The Beatles - Get Back (by Peter Jackson)

[tigol 2,395]

5 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

speaking of Yoko, there was a scene in the 1st and 2nd episodes where John and Paul are playing and yoko is at the mic and is just screeching/screaming.   Worst 30 seconds of 'music' I've ever heard in my life.   

Yep.

[billfromlaketravis 11,444]

Amazing they pumped out an album with Yoko practically sitting in John’s lap and some Hare Krishna guy jacking down in the corner. 

Edited November 27, 2021 by billfromlaketravis

[4th&Five 41,506]

I don’t know how any huge Beatles fan couldn’t love this or even want more. 

[Victor Lazlo 1,776]

Cracked me up when John said “You’re not talking to Ricky and the Red Streaks, you know?”

[Wally Pryor 5,261]

On 11/24/2021 at 4:10 PM, Gil Bang said:

He was such a huge talent and a cool mofo. 

He and Nicky Hopkins were the only two studio musicians to play both on a Beatles and Stones album.

Random trivia for your Saturday morning. 

[Biff Tannen 45,660]

This is on tap for tonight.  Very excited.

[RPM 26,315]

Watching Ep 1 and it gets very dusty in here watching the magic come together. Chills.

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

Just started the third one and something struck me as funny, and it is throughout the entire thing. You see the Beatles, and even some of the support guys, wearing all this flamboyant stuff and it feels normal because that’s what you mostly see.
 

 Then George Martin shows up with short slicked back hair wearing a suit and you realize that he is what would be a considered normal English look for that time. Or Michael the director, or the Apple A&R guy. 

[TonyTexas 10,504]

John was always my favorite and this just reinforces that. He was deep, hilarious and a natural musician. Paul, on the hand, did it through hard work and dedication to his craft. 

[tigol 2,395]

On to Part 3 and Heather McCartney's little face when Yoko starts ....whatever the fuck that was...squealing, made me spit out my coffee.  Brilliant.

[tigol 2,395]

8 minutes ago, tigol said:

On to Part 3 and Heather McCartney's little face when Yoko starts ....whatever the fuck that was...squealing, made me spit out my coffee.  Brilliant.

Oh, shit, now I realize that it was "challenge accepted."  Funny shit.

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

54 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

John was always my favorite and this just reinforces that. He was deep, hilarious and a natural musician. Paul, on the hand, did it through hard work and dedication to his craft. 

Um, I think you might be underestimating Paul just a bit.

[Kermit 3,156]

1 hour ago, TonyTexas said:

John was always my favorite and this just reinforces that. He was deep, hilarious and a natural musician. Paul, on the hand, did it through hard work and dedication to his craft. 

I mean, sure. He also woke up from a dream with Yesterday fully intact.

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

17 hours ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

Episode 2 started to drag quite a bit and really needed a more little editing (IMHO).  Two night in a row I've stayed up to watch these things...I think I'll sleep tonight and catch  Ep 3. tomorrow.

 

I felt the same about part 2. Needed to trim around 30 minutes. 1 and 3 felt perfect though. 

15 hours ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

speaking of Yoko, there was a scene in the 1st and 2nd episodes where John and Paul are playing and yoko is at the mic and is just screeching/screaming.   Worst 30 seconds of 'music' I've ever heard in my life.   

I don’t think Paul was jamming with her, I think he was beating the kit as hard as he could to try and drown her out. 
 

Tremendous foreshadowing to have them work on all things must pass and have it in the set list at one time, and then have George say he has a bunch of material that he’d like to put out all at once to see how it sounds together, and then all things must pass is not on let it be….and then all things must pass is put out by George.  

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

Oh and @atomheartbevoi’m sorry but your friend is flat dead wrong about let it be being their worst album. 
 

Two of us

dig a pony

across the universe

let it be

one after 909

long and winding road

i me mine

I’ve got a feeling 

for yer blues

get back

 

thats a greatest hits record for most bands. It’s 3 weeks of work for the Beatles…in between playing old Beatles tunes and sun records/chess records covers for fun. 

