of the film … he doesn’t want to leave the country
… or travel in any capacity … or really even do the live show at all. He complains about the wealth of unrecorded
material he has accumulated that isn’t even being considered since he’s
typically only allowed a couple of tunes on each LP. At one point when The Beatles can’t seem to
make it thru fourteen new songs, he announces that he has at least fourteen of
his OWN that he could do, all ready to go, contemplating whether he should give
them out for other artists to do … while also acknowledging that he would
REALLY rather do them on his own, if only to see what they’d sound like all put
together in to one album setting. Here,
John encourages him to do so … and I know that in past interviews, the other
Beatles also felt that Paul needed an outlet bigger than the group to keep up
with all of the material he was creating.
I’ve said before, many times, in fact, that had the four of them simply
agreed to take on the occasional solo project every now and then, they may have
prolonged the duration of the band.
(After all, both John and Ringo were already filming movie roles by this
point … George had gone to India and composed a soundtrack of Indian music …
John had written his two books and Paul had done the movie score for “The
Family Way” … it wasn’t unthinkable that each of them could continue to shine
in their solo ventures while still creating new and meaningful music within the
context of the band. But George’s pissy
attitude … and then daring to quit right in the middle of filming their
committed-to documentary, thus disrupting everything that they had already
agreed to and scheduled to do … was bad form indeed.
(Surprisingly, despite George being upset that he already had
a backlog of 14 songs, he instead went with the three newest ones that he
“wrote last night” while filming the documentary … “I Me Mine” and “For You
Blue” both ended up on the album … while “Old Brown Shoe” became the B-Side of
The Beatles’ next single, “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” … meaning his “backlog”
continued to sit “in the can.” Still,
the 14 songs he says he had already written would have otherwise been split out
over the next ten Beatles albums … and that’s not even taking into
consideration all of the NEW material he would write during this time … so I
truly DO feel for George’s frustration over this situation. I also remember that when his incredible
album “All Things Must Pass” finally came out in late, 1970, he revealed that
some of those tunes dated back to the “Help!” album sessions … making them look
quite sophisticated in hindsight.)
I’m surprised that Ringo seems so happy with the way Peter
Jackson’s film came out … he looks bored and/or tired in nearly every scene …
sick or not feeling well and actually falling asleep during the sessions. (Remember that it was Ringo who said, when
asked what he remembered most about the “Sgt. Pepper” sessions, “Oh, that’s the
album where I learned to play chess.”
There was SO much downtime “waiting for the writers” that he really DID occupy
his new wealth of free time by learning the game of chess!)
By the same token, if there is a hero in all of this, then it
has to be, hands down, Billy Preston … who breathes new life into these
sessions the minute he walks in the room.
(I’ve always heard that George brought him along in order to keep the
others on their best behavior) … and the minute he plays on the very first
song, John exclaims, “OK, you’re in the group.”
Again, reading the detail in the “Get Back” book, there actually was
some discussion about asking Billy to join and officially become “The Fifth
Beatle.” His contribution was immediate
… filling in all the holes that had been there due to their decision not to
overdub during these sessions. And there
is no doubt that it was Billy’s piano fills that drove the rooftop
concert. (Plus, he also reaped the
benefit of being signed to Apple Records!)
George kept him close for both his Concert For Bangla Desh and his first
US solo tour (aka The Dark Hoarse Tour.)
Billy would move from his “sideman” role into his own spotlight, scoring
number one hits like “Outta Space,” “Will It Go Round In Circles” and “Nothing
From Nothing.”
The truth is, The Beatles weren’t very disciplined in the
recording studio, even when working toward a definite deadline. Although this topic came up a few times
during their rehearsals (primarily by Paul), nothing was ever really done to
change any of that. They all agreed that
since the passing of their manager, Brian Epstein (who they ALL still called
Mr. Epstein all these years later), there was really nobody in place to enforce
or make them stick to a schedule. As
such, a great deal of the first two weeks of rehearsals are essentially lost
due to clowning around. They had nothing
of any value that was even close to recording yet. (At one point, the producers asked them
“Well, how many have you got ready so far” to which John Lennon replied,
“None.”) Yet once Billy Preston entered
the picture, it all fell in place immediately … and you realized that they
really HAD been learning and improving upon this material … it just never came
across this way during their rehearsal sessions.
