Every fan of The Beatles knows the story. It was January 1969 when the fab four gathered together at Twickenham Studio not only to create 14 new songs for a new album, but perform them in front of a live studio audience. This would be the first time the band played before a live audience since 1966. With the untimely passing of Brian Epstein, the man who truly discovered them and became their manager, the boys were in grief. Their film, Magical Mystery Tour, was a flop. They bickered over the trackless of what would become "The White Album," resulting in two LP records for the release and a cover that was not traditional. They only had two weeks to write new songs, polish them to perfection, and perform for an unprepared audience. The entire events was filmed and segments used for the Let it Be documentary, which would win an Academy Award, spawn an LP soundtrack, and establish a long-rumored misconception that The Beatles were at odds against each other during the breakup.
Peter Jackson spent considerable time restoring 60 hours of filmed footage from those two weeks, and more than 150 hours of recorded audio, to assemble what would become three documentaries now available through the streaming service known as Disney Plus. Get Back spans eight hours so breaking up the entire affair in three documentaries was a wise decision. The opening few minutes of Part One reminds us of the events that lead to the establishment of The Beatles and the reason why they went to Twickenham Studios.
Watching John, Paul, George and Ringo experimenting with the notes and writing lyrics was almost tear-jerking. Never in years have I watched a documentary that moved me like this. The songs I grew up as a kid are being created right before my eyes. On my shelf I have about 30 music CDs -- half of them are Beatles. So you can my excitement when I first saw the trailer promoting this documentary and how pleased I am to deliver this message: if you are a fan of The Beatles, this is a must-see documentary.
Watching Yoko Ono remove notepads out of her purse to hand to John, which she apparently kept on hand at all times in case he needed to write lyrics that were inspired in the moment, Paul and George debating on different approaches while maintaining peace without walking off the set, and the jokes about what to title the songs reveal a candid side of their creativity. Day Four is when Paul played around with a song that, ten minutes later, had gone through multiple renditions and formed the song we know today as "Get Back."
Let it Be (1970) did not dwell on the dissension within the group at the time, but it certainly provided some glimpses into the dynamics that lead to their break-up. Get Back changes the perceptions we had all these decades and for the better. For anyone not fans of The Beatles or the younger generation that never grew up with their music, the documentary may become dull and boring after the first hour. But for fans of The Beatles, this was music in the making.
I could type pages of praise but to save you time reading what is best to see on the screen, I cannot state how good this documentary is.
