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The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson, 2021)


mrbellamy

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13 hours ago, Jay said:

It's just so sloppy!  I wonder how much of the 6 hours will be really crude early takes of songs like this vs more polished stuff (or even, how much of the doc is music being performed and how much is other stuff)

Didn't you see the earlier trailer? It's gonna be a window into their creative process, being friends, messing around, then great music coming out in the end. It's gonna be amazing.

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2 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

I watched the first 20 minutes, and to me it felt weird how they build a bridge from western classical music to 20th centrury popular music, Rock'n'Roll and the Beatles by completely ignoring the influences of jazz, gospel, soul and blues completely.

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I just saw the clip. It seems interresting.

 

It's fun to see them without artifice, looking each others in the eyes.

 

I always prefered The Beatles before they started to produce over-worked studio albums.

 

For me, they lost themselves somewhere on the road... and well, the group exploded.

 

When a group of performers can't reproduce live the content of their albums anymore, that's the begining of the end.

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49 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

 

I always prefered The Beatles before they started to produce over-worked studio albums.

 

For me, they lost themselves somewhere on the road... and well, the group exploded.

 

When a group of performers can't reproduce live the content of their albums anymore, that's the begining of the end.

 

I used to be the kind of person that loved artists that  were "the studio is itself an instrument" type of groups but I feel this artifice has reached such an extreme in the digital age that lately I much prefer music that is produced simply by people playing instruments in a room together (or at the very least studio recordings that seek to produce that effect/feeling in the listener).

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18 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

I feel like there's probably a lot of crossover between John Williams fans and Beatles fans who love Sgt Pepper or Abbey Road the most.

 

Wow. Is that a thing? I hate being predictable but it's nice to be in a group.

 

9 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I love SGT. PEPPER, and ABBEY ROAD, and THE BEATLES, but my love for these pales in comparison to my adoration of REVOLVER.

 

I bet that's true. I always have a sneaking suspicion there's a chunk of Beatles that I haven't really explored. Like when I discovered "I've Just Seen a Face" and it's now in my top favorite Beatles songs. I mean, Revolver has Eleanor Rigby on it. That's an achievement right there.

 

I grew up listening to Phil Collins (first three albums). And on his first album he covered Tomorrow Never Knows. I had no idea it was a Beatles song. Or what a legendary Beatles song it was. Looking back I'm astonished that he even attempted it or that he did as well as he did.

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3 hours ago, Bespin said:

When a group of performers can't reproduce live the content of their albums anymore, that's the begining of the end.

 

Many artists don't want their live performances to be an exact replica of their studio recordings (fortunately).

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8 hours ago, Holko said:

Didn't you see the earlier trailer? It's gonna be a window into their creative process, being friends, messing around, then great music coming out in the end. It's gonna be amazing.

 

Of course, I Was just wondering about percentages; how much of the 6 hours is music being played, how much is being friends and messing around and everything else

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8 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I watched the first 20 minutes, and to me it felt weird how they build a bridge from western classical music to 20th centrury popular music, Rock'n'Roll and the Beatles by completely ignoring the influences of jazz, gospel, soul and blues completely.

Those are mentioned.

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I know this ship sailed a long time ago, but I really wish we had footage like this from making Abbey Road AKA the ACTUAL last Beatles album. (The rooftop concert was the day I was born.) For one thing this means George Martin isn't in it, right?

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45 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

For one thing this means George Martin isn't in it, right?

 

I don't know if he's on camera at all for this doc but George Martin was producer for the actual sessions, wasn't he?  Spector got official producer credit but all of his work was after the recordings were completed.  Martin is even credited with playing a couple of instruments according to Wikipedia

Quote
  • George Martin – Hammond organ on "Across the Universe", shaker on "Dig It", string and brass arrangements on "Let It Be", production

 

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Yes. I remember, I heard that the Let It Be songs were recorded or at least written before Abbey Road. So, in fact Abbey Road was their last regular album. Let It Be was more a collection of stuff they had done before but not used.

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54 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I don't know if he's on camera at all for this doc but George Martin was producer for the actual sessions, wasn't he?