Edited November 27, 2021 by Pato del Muerto

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

33 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Oh and @atomheartbevoi’m sorry but your friend is flat dead wrong about let it be being their worst album. 

He's not the only one I've heard that from, but I think there is some bias in there, since it was the last released album.  If they had flipped the release of Abbey Road with it, I think it would have changed things up.

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

39 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Tremendous foreshadowing to have them work on all things must pass and have it in the set list at one time, and then have George say he has a bunch of material that he’d like to put out all at once to see how it sounds together, and then all things must pass is not on let it be….and then all things must pass is put out by George.  

Don't forget that Abbey Road was still in the future, and they were passing on material for Let it Be that wasn't on Abbey Road and that ended up in their solo albums.

It's cool hearing them work on the  Abbey Road/solo stuff in the middle of the three weeks of Let it Be.

[4th&Five 41,506]

Abbey Road and Let it Be are my 2 favorites. I can’t imagine anyone thinking Let it Be isn’t amazing. 

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

We were just a few albums away from Ringo and George taking over main song-writing duties from Paul and John.

Seriously though, these cool little moments are what makes this documentary great.

 

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

One of the cameramen finally gave an interview.  Had good stuff to say about Ringo and his playing with them, and that Ringo didn't need direction - he would just "do it".

 

[0xdeadbeef 1,645]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Don't forget that Abbey Road was still in the future, and they were passing on material for Let it Be that wasn't on Abbey Road and that ended up in their solo albums.

It's cool hearing them work on the  Abbey Road/solo stuff in the middle of the three weeks of Let it Be.

I was confused about that during Ep 1.   I was thinking that Abbey Road was already out, but it hadn't even been recorded yet.   They kept dropping snippets of songs that seemed works-in-progress, because they were.

 

Jan '69  - Let it be sessions - (peter jackson movie))

30 Jan '69 - Rooftop Concert

22 Feb - Aug '69  Abbey Road Sessions

Sep '69 Abbey Road Released

Jan '70, Apr '70 more Let it be sessions

May '70 Let it be released

 

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

43 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

I was confused about that during Ep 1.   I was thinking that Abbey Road was already out, but it hadn't even been recorded yet.   They kept dropping snippets of songs that seemed works-in-progress, because they were.

 

Jan '69  - Let it be sessions - (peter jackson movie))

30 Jan '69 - Rooftop Concert

22 Feb - Aug '69  Abbey Road Sessions

Sep '69 Abbey Road Released

Jan '70, Apr '70 more Let it be sessions

May '70 Let it be released

 

Ok that clears things up a bit, other than why.  I’m guessing it is a combination of EMI vs Apple and EMI holding back for the movie release which took longer to get ready- so they want ahead and did their own new album under Apple?  Was ringo part of the abbey road sessions?  He was supposed to be filming that movie at that time, which is why they had the deadline for let it be, right?  Looks like they went right into abbey road and used some of the material they were playing around with on let it be.   
 

could have been a hell of a double album to follow the white album- and it kind of matches what was said early on the thread about rubber soul and revolver being a pseudo double album. 

[0xdeadbeef 1,645]

5 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Ok that clears things up a bit, other than why.  I’m guessing it is a combination of EMI vs Apple and EMI holding back for the movie release which took longer to get ready- so they want ahead and did their own new album under Apple?  Was ringo part of the abbey road sessions?  He was supposed to be filming that movie at that time, which is why they had the deadline for let it be, right?  Looks like they went right into abbey road and used some of the material they were playing around with on let it be.   
 

could have been a hell of a double album to follow the white album- and it kind of matches what was said early on the thread about rubber soul and revolver being a pseudo double album. 

I had to look it up...

The only song they recorded in Feb '69, before Ringo's movie was I Want You (She's So Heavy), with Billy Preston on a Hammond B3.  That song is my favorite Beatles song, by a mile.

