The last 15 minutes of the first part of of the sprawling re-look at The Beatles "Let it Be" sessions, “Get Back”, absolutely slayed me. Brilliant doc filmmaking overall by Peter Jackson, lord of these things. Just witnessing these 4 twenty-somethings carve out timeless classics from nothing was awe inspiring. There was a section where it meandered too long about 1.5 hours in, and it could've been shaved about 30-45 mins from there and would've had the same affect, but I knew it would end with George leaving, so I braved it. It’s a document and fans should be able to see as much of it as possible at this point. If you were bored, fast forward.
Highlights of 2nd part: the flower pot talk, watching them come up with the words for “Get Back” and figure out the best way to play “Two of Us” and how they offhandedly discover Preston is the guy they need when he was just casually stopping by. Love hearing Paul’s early stages of “Back of My Car” and other solo stuff too, but seeing them mindbogglingly discard “All Things Must Pass” hurts. Maybe cuz “Let it Be” has a similar sentiment...? Cool seeing John go from subdued on day 1 to the life of the party as we knew him, and the love and respect he and Paul obviously had for each other is palpable. Paul also shows the humility we’ve become accustomed to seeing in his old age, and he’s obviously respected by all for his work ethic and talents. His Elvis impressions are off the charts too. Ringo, is a rock, and his drumming spot-on. I just wish they’d given more time to George’s amazing songs too, guy was so shy at times but when he spoke he was mostly on target. Even after he left and comes back it’s still the Paul and John show, however. Lowest point: Paul reading the headlines about George leaving et all, he goes on and on while others are playing. I woulda said “ok, we get it man, enough”, but George smiles right through it. Seemingly at peace with what happened… or maybe not.
In the 3rd installment of “Get Back” we saw George Harrison play a much larger part, Ringo fart, Linda’s daughter Heather tear up the room, and the Beatles kill it on the roof. George says he doesn’t want to do the roof concert after Paul is now unenthusiastic (those two agreeing?), and then seems flummoxed when Ringo and John do. They didn’t have enough songs Paul thought but who would know they wouldnt have been able to do any more then they did anyway because of the noise complaints?
As for the performance, I thought I remembered them playing more then the 5 songs they did, and didn’t need to see them do a few of them multiple times, but it gave us an opportunity to see the keystone cops respond in real time. I wish they’d played one of George’s tune up there though. All the songs played were/are great, and I hate that some people call the album they were working on their worst. Really? Come on. If that’s bad what is 99% of the other music out there: beneath shit? We even saw George help Ringo work on Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden”, a song, in my opinion, better than anything ever written by the Foo Fighters, and, it was penned by Ringo, who again, mind you, destroys on the drums as well. As a musician and songwriter I would rather him behind the kit then anyone. Case in point, Taylor Hawkins of the Foos, an awesome drummer, could NOT do the “Get Back” shuffle beat at the RnR HOF, while Ringo does it with ease. His fills are tasty, he can swing, what’s not to like? Best band drummer ever in my opinion, no contest. Back to the album: how could they leave “Don’t Let Me Down”, a fucking classic, off it? And Harrison’s “Old Brown Shoe” too? They all seemed to dig both of those songs immensely. Goes to show you the plethora of classics they wrote in a few short weeks, surrounded by film and recording crew and friends and strife no less. Amazing.
“And in the end”, the film dispels the whole “tumultuous sessions” bs. Yeah, there were obsticles, but I never met a recording session or a shoot that didn’t have them. These guys fucking loved each other, and enjoyed working and playing together. I was jealous watching them, knowing how much shit I went though in bands I was in. Maybe Paul wasn’t happy with what became of his grand plan, but he should’ve been. And John, who seems nauseatingly ga ga over Allen Klein, as he longs for a new Brian Epstein, anyone other than Paul perhaps, gets pulled back in from what’s obviously earlier reluctance; a “festering wound” George and he hadn’t attended to. Maybe he was strung out too on heroin at the start as well, he had been hanging with the Stones (fun seeing him rehearse the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus intro so many times after being invited to do it). What we didn’t get to see or hear I imagine was that Paul did a lot of apologizing when they all met privately, apologizing for keeping the band afloat and for his enthusiasm as well as his boorishness or maybe insisting they HAD to after their Apple Boutique venture went under. Whatever the case, he, or maybe it’s the lovable Ringo or a joking, charismatic John, brings George back in the fold. Their make-up would all soon be forgotten I guess as the business shit would eventually trump all other gripes, come-to-grips and goodwill. It’s sad to see them go their separate ways at the end of this because you know that the Klein/Eastman control thing will be the final wedge that causes John to leave and then Paul to sue, and it will take years for them to dig each other again (by the way, man did those "Dig It" jams rock). In the meantime, Paul and Yoko will shoulder the blame, though, as in the band itself, it takes 4. They had just run their course. George was already talking to John in this about how nice it would be to do his own album, so it was all inevitable. They were so young though still, but, they looked older, more world weary then their years. John didn’t look 28, he looked closer to 40.
But in this thing we get to see them as we never have; 4 great, talented friends working and playing off each other, creating the best pop/rock music that there’s ever been. Paul was, is, obviously a genius. John, though possessing less of a work ethic by this time, or tired of the grind, was one too. And they still help each other with their songs if not totally writing together (man, I wish I had that without fighting in my bands after I returned to music from 2000-2006). George, on the other hand, was just beginning to let his genius shine in this. He plays the beginning of “Something” in the last installment with other words and your jaw drops. All in all, I don’t think they could’ve continued on with 3 geniuses without stiffing one anyway, but it was cool seeing them try here. We also get to see Linda and Yoko (who was not disruptive, at least not here) get on swimmingly!
As a fan and as a musician/songwriter, “Get Back” was priceless viewing, and I only wish there was more, somehow, some way. John Lennon's first son Julian said it was "life changing" for him. Though I wouldn't go that far, that it was for him is kinda special. For me, it accomplished a heluva lot in understanding where they were at at this point in time, and with zero interviews.
It was also fucking fun.
