Get Back

[David Morris]

I haven’t seen it yet, but here’s a blog review of Part 1:

https://jabberwocking.com/a-few-notes-on-peter-jacksons-get-back/

I'm a big Beatles fan, and I've read quite a bit about them, but raw
documentary footage is almost always a bit of a slog and this was no
exception. Honestly, if it were about any other band I don't think I would
have made it to the end.

Going into it, I was under the impression that it put paid to the notion
that the Beatles were at each others' throats by 1969. But it didn't
really. They had agreed to do the TV special, of course, but beyond that it
was pretty obvious that no one was having much fun. Here are some random
observations.

   - To say that Paul McCartney was the engine of the band at this point is
   to massively underrate him. As near as I could tell, he was almost
   literally the only one actively interested in making music during these
   sessions.
   - Except for George Harrison, that is, who tried to bring in a few songs
   he'd written at home. These got a tepid response, eventually leading to his
   famous 12-day "resignation" from the band. (McCartney eventually decided
   that Harrison's songwriting had improved enormously, but it was too little
   too late.)
   - John Lennon spent the sessions apparently stoned and completely
   disengaged. He smiled amiably and played his parts, but that was about it.
   - Ringo Starr was Ringo Starr. He mostly just hung around while the
   others figured out the music. This is the fate of many drummers.
   - The whole thing was remarkably haphazard. They were rehearsing in a
   huge, bare film studio just because someone offered it to them. They wanted
   certain kinds of equipment and had a hard time getting it. The acoustics
   were terrible. These were the Beatles! Nobody could be bothered to set
   up a nice rehearsal space for the greatest rock band of all time?
   - At one point McCartney says he's been acting as sort of the leader of
   the band and doesn't feel comfortable with it. This may or may not have
   been disingenuous on his part, but the only one to even respond was
   Harrison.
   - All this said, except for Harrison storming out at the end of Part 1,
   there was no real animosity on display. Just a bunch of guys trying to put
   together a bunch of new music on an insane timetable and seeming a little
   dispirited about it. And yet, they'll do it!
   - The only times when the foursome seem to be really enjoying themselves
   is when they're jamming on old classics written by someone else. When the
   pressure of creating music is off, they still get a kick out of playing
   with each other.
   - It's surprising not just how unprepared they are, but that over the
   course of a decade they still haven't settled on how to do recording
   sessions. These habits usually emerge over time and then become stable just
   through inertia. In this case, if you didn't know who these guys were, you
   might guess that it was the first time they had ever made a record
   together. I imagine this was partly because there was no firm leader of the
   band that everyone looked up to.
   - One of the problems with Part 1 is that it shows the period when the
   songs are just barely taking shape. This is historically interesting but
   musically a bit tedious. I'm genuinely curious to see how Parts 2 and 3
   shape up, when the lads are trying to resolve their personality conflicts
   and are playing their songs in more recognizable form. I will watch them
   shortly.



On Mon, Dec 6, 2021 at 10:29 AM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

> imho, not really. There's so much footage that I don't feel he was a
> distraction. He was in a tough spot, dealing with the drama and the open
> secret that the group was nearing its end. Some of his or others
> suggestions sure were wacky: a cruise ship or a concert in Libya. filming
> at Twickenham was a mistake. No one cared about the footage afterwards
> which explains the dismal vibe of Let it Be; Get Back provides better
> context. It will be interesting to see what's in Mal Evans' archive. I'm
> not sure he was ever properly compensated and the band did treat him like a
> gopher of sorts. I think he ended up getting shot by the LAPD in the
> mid-70s
>
> rich
>
> rich
>
> On Mon, Dec 6, 2021 at 10:08 AM Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > One of the reviewers in the Guardian said he thought Michael Lindsay-Hogg
> > was an annoying distraction and a try hard throughout the film, do you
> > think that’s fair comment?
> >
> > On Monday, December 6, 2021, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hiya
> >>
> >> Watching the Get Back documentary and identifying the scenes from the
> many
> >> photos that were released over the years around the sessions, it
> reminded
> >> me of that contraption/invention in AtD, if I'm remembering correctly,
> >> that
> >> takes a photograph and allows the viewer to see what happens after,
> those
> >> in the photo coming to life to continue on their way in whatever they
> were
> >> doing.
> >> Beyond that, it's simply an experience to view them Beatles, even at the
> >> end of their run, even the boredom, frustrations, amongst the times when
> >> things click. Let it Be the film feels like Kansas, drab, dingy; Get
> Back
> >> is like Oz, man. the colors alone and clarity is quite a feat.
> >>
> >> rich
> >> --
> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >>
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>