Back in the '80's, I drove from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo in California on Hwy 1 (along the coast), at night, in a Trans Am, with the T-top off, and I Want You (She's So Heavy) on repeat.  Good Times, very Good Times.

I will occasionally have drinks until I'm comfortable numb, put on good head phones, put that song on repeat on high volume, turn out the lights, and just chill. Yeah, I'm the target audience for the Peter Jackson movie.     

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

That and helter skelter are my favorites. 

[4th&Five 41,506]

51 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

I had to look it up...

The only song they recorded in Feb '69, before Ringo's movie was I Want You (She's So Heavy), with Billy Preston on a Hammond B3.  That song is my favorite Beatles song, by a mile.

Back in the '80's, I drove from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo in California on Hwy 1 (along the coast), at night, in a Trans Am, with the T-top off, and I Want You (She's So Heavy) on repeat.  Good Times, very Good Times.

I will occasionally have drinks until I'm comfortable numb, put on good head phones, put that song on repeat on high volume, turn out the lights, and just chill. Yeah, I'm the target audience for the Peter Jackson movie.     

The extended version on the remastered deluxe edition is so fucking good. Top 3 song for me too. 

[UTCzech III 2,907]

Just some random thoughts, observations, maybe a little trivia...

Watched parts 1 and 2 the past two nights, am saving part 3 for tomorrow.  I'm also a super fan, have easily over 100 bootlegs of the Beatles and solo members.  I have the Nagra tapes, I've listened to them, all 95+ hours of them.  They are a slog to get through.  The doc has really fleshed these out though, allowing me to put a visual to a lot of what I've heard over the years.  And definitely the conversations are a lot clearer here than on the Nagra tapes.  I'm loving it, my son and I watched both parts, he was ready last night for part 2 after the "cliffhanger" of part 1...  He's a guitar player too and was really digging John's Epiphone Casino.

 

Some observations:  I really feel that this is (to me) not indicative of their normal recording process, Paul and John are clearly playing it up for the camera, John especially, just really hamming it up, I don't think the Abbey Road sessions were probably conducted this way.  Ringo and George both seem really annoyed but the cameras, rather George does, I think Ringo is bored with all the TV show/location etc talk, he seems to me like he just wants to play, let the others sort all this shit out, the ultimate musicians' musician.  Have really grown in my respect and love for Ringo over the years (I'm telling you right now - no more autographs!  Peace and love!  Peace and love!)  When John and Paul are talking in the canteen, unaware that they are being recorded, you hear a much more serious, candid discussion.  When they are in front of the cameras, discussing where to perform, or when John remarks on how this was Paul's number (the whole movie/tv show idea etc) but now it's become all of their number and they've taken away Paul's grandiose ideas, you can see Paul eyeing the camera, and just kind of shrugging off John, agreeing with him, when I'm sure he had much more to say but didn't want to air it in public.  I'm sure the meetings at George's house were much more animated and raw than what we see in Twickenham.  Although we are getting an intimate look at the Beatles, I'm not sure it is a totally accurate one, but somewhat of a facade.

The sessions are so unstructured, that had a lot to do with it.  Even though George Martin is listed as producer and shows up in the film, he was rarely there, he left it to Glyn Johns to run the recordings, and Glyn is not going to step in and tell the Beatles that they need to get cracking, as George Martin would have (and did a time or two in the doc when he was there).  He assumed after the Get Back sessions that he would never work with them again.  That's the reason Abbey Road is so Immaculate, because after the fiasco of the Get Back sessions, they asked George if he would help on their next album, he agreed on the terms that they go back to EMI and "do it the way we used to" with him in charge.

John is so fucking strung out on heroin in these sessions.  The day that Peter Sellers stopped by, John is high as a fucking kite, just google the Canadian interview he and Yoko did right before that, just search for "Two Junkies".  One of the reasons Peter left so quickly is because John began talking about needles and getting high.  Go back and watch John just staring at the camera, eyes never blinking.  Spooky, and he's so damn pale.

