Get Back: A review

When it comes to documentation of a specific time in Beatles history, no other pocket of time has been recorded than January of 1969. This is in thanks to the "Get Back" project. The "Get Back" project in January 1969 produced over 60 hours of film footage and 150 hours of audio recordings. 

The one piece of media fans have had as a means of capturing this period was Michael Lindsey Hogg's 1970 doc Let It Be. It chronicled the unaveling of the world's biggest band. Lennon, someone whose post-Beatles opinions should be taken with a grain of salt, would later comment on the Get Back sessions as "the most miserable sessions on earth". Another myth that floated around was "Yoko broke up the band." Thankfully, Peter Jackson's Get Back puts both of those to rest. Hopefully once and for all. 

The death of Brian Epstein had a tremendous impact on the Beatles. The Get Back sessions is just how much of an impact he had. Gone is some like Epstein who is able to control all of the busy bodies from going in and out of the studio. Michael Lindsey Hogg constantly pestering the band about the location for their final performance turns into a sharp stone in a shoe at one point. Any time we see the band down is when they talk business. Something that could have been handled by Mr. Epstein. 

The doc changed my view of the band during this time. I thought tensions were incredibly high and they all hated each other. It couldn't be further from the truth. They are all supportive of each other's creativity. Case in point: Ringo bringing up Octopus' Garden and George coming over to him and adding some guitar to it. 

PAUL

Listening to Tim Heidecker's Office Hours podcast, he brought up the point that Paul McCartney had diarrhea of the song at this moment in time. He could not stop coming up with them. From Pepper through Abbey Road, Paul was unstoppable. Paul detractors point to him as a control freak but if you look at what he was doing post-Epstein with Magical Mystery Tour, he was trying to hold the band together. His plan going into the sessions was to produce 14 songs. This is coming off The White Album, a double album offering. 

If you ask me, the best thing the band could have done at this point was to take at least a year off so they could release their solo albums. Then they regroup. 

Paul does have my favorite moment in the doc where he comes up with Get Back on the spot. It's an astonishing moment in a doc littered with revelations. 

JOHN

There's been a stigma all these years that John was confrontational. Here he is in fresh spirits. Rolling out classics like Help! and Please Please Me. 

On a creative level, John Lennon didn't bring much material in. John's most prolific years with the band, around '65- '67 (Rubber Soul, Revolver and Mystery Tour), where he was bringing in a wealth of songs, had petered out around the time the band was set to record Let It Be and Abbey Road. In terms of the number of songs a band member brought in, Paul and George were bringing in a ton. With George saying he has his share of Beatles songs covered for the next ten years considering he took the hit in only having 2-3 songs of his on a given Beatles album. We see proof of this with the double album release of All Things Must Pass a year later. John's head just wasn't there. The songs he did bring in, had a heaviness to them. One can see how much Rock N' Roll Circus and The Who had an effect on him. 

John said in an interview that he stopped collaborating with Paul years ago and this is another myth that is busted here. You see both of them collaborating on songwriting specifically with I've Got A Feeling. 

GEORGE

George is my favorite. Always will be. He was the smartest and the most spiritual. But you could tell he's having a hard time here. Especially in part 1. 

The Let It Be doc gave off the impression that it was Paul vs. George. When in reality it was more George Vs. Yoko. There was supposedly undocumented fight between George and John concerning Yoko. John denies this saying the only time it's gotten to near blows was back in the Hamburg days. 

RINGO

He's always the first one to show up. A true professional that is there to play. He's also the only Beatle to fart and admit it on camera. 

Overall, this was the event of 2021 for me. I look forward to going back to it.