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The Beatles: Get Back - Peter Jackson Beatles documentary

JohnC

By JohnC,
in Film, TV & Radio

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Uncle Nasty

Uncle Nasty

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Halfway through this, just utterly sublime. The way it's shot and filmed, the way they look, the timeless music, it could be a doc about a current band.

 

I really thought I was completely Beatles'd out, but this has made me discover them again.

 

Headfuck that they were only a recording band for seven years. I mean it's been five years since A Moon Shaped Pool.

 

 

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Graham S

Graham S

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I enjoy this Beatles podcast, and in this episode from a year ago they dreamed that the Get Back album as mixed and sequenced by Glyn Johns was released between the White Album and Abbey Road. Rather than the tragedy in real life where Glyn’s record was taken off him and given to Phil Spector to spoil and release a year later amidst ill feeling and the break up of the band. 

 

I think their happy view of the Get Back sessions has been vindicated, and Glyn’s version has finally been released as part of the expanded Let It Be. 
 

https://overcast.fm/+Li4IlpDwc

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Hanzo the Razor

Hanzo the Razor

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12 hours ago, Graham S said:

You’re right of course. I’ve been reading/watching/listening to a lot of solo Paul recently and he was really put through the ringer and felt constantly attacked and overlooked for more than a decade. He was depressed and upset and privately angry. So he has made a determined effort to get across his side of the story and secure his place in the history. That does all make sense really. But still. 

 

Watching this it looks like exactly the opposite of him splitting the band. He's the catalyst for most of the material. He grinds away at stuff until it comes together (No pun intended). George brings some things and gets the piss ripped out of him by Lennon. Ringo looks increasingly pissed/hungover and Lennon himself has so far brought the square route of fuck all in (I'm only on the second episode.) 

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womblingfree

womblingfree

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John does seem checked out but he’s done some great stuff. Seeing Paul and John working on Gimme Some Truth blew my mind as I associate it 100% with solo Lennon. In fact there’s only one song between that and John calling Paul a cunt on Imagine.

 

Paul is the driving force but John and George obviously want to have their own thing going on away from the band.

 

Love George’s enthusiasm and analysing of stuff he’s into. It’s a real wide eyed look at the World to see how things work.

 

Ringo’s brought one song to the table and is good to have around. You can tell he’s probably looking forward to hanging out with Keith Moon later on though.

 

Can’t believe they were split before they’d even turned 30. I’m almost twenty years older than that and am still wondering what I’ll be when I grow up.

 

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uglifruit

uglifruit

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Utterly compelling stuff.  Some thoughts...

 

As others have said, the wealth of songs that we see in embryonic form that don't crop up 'til later on in the Beatles/solo careers are fascinating.  'Another day', 'Back seat of my car', 'Jealous guy', 'All things must pass' plus most of Abbey Road (Something, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Octopus's Garden, I Want You (She's So Heavy), Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, Her Majesty)

 

It's also great to see how much they obvious *can* enjoy playing together, at times.  And John's bloody annoying behaviour in the studio you can't help but forgive when he absolutely *does* pull it out of the bag, when he has to perform.  It was interesting in episode 3 how business like in running a proper rehearsal JL was when Paul wasn't in the studio.

 

Billy Preston looked to be having a great time.  It made me dig out the Concert For Bangladesh where he plays 'that's the way god planned it' and it's joyous, and the Concert For George where a much older BP sings Isn't It A Pity.  Great stuff.

 

Also: George's outfit's were astounding.

 

Part 1: Michael bangs on about performing in the middle east.

Part 2: Magic Alex is a conman.

Part 3: The Beatles knock it out of the park, despite everything.

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yakumo

yakumo

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12 hours ago, Festoon said:

I can't blame Harrison for being fucked off. He's writing stuff like All Things Must Pass and John's just ripping the piss out of him. Fuck that.

John was on heroin(Due to Clapton introducing it to him apparently) at the time, and other drugs. Plus John was supportive of George, in one moment in when he trying to figure out a guitar part, George says “we need Eric (Clapton)” and John replies “No, we need George Harrison”. 

 

Also today its 20 years today that Harrison died.

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Uncle Nasty

Uncle Nasty

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The Guardian give this 3/5 "The Beatles: Get Back review – eight hours of TV so aimless it threatens your sanity"

 

"You wonder how many viewers will last the distance and if any, other than the aforementioned maniacs, will take it more than once."

 

I'm pretty staggered at that. I went into this thinking it might be a bit too trainspottery even for me, but it's so thrillingly compelling thanks to the beautiful cinematography, the intimacy, the incredible gestation and evolution of the songs, the feeling of eavesdropping on the private conversations (I just loved the bits of Linda and Yoko chatting with the band playing in the background for example) there is not a single second of screentime that isn't somehow captivating and essential. I will definitely rewatch this multiple times.

 

"There is a point, about five hours in, when the prospect of hearing another ramshackle version of Don’t Let Me Down becomes an active threat to the viewer’s sanity."