 

I'll have to check my history. I thought they had to ask (beg?) him to come back for Abbey. Reading a few articles: It's complicated.

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After the white album (recorded May->Oct 1968, released Nov 1968), they had that contractual Yellow Submarine album come out in January 1969 (which only contains 4 new songs on it, that they had recorded before they worked on the white album, and those 4 songs are on Mono Masters anyway, so I don't bother with this "album" at all, personally).

 

In January 1969 they started working on Let It Be (originally called Get Back) with the documentary crew filming them, culminating in the famous rooftop concert January 30th 1969.  Glyn Johns prepared potential album mixes, but they were all rejected, and all that came out was the Get Back / Don't Let Me Down single in April 1969.

 

Instead, they wrote and recorded Abbey Road from February to August 1969, with the last time all 4 members recorded together being August 18th when they finished recording "The End".  Lennon told the group he was leaving on September 20th, just ahead of the final album releasing on September 26.

 

The remaining Beatles without Lennon went back to Glyn Johns and worked on preparing the material for album again, and eventually Phil Spector came in in early 1970 and made more changes (dropping Teddy Boy and Don't Let Me Down, adding Across The Universe, adding orchestral overdubs to four songs).  Since the film featured "I Me Mine" prominently, yet hadn't been fully recorded properly, McCartney/Harrson/Starr re-recorded it in January 1970 without Lennon, and they also recorded some more for Let It Be (the song), and that was the last time "The Beatles" recorded anything until 1994.

 

On April 10 1970 McCartney announced he was leaving The Beatles a week before his solo debut album McCartney released on April 17th.  The Let It Be album was released on May 8th and the film on May 13th.

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4 minutes ago, Jay said:

so I don't bother with this "album" at all, personally

 

Yes and I get tetchy with people who insist on counting it as a "canon" album.  But then again I happily the Magical Mystery Tour US LP in my canon so I can't say that I'm consistent...

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George Martin is in the original Let It Be movie IIRC, you can see him hanging out and stuff 

 

I believe this is him bottom left with Billy Preston? So he'll be there.

 

beatles-get-back-documentary_LEDE-a.png

 

This Reddit comment seems to summarize George Martin's involvement accurately  (should be noted when it mentions "Famously, George quit" it refers to Harrison). But seems Martin sort of "executive produced" the original sessions and would just kinda pop in and out, with Glyn Johns engineering. Then Martin produced the sessions for the singles, including arranging orchestra/choir for "Let It Be", and was asked to do his own mix of the album when they weren't happy with Johns, but declined. 

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Yes I will always consider Abbey Road to be the actual last Beatles album...

That's because it is the last Beatles album.

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

...and listen to it after Let It Be if I'm doing a big chronological run

Do you include B-sides/EPs/standalone singles?

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Just now, Jay said:

Of course

...is the correct answer :thumbup:

A friend of mine (yes, I do have them) once asked what Beatles he should listen to, as an introduction. I replied "All of it, in chronological order. Start at the beginning, with Love Me Do, and don't stop until Her Majesty. They are that important".

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4 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Yeah, as if he could tell the Beatles what to do or how to do it. More like he was just allowed to be there, no?

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"directed by" on a documentary has always meant something different than "directed by" on a narrative film.

 

Senna is entirely comprised of existing footage, yet is still directed by Asif Kapadia

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The director of a documentary isn't supposed to put together archive images to rebuild a narrative story?

Because with this 8 hours, one might think that Jackson assembled every single archive footages he found.

 

Still looking forward to it

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11 minutes ago, May the Force be with You said:

The director of a documentary isn't supposed to put together archive images to rebuild a narrative story?

Because with this 8 hours, one might think that Jackson assembled every single archive footages he found.

 

Still looking forward to it

 

Well apparently he edited that from something like 60 hours of total footage.

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So, if I got hold of 60 hours of Beatles footage (filmed by someone else, mind), and re-assembled it, could I say "Directed By Naïve Old Fart"?

The fact remains that Jackson had no part in the creation of anything seen onscreen. His credit is as phony as "Reproduced By Phil Spector".

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Do you also think Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out" and Ray Charles's "Yesterday" should be attributed to The Beatles first? Those versions aren't as different as I'm sure this will be to Let It Be.