Another myth debunked – before a recording session, The
Beatles only warmed up with rockers from their early days, playing in the clubs
in England and Hamburg … but, despite an already extensive catalog of material
available, never went back to revisit any of their own tracks …
This legend is also proven to be completely untrue, as
evidenced here by brief performances of over a dozen early Lennon and McCartney
compositions that predated their success as The Beatles … as well as tracks
like “Run For Your Life” (from “Rubber Soul”), “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Ob-La-Di,
Ob-La-Da,” “I’m So Tired,” “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” and “Martha My
Dear” from their previous White Album, “Every Little Thing,” “Kansas City” and
“Rock And Roll Music,” one of several Chuck Berry songs performed during the
documentary (but also one they covered on “Beatles For Sale,” thus also making
it their own … and my personal favorite recording of this tune), from “Beatles
For Sale,” “When I’m Sixty-Four” and a brief snippet of “Within You Without
You,” both from “Pepper,” “Woman” (now THAT was a real surprise … the tune Paul
McCartney wrote under the name of Bernard Webb for Peter and Gordon, which Paul
then proceeds to sing in a booming Gordon Waller voice), “Help!” and “You’re
Gonna Lose That Girl” (sung as “You’re Gonna Shag That Girl”), both from their
second film, “Help!” as well as “Act Naturally” from the “Help!” LP, “A Taste
Of Honey,” “Twist And Shout” and “Please Please Me” from the “Please Please Me”
LP, as well as their first hit single, “Love Me Do,” which actually seemed to
be considered with some serious intent in a new arrangement for the live
how. (The Beatles even agreed to be
photographed, posed exactly as they were on their very first LP, on the exact
same balcony by the exact same photographer using the exact same camera that
was used to capture their “Please Please Me” album cover. These photos ultimately graced the covers of
Capitol’s Beatles Greatest Hits Double Albums, 1962 – 1966 and 1967 – 1970. Clearly, The Beatles were in a great frame of
mind when they elected to take on this new album project in 1969 … and seemed
to be very focused on what they were trying to establish. Performing “Love Me Do” again after all these
years as part of the live concert would have been the icing on the cake!)
Yet besides ALL of these interesting revisits that could have
been explored (not to mention at least half a dozen tracks that wound up on
their NEXT LP, “Abbey Road,” such as “Something” (“attracts me like a
cauliflower”), “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “She Came In Through The Bathroom
Widow,” “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” “Her Majesty,” “Octopus’
Garden,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam” and
“Oh! Darling”) as well has another half a dozen tracks that ended up surfacing
early in their solo careers (John Lennon’s “On The Road To Marrakesh” / “Child
Of Nature,” which evolved into the most-excellent new track called “Jealous Guy”
and “Gimme Some Truth,” George’s “All Things Must Pass” and “Hear Me Lord,”
Paul’s “Another Day,” “Back Seat Of My Car” and “Teddy Boy” … the fact that nearly
ALL of these are missing makes the reissued, deluxe box CD such a HUGE disappointment
– virtually NONE of these tracks were given their proper moment in the sun,
while the core tracks that made the original “Let It Be” album are repeated at
least four times … and some as many as 6 or 7 times! Where are all the extra in-studio bits and
chatter of the boys just fooling around in the studio … and all the revisits to
songs from earlier in their career – not to mention more snippets of songs that
ended up on their future solo albums and “Abbey Road”? With this much new material finally
available, why repeat the same songs so many times on the box set … or in the
movie where some of those same songs are repeated as many as eight or nine
times? All this does is add to the
length of the film, which greatly slows down the pacing and momentum of the
film … as well as the enjoyment of watching it.
Even as a die-hard, life-long fan, it ultimately became boring. Anyone else watching, whether it be the more
casual Beatles fan or somebody new trying to gain greater insight into their
career and what made them so special and click the way they did likely turned
it off before ever seeing some of the best bits that came later.
The new movie proves that there is SO much more than what we
were treated to on the new CD. (For a complete, more comprehensive list of what
could have been included, check out this link sent in by FH Reader Tom Cuddy …
Every song The
Beatles play in Peter Jackson's 'Get Back'
https://www.nme.com/features/every-song-the-beatles-play-in-peter-jacksons-get-back-3107051?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=every-song-the-beatles-play-in-peter-jacksons-get-back
This list suggests that The Beatles performed a total of over
400 songs during the course of the month-long shoot, 123 of which made Peter
Jackson’s Disney+ edit. Yet only ELEVEN
previously unissued tracks made the deluxe box set (and that includes several
versions of “Don’t Let Me Down,” which always SHOULD have been on the original
LP in the first place. All of these
missing yet available tracks offer proof again that the fans were cheated when
the Let It Be box set was assembled. It
is quite disappointing to think about what we COULD have gotten vs. what we got
... especially at trumped pricing to boot!
Keep in mind, Peter Jackson was given unlimited access to
EVERYTHING that existed, all of it sitting in a vault for 52 years,
untouched. I’m sure he wanted to use
EVERYTHING he possibly could. (He’s also
one of those directors who likes to go into a project with “the director’s cut”
right off the bat. Someone told me that
when the film is commercially released next year, it could wind up being up to
SIXTEEN hours long once you consider all the dvd and BluRay “extras”!!! God, I hope not!!!) As it is, I really can’t really envision
myself watching this whole thing again … and that’s a shame. If you were disappointed as well, consider
watching the ten hour Beatles Anthology series instead. It takes you through the band’s complete
history with clips from every era and is FAR more enjoyable.
Another technique I found annoying was that even when Jackson
would acknowledge something like “This is the version that was included on the ‘Let
It Be’ album,” he wouldn’t play the whole track. This would have been FAR preferable (hearing
the final result in its entirety) than all the shuffling about between songs
that did nothing to advance them any further.