A lot of the songs that appear to be created in the studio were in fact rejects from earlier times.  There is a clip on the White Album 50th Anniv. box set of Paul performing "Let It Be", the melody is more of a jam, but the lyrics are already beginning to percolate.  Same for "Long and Winding Road", a demo was recorded during the summer of 68 and given to Tom Jones as a pitch, but he didn't want it.  "Get Back", however, wow!  That's totally organic, we get to see that song being born.  And it is amazing that as huge artists as they were, and how albums were really coming into their own for all rock artists, the single still ruled the day.  George remarks that it's been a whole 5 months since their last single, "Hey Jude", and that they could have "Get Back" recorded, mixed, mastered and out in a week.  The public (and record companies) were a fickle lot back then.  No 2/3 years between albums back then...

Man, you could really tell how pissed George was getting, after he came back, and John and Paul began slagging the Maharishi and their trip to India.  To them it was a joke, to George, that was his life at the time, I'm really surprised he didn't walk out again. 

I fucking love Mal.  Such a big teddy bear.  He did so much for them, I knew he was their main roadie and body guard, but hell, writing down lyrics as they are being created, I never knew he did that, that's a big job.  And hell, he helped Paul write "Long and Winding Road", he offered some great lyric suggestions ("standing" instead of "waiting").   

Man, were these guys some smoking fools.  Really surprised Paul or Ringo haven't turned out like George.  

Someone upthread mentioned how they were able to cobble Let It Be together,  They didn't cobble shit, they didn't want anything to do with it after they were done.  Tey gave all the tapes to Glyn Johns and said, here, you figure it out.  Johns did a fucking hell of a job, He's the one that picked out the takes used on the album and inserted all the little sound bites in between.  There's a Glyn Johns 1st and 2nd mix of Get Back (as it was originally called), search them out if you can (the 2nd mix is included in the Let It Be box set that just came out).  Phil Spector just took Johns' mix and added strings to it.  

Need to go back and watch the first two parts a few more times, lots of stuff I am forgetting.  I finally got smart and put the subtitles/closed caption on for part 2, need to go back and watch part 1 with the captions on, a lot of those conversations are so low or have so many people talking at once that it's hard to make a lot of it out.  

I'm blown away so far, can't wait for the full rooftop concert (at least I've heard the full 30 minutes is supposed to be shown, I hope so...)

 

[0xdeadbeef 1,645]

Just got done with Ep. 3. ... I wish there was an episode 4,5 & 6....To be a fly on the wall in the Abbey Road sessions.

First and foremost, fuck the haters and the police that shut the concert down.

Second, London looks cold as hell.

Third, Yoko is creepy as fuck. 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by 0xdeadbeef

[RPM 26,315]

Just finished it. Brilliant. Wish there was 1000 hours more.

[UTCzech III 2,907]

Openly stolen from the Steve Hoffman forums

[veritas aequitas 441]

If George talked about Clapton at home like he did in the studio it's easy to see why George's wife left him for Clapton. 

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

One after 909 is a jam though. 

[DougO 5,243]

What they need now is a blu ray release with a running commentary track with Paul and Ringo. 

[Pato del Muerto 52,484]

The thing that struck me about the band dynamic was that at that time it really felt like it was John and Paul’s band, with george as their guitarist and ringo as their drummer. 
and ringo was a-ok with that setup but george was very much not. 

[veritas aequitas 441]

My final conclusion was that Paul really should have kept the beard. 

[kevwun 15,757]

On 11/27/2021 at 1:12 PM, Kermit said:

I mean, sure. He also woke up from a dream with Yesterday fully intact.

And wrote Get Back in like 2 minutes fucking around with a guitar when John was late for their rehearsal one morning. Getting to watch a Beatles song appear out of thin air was cool as fuck.  If Ken Burns and Peter Jackson ever do a documentary together, I may never watch another tv show or movie again because they will have achieved Nirvana and nothing will ever top it.

Edited November 29, 2021 by kevwun

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

That moment when it was just him and Ringo left.

