who thought that The Hobbit could have been a little shorter The Beatles: Get Back not yet seen. For nearly eight hours, director Peter Jackson locks us up in the studio, where the pop group released the album in January 1969 let it be recorded.
In his previous trilogies, Jackson, known for Lord of the Rings, create a complete fantasy world. In this new trilogy, he only shows four tired hippies who first hang around in a film studio, until one walks away, and comes back, after which they regain their form and finish nicely with a concert on the roof.
About the recordings of let it be a documentary was already made in 1970, by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, but in it the emphasis is on the trouble: a bond that falls apart. That’s why the film hasn’t been seen for decades. The remaining Beatles asked Jackson to put together a new documentary from the 60 hours of footage that would focus more on the fun and creativity.
That worked. In the first half, in the film studios, they still look quite dejected. Especially when guitarist George Harrison steps out of the group, and they just huddle together and simplify. In the end, singer and bassist Paul McCartney sits alone behind the grand piano. “And then there was only one,” he mutters. But once they’re in their own Apple company, and added keyboardist Billy Preston puts the band back together, you’ll see them dancing, laughing, chaining, and banging on the guitars.
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It is striking how long the band can jingle and jam ugly. Singer and rhythm guitarist John Lennon, in particular, insecure about his singing voice, is hard to get to sing a song seriously. Usually it’s screaming or screaming. The best thing is when you see how the new songs grow. How ‘Get Back’, for example, originates from a guitar riff, then grows into an anti-racist protest song, and then flows from the roof over London like a rousing rocker. Or how ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ takes shape thanks to Preston’s soulful piano playing.
let it be is the only Beatles record that George Martin did not produce, yet the EMI producer is remarkably present. He juggles a sausage, lies on the floor reading the newspaper, and gives sensible advice about leaking microphones. Furthermore, Yoko Ono is everywhere. Although Lennon’s girlfriend says next to nothing, her presence (and that of the cameras) is what keeps the group in a creative stalemate for days: they don’t feel free to come up with new ideas for songs.
Also read: Let It Be: painful separation from The Beatles or cozy sessions?
McCartney has to do it
The likeable McCartney has it. Since bandleader Lennon doesn’t give home, he has to pull the cart, but no one except him feels like it. As always, he tries to please everyone: “I even started writing songs over white walls because I thought John and Yoko would like that.” The film shows that he is by far the most active and constructive of the four, constantly coming up with new songs.
Incidentally, McCartney’s girlfriend Linda Eastman is often there too, and even their daughter Heather. The six-year-old girl grabs the microphone and imitates a screaming colorature of Yoko Ono. She arrives just in time to hear the birth of “Octopus’s Garden,” the only song drummer Ringo Starr ever composed. Actually, he only has one rule, Harrison lovingly helps him with the rest.
Beautiful image of the late sixties, fantastic music. But it would have been better not to hold on to the fly on the wallmethod and instead give more context to the images. Then the less experienced viewer would also understand why Harrison suddenly leaves the group, and what, for example, the importance of the arrival of the controversial new manager Allen Klein – the reason that McCartney drops out a year later and takes his band members to court.
And it takes way too long. Two-thirds could have gotten out. The entire roof concert is in it, that is.
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