The end result / “final take” would have made a lot more sense, bringing
each LP track to its conclusion.
They certainly also could have included the original “Let It
Be” film as part of the box set … it’s been completely out of print for over forty
years now … but I’m sure the decision there boiled down to not giving viewers
ANY reason not to pay attention to the newly revamped film. (Who knows … it may still come out … but if
it does, I certainly hope they apply all of the same technology to clean this
up and bring it up to the “Get Back” level of audio and visual or it’s doomed
to look bleak and dismal in comparison.)
“Let It Be” was always said to show the dissolution of the
band … their ultimate break-up … but this simply wasn’t the case. (While “Get Back” shows much happier moments
… and even has shots of Paul and John dancing! … The Beatles regrouped just
three weeks after all of the filming was done to begin work in earnest on their
NEXT LP, which turned out to be “Abbey Road.”
(By the way, George’s two contributions to “Abbey Road” were nothing to
shake a stick at … “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun” ranked at the very top
of Beatles Fan Favorites. Let’s just say
he was definitely holding his own against Lennon and McCartney at this point in
their career.) Audio that was released
earlier this year suggests that at a band meeting, the group even discussed
recording a new album AFTER “Abbey Road” … again debunking the notion that John
was already happily off doing his own thing.
That audio reveals John’s plan that he, Paul and George should each
contribute four new tracks to the follow-up LP, leaving one spot open for Ringo
“if he wants to.” Sadly, Paul’s response
to that was that he didn’t feel George’s songs were up to par yet with their
own and, as such, he and John should each get an extra track … proof again that,
as Lennon said in the film, he and Paul weren’t do anything to help George’s
wounds heal. There is no doubt in my
mind that George simply would have left again had things continued … only THIS
time, never to return.
So, to recap (and this seems to be the general consensus of
every reader I’ve heard from since the Disney+ special aired) …
Review in a word:
Boring
Review in a word:
Disappointing
Most of the people I heard from said they stuck it out to the
end, simply because they wanted to “enjoy watching the process of The Beatles working
on their new LP" … but every single reader I heard from, bar none, also said they found
themselves bored and distracted at various times throughout the viewing … and
sympathetic toward their significant others who tried valiantly to watch the
film with them, simply because they knew how much this experience meant
to their spouse. Most of those friends, family members and spouses ultimately gave up … there just wasn't enough happening or advancing to hold their interest or keep them tuned in due to the amount of repetition ... and
those who did ultimately throw in the towel were greeted with an understanding “I know … I get it” from their more devoted or committed spouse. To say that this film isn’t for
everybody is a gross understatement … to wonder out loud if it is actually for ANYBODY
may be the better question.
BREAKING IT DOWN:
The 50th Anniversary Deluxe “Let It Be” deluxe box set:
Disappointing in that it only
offers up about 20% of what it should have (and could have) had the powers that
be simply put some more thought and effort into this project. They had over 150 hours of audio to choose
from … where are all the “extras” that a commemorative collection like this
should be offering? The track list
looked so bleak, I nearly didn’t buy it (but just couldn’t imagine myself NOT
having it.) Still, when one considers
how much of this same material has been available for decades in bootleg form,
it really was a pretty lackluster release.
(Rating on a 1-10 basis: a 7 for
improved sound … and a 2 for song selection.
Overall Rating: 4)
The film:
Both boring and disappointing … as stated above, there is just WAY too much information included to make it watchable. Personally, I would have gone with a two night, four hour event, neatly trimmed to still show the process of each song’s development along with some of the fun the boys were having in the studio. The quality of video and audio is unsurpassed, especially when one considers that this is 50 year old footage originally shot on 16mm film and then blown up to 32mm, cleaned up and enhanced with top notch sound and clarity. The film looks beautiful, a true testament to all that went into making it. It just lacks the substance that fans (including us die-hards) really want to see because that substance is so muddied up with filler and crap that adds nothing to the journey. (Rating on a 1-10 basis: Part One = 3; Part Two = 5; Part Three = 6. Overall: 4. I consider it to be a boring disappointment … characteristics not typically associated with The Beatles. I must say that I am a bit surprised by the amount of praise I’ve seen and heard Paul and Ringo send its way … maybe it triggered special memories that the rest of us just aren’t privy to … quite possibly because both George and John are gone now.) When all is said and done, the Peter Jackson film comes across much the same way as the original album did once it was turned over to Phil Spector ... over-produced.
The book:
Excellent
… and beautifully done. Designed to be a
companion piece to the film, it actually outshines it in every way. Here, you get the true insight as to all that
was said and done in the studio, as it actually happened. The quality again is superb. (You can skip the Hanif Kureishi chapter
completely … boring … but don’t miss Peter Jackson’s Foreward … VERY well
written and shows from Jackson’s own perspective how he grew up loving The
Beatles … and was likely completely blown away by the opportunity to make this
film.) Rating on a 1-10 basis: 8
