The Beatles Thread

Photo of the Beatles with Pete Best in the dressing room of the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, 1961 or 2. Mike McCartney, Paul's little brother, took it.

I had never seen this one before.

 

Coveted Archives of Beatles Road Manager Mal Evans Will Finally See Light of Day

 

It was pretty amazing to watch Mal suggesting lyrics to the lads in "Get Back." He (along with several others) also did a nice job of stalling the cops while the Beatles were playing on the roof.

 

Just watched the first episode last night. There’s some really amazing stuff in there. Chief reaction is that it’s amazing Harrison waited so long to walk out.

Secondary reaction: this thing is waaaaay too long. There is so much there that doesn’t need to be there. First episode was 2:40 and I still have 5+ hours to go?

 

The second episode in particular could have been cut down, IMHO. That's the one that seemed to drag a bit for me, and I'm really a Beatles nerd.
Without spoiling it for you, they play a rooftop concert and it gets shut down by police in episode three ...

 

For the non-Beatles junkie, the third episode is the one to watch: they actually get out and play.

The drama in the first two episodes focuses around George's walkout-- but he comes back. And also around the extensive debates over various exotic locations to play the live show, then they just say, "ah, forget about it."

 

The Beatles with Pete Best in Hamburg was the first album I ever bought.

 

They could easily have cut an hour to an hour and a half out of Part 2 and not lost a thing. Part 1 and Part 3 were great as is.

Watching the whole dynamic of the group -- George's slowly simmering frustration with Paul and John, the ubiquitous presence of Yoko and Paul's resigned acceptance that John cared more about her than the band, George's hare krishna buddies hanging around in the background, Mal's involvement in everything down to the music itself, the countless cigarettes (and the places they put them while they were playing) -- was fascinating to me.

I loved watching them blast through their old teenage songs looking for something to put on the album (and finding that something in "One After 909").

The scene where George walks out is an absolute classic. And the flower pot conversation is also priceless.

I found out a whole bunch of stuff I never knew before. Example: The other Beatles called Ringo "Richie." I knew Ringo's real name is Richard Starkey, but I assumed he went by Ringo in everyday life.

But the best thing was watching the songs develop. The single best moment was Paul coming up with "Get Back" as he sat with yawning George and Ringo waiting for John to show up. A close second was when Paul is at the piano playing chords as John is discussing set design and plastic blocks with the director and producer and Linda and Yoko are chatting happily, and you suddenly realize he's coming up with "Let It Be." You get to see those songs go through their complete evolution, from birth to fully formed and ready to record, with all the various interations in between.

And, of course, the rooftop concert, with everyone downstairs stalling the cops, was fantastic.

 

Seriously. They are brilliant. Watching Ringo and George watch Paul create Get Back. It as if you can hear them thinking, Oh jeez, there he he goes again.

 

Thinking again about the evolution of "Get Back," finding out that at one point it was going to be a protest song about Britain's anti-immigrant movement is weirdly amusing to me. It's a reminder that for Paul, the music always came first and finding lyrics to fit was the hard part. George struggled with that as well when he was trying to fill in the line in "Something" -- "attracts me like...?"

 

These are THE GD BEATLES. And there, through episode 1, is a serious lack of ego and hubris. No entourage. Showing up, straggling in, every morning and getting to work. For Chris sake, John Paul ad George play the same guitar everyday. In the 2 years before this documentary they released Sgt Pepper and The White Album. Except for the picture of Ringo’s house you wouldn’t know that they were among the richest entertainers in history in 1968-9. This is awe inspiring. McCartney is a genius and there’s no one in the last 30-40 years that is a peer aside from Lennon and Dylan.

 

Time after time watching, I wanted to find a time machine and fill in the line they were groping for. "No, no, Sweet Loretta Martin, you knucklehead, it needs two syllables to sing properly."