 

Isn't the old cliche that films are made in editing, anyway? Michael Lindsay-Hogg will get his credit, I'm sure. Might even be prominent.

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I suppose more accurate would be something like "Peter Jackson presents Get Back" and to give him a solo "produced by" credit separate from the other producers, and Michael Lindsay-Hogg gets an "archival footage directed by". But it's splitting hairs, really. 

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I liked Part 1. It did feel a little overstretched but there were golden nuggets in there like Get Back being written/made up out of nowhere, I Me Mine premiered and its inspiration explained, all their messing around playing others' songs for fun. Interesting to see all the brainstorming and debates about where/how the concert should take place, knowing how simple it ended up. Horrifying to see George quitting, all of them continuing to jam hiding their shock, and Yoko sitting in George's spot and... doing her... thing.

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I started watching yesterday morning. I liked it. But I think if you aren't already interested in the Beatles that this will not change your mind. I did like the intro with the brief history.

 

What's the best Beatles documentary overall?

 

BTW @Jay I made a playlist from your chrono order and started listening. My son asked "Why are all of these songs about girls?" :D I told him it was because they were 20 and that it would change and they'd start singing about taxes.

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1 minute ago, Tallguy said:

But I think if you aren't already interested in the Beatles that this will not change your mind.

Is that even its goal? Would anyone who doesn't like them even start it?

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23 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

BTW @Jay I made a playlist from your chrono order and started listening. My son asked "Why are all of these songs about girls?" :D I told him it was because they were 20 and that it would change and they'd start singing about taxes.

ROTFLMAO

...and walruses, and piggies, and onions, and wayward coaches, and waltzing horses.

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Of course, editing archive footage is very much an artistic enterprise, so Jackson's director credit is very much deserved, just as it was with his brilliant THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD.

 

I've been sorta waiting for a press screening of this (at least the first part), but none has surfaced. Shame, because I would have wanted to see it on the big screen. I'll get to the Disney+ series shortly. Seeing a young Alan Parsons roam about is just as much a draw for me as seeing the shenanigans of the Fab Four.

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Paul discovering "Get Back" on his bass out of thin air is exactly what I wanted from this. That was magical. Watching them play through Let It Be roughly together for presumably the first time was also a highlight.

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I started to watch the 1970 movie Let It Be... I can't imagine they made a new 7 hours cut of this movie.

 

Ok, they added colors.

 

Nice...

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4 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Paul discovering "Get Back" on his bass out of thin air is exactly what I wanted from this. That was magical. Watching them play through Let It Be roughly together for presumably the first time was also a highlight.


YES! 
 

Having seen Part 1 and Part 2 already on Disney Plus, I can say this whole documentary has been an extraordinary thing to see and experience. For one thing, you really feel like you are there. I cannot wait to see the third and final part. I also know my late Dad is seeing this with me, God Rest his soul. 

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John was right, Billy Preston really "gave them a lift," it's amazing what he brings to those songs after seeing them rehearsing without him. But I guess part of that too is the pure joy of knowing that's just how it's supposed to sound forever vs the early takes. The whole atmosphere changed once they got out of Twickenham in general.

 

One of my favorite exchanges in part 2 - 

 

Quote

 

Paul: ["Get Back"] is the first song we've really got into that we dig but...

 

John: I dig "Don't Let Me Down" and "I Dig a Pony," personally speaking. 

 

Paul: Well, yeah. I still haven't done "Don't Let Me Down" satisfactorily for myself yet. 

 

John: Oh yeah, well, we're all great on it so just get yourself together, will you?

 

 

Fucking rest in peace John Lennon. Also says everything that they both laugh at that. On paper it's way too easy to read bitterness into every little remark, especially on the verge of breaking up, when they're often just taking the piss. 

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Finished Part 3... The Beatles: Get Back is the most comprehensive, personal and in-depth look at The Beatles' final public performance and the recording sessions I've ever experienced. Credit is due to all involved in making this three-part documentary "come together." Very well done.

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I wanna get the big new Let It Be box now. I was meh on the album on first listen but I've heard the songs enough in these 3 days that they grew on me!

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