 

That is really poor writing. It was completely the opposite of that for me. The presentation and framing of the songs is so interesting and fascinating, the way the band's relationships with each other are so exposed and visible to the viewer through the music is a rare privilege and completely addictive to watch.

 

This is up there with the Rolling Thunder Revue, Gimme Shelter and music movies of that stature. Instant classic.

 

 

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yakumo

yakumo

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7 minutes ago, Uncle Nasty said:

The Guardian give this 3/5 "The Beatles: Get Back review – eight hours of TV so aimless it threatens your sanity"

 

"You wonder how many viewers will last the distance and if any, other than the aforementioned maniacs, will take it more than once."

 

I'm pretty staggered at that. I went into this thinking it might be a bit too trainspottery even for me, but it's so thrillingly compelling thanks to the beautiful cinematography, the intimacy, the incredible gestation and evolution of the songs, the feeling of eavesdropping on the private conversations (I just loved the bits of Linda and Yoko chatting with the band playing in the background for example) there is not a single second of screentime that isn't somehow captivating and essential. I will definitely rewatch this multiple times.

 

"There is a point, about five hours in, when the prospect of hearing another ramshackle version of Don’t Let Me Down becomes an active threat to the viewer’s sanity."

 

That is really poor writing. It was completely the opposite of that for me. The presentation and framing of the songs is so interesting and fascinating, the way the band's relationships with each other are so exposed and visible to the viewer through the music is a rare privilege and completely addictive to watch.

 

This is up there with the Rolling Thunder Revue, Gimme Shelter and music movies of that stature. Instant classic.

 

 

 

Its why I was apprehensive watching it, but |stayed up til 4 in the morning just lost watching episode 2. It really is that good, I wish I had  a bigger screen and better sound system to watch this really.

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Haribokart

Haribokart

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I fucking loved this. Every minute of it. Felt bad for George when he showed off 'I me mine' for the first time and got the piss ripped out of him by Lennon.

 

Totally reevaluating my opinion of Paul in these times too, he was so desperately trying to keep everything together.

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Graham S

Graham S

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I think it will be interesting to see as the positive word of mouth spreads whether this film also works on people who aren't too bothered about the Beatles. As I have a very high tolerance, you might even say a strong desire, for listening to another ramshackle version of Don't Let Me Down, I find it impossible to judge. My wife very much does like the Beatles, but was definitely not up for an eight hour trainspotter's boreathon. She was completely sucked in and we've done very little else this weekend except watch it (I took a small, enjoyable detour into showing her Some Kind of Monster as a fun break when the Beatles breaking up became too sad). Amazing how much being able to see their faces changes studio outtakes that wouldn't have made Anthology into gripping psychodrama.

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Thor

Thor

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6 minutes ago, Graham S said:

I think it will be interesting to see as the positive word of mouth spreads whether this film also works on people who aren't too bothered about the Beatles.

I'm certainly intrigued enough to give it a shot.

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Ste_S

Ste_S

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52 minutes ago, Graham S said:

I think it will be interesting to see as the positive word of mouth spreads whether this film also works on people who aren't too bothered about the Beatles. As I have a very high tolerance, you might even say a strong desire, for listening to another ramshackle version of Don't Let Me Down, I find it impossible to judge. My wife very much does like the Beatles, but was definitely not up for an eight hour trainspotter's boreathon. She was completely sucked in and we've done very little else this weekend except watch it (I took a small, enjoyable detour into showing her Some Kind of Monster as a fun break when the Beatles breaking up became too sad). Amazing how much being able to see their faces changes studio outtakes that wouldn't have made Anthology into gripping psychodrama.

 

I'm not a Beatles fan, and my experience is similar to the Guardian reviewer I think. It's moving wallpaper, looks nice enough but doesn't really engage.

I'm sure it's porn for Beatles fans though.

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yakumo

yakumo

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1 hour ago, Haribokart said:

I fucking loved this. Every minute of it. Felt bad for George when he showed off 'I me mine' for the first time and got the piss ripped out of him by Lennon.

 

Totally reevaluating my opinion of Paul in these times too, he was so desperately trying to keep everything together.

Yeah Paul didn't want to be the boss and you can see he hated it. Epstein was really integral to the Beatles wellbeing.

 

 

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Boothjan

Boothjan

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Just watched Part 1 - just magnificent.  Loved every second of it - I'm a huge Beatles nerd and this 'fly on the wall' format is absolutely awesome.  

 

When Paul starts to create Get Back from a quick jam, slowly but surely moulding it into the song we all know, I got goose bumps.

 

I'm going to watch Part 2 with my mate on Friday and holding off watching it until then will be a hell of a challenge!

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yakumo

yakumo

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28 minutes ago, scottcr said:

Ringo comes out really well in this - and I'm surprised Paul doesn't lose the rag with John sometimes... classic bit when John gets busted about to pop a pill or something

 

 

 

What can you do?, Lennon from all accounts was suffering from depression and taking copious amounts of drugs, he knew they had a deadline to make and any blow out will set them back further. 

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