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

21 hours ago, UTCzech III said:

Although we are getting an intimate look at the Beatles, I'm not sure it is a totally accurate one, but somewhat of a facade.

The sessions are so unstructured, that had a lot to do with it.  Even though George Martin is listed as producer and shows up in the film, he was rarely there, he left it to Glyn Johns to run the recordings, and Glyn is not going to step in and tell the Beatles that they need to get cracking, as George Martin would have (and did a time or two in the doc when he was there).

They were so much more structured when they got out of there.  Somebody joked that it helped that they had an on/off light when they were recording.

Epstein's death + unstructured Twickenham was not good for them.

[RPM 26,315]

4 hours ago, kevwun said:

And wrote Get Back in like 2 minutes fucking around with a guitar when John was late for their rehearsal one morning. Getting to watch a Beatles song appear out of thin air was cool as fuck.  If Ken Burns and Peter Jackson ever do a documentary together, I may never watch another tv show or movie again because they will have achieved Nirvana and nothing will ever top it.

What John, Paul (or George or Ringo for that matter) could come up with on a whim or overnight sleep is fantastic. Ringo: I came up with this bit... George: How about this as a rhythm back? Voila! New Beatles song! I think this film highlights how influential Ringo and George really were. It wasn't just the Paul and John Song Co.

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

 

[atomheartbevo 89,617]

He said the first cut was 18 hours.

I want that 18 hours.

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

He said the first cut was 18 hours.

I want that 18 hours.

This.  I think most hard core fans feel this way. 

The movie was revelatory in a lot of ways, most of which have been expressed here already.  That said, J&B and Dr. Pepper was not on my radar. I mean, I remember when I was a kid there were many parts of the country where you couldn't get Dr. Pepper.  I suppose I hadn't counted on The Beatles being able to get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.  

[tigol 2,395]

This.  I think most hard core fans feel this way. 
The movie was revelatory in a lot of ways, most of which have been expressed here already.  That said, J&B and Dr. Pepper was not on my radar. I mean, I remember when I was a kid there were many parts of the country where you couldn't get Dr. Pepper.  I suppose I hadn't counted on The Beatles being able to get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.  

I thought it was DP at first, but paused it and the bottle I saw said Coke. I’d never seen a coke bottle like that. Not saying DP wasn’t there as well, but it did strike me as strange enough to hit pause.

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

2 minutes ago, tigol said:

I thought it was DP at first, but paused it and the bottle I saw said Coke. I’d never seen a coke bottle like that. Not saying DP wasn’t there as well, but it did strike me as strange enough to hit pause.

-Sigh-

Guess I'll just have to watch it again. For clarity.  But now that you mention it, this does look familiar:

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

Glyn Johns mix from The Beatles YouTube channel:

 

[veritas aequitas 441]

39 minutes ago, tigol said:

I thought it was DP at first, but paused it and the bottle I saw said Coke. I’d never seen a coke bottle like that. Not saying DP wasn’t there as well, but it did strike me as strange enough to hit pause.

Getting Dr Pepper in London at that time would have taken some doing

[tigol 2,395]

Getting Dr Pepper in London at that time would have taken some doing

Avatar checks out.

[Guest Lobo]

Took them a few hours to source an obscure soft drink from the Southern U.S., but the better part of a week to get George’s 8-track wheeled over from across town?  
 

I’m only 45mts into first “episode.”   I’ve decided to take my time with it and machinate as much as possible.  

[kevwun 15,757]

I am pretty sure I could watch it from start to finish in one sitting if life allowed me to do so.  It's mesmerizing. 

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

Mrs. F is heading out of town for a girls trip.  I'll be getting in my second viewing of the whole thing again.  

[Al_4_ISU 12,447]

Gonna start this tonight.  I will always be Team Stones by a country mile, but I still like The Beatles plenty, and it still blows my mind to think that Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon were all in the same band writing songs for said band.  And Ringo has always seemed like good shit.