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The Beatles Get Back documentary series directed by Peter Jackson

discokermit said:
Your list of three bands and bowie to sum up drug use in music should be replaced with "all musicians".
Also you should replace toast with "heroin and cocaine"
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I heard they were unconscious the whole time. Which explains why they were able to compose and arrange numerous widely loved songs and play a range of musical instruments to a high standard.
 
editor said:
I was in a band once and the guitarist decided to bring his new girlfriend to rehearsals. We'd be banging out angry songs about smashing the system and she'd be sitting there knitting. It wasn't ideal.

A lot of being in a band when you're young in the sense of the 'four of us against the world' camaraderie and it's never quite the same when you've got someone else there.

That said, the Beatles must have been well used to having people hanging around them all the time, and Ono's presence was pretty much benign.
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I've noticed this too. Two of our band have plus ones who occasionally turn up, and the dynamic shifts, quite subtly in one case, but markedly in another.

Fortunately, our singer (who also has a +1 who rarely turns up, and then only to help out with moving stuff, etc) is quite outspoken, and the annoying +1 is effectively banned from band practices.
 
Also, I tend to forget how incredible McCartney is/was. Lennon was a major hero growing up, for all his faults, so in my mind he's "the best" in whatever schoolboy ranking I once gave him that still sticks now, but fucking hell McCartney's voice across this series. Phenomenal.
 
Apols if this has already been answered...but...is this series only available on the subscription channel, or are there other ways of accessing it?
 
S☼I said:
What's incredible is how, once called upon to be good for the public on the rooftop, they snap into tight as fuck great rock band after pissing about in rehearsals up until the last minute
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its incredible to me just how much endless pissing about there is and how little resistance there is to it from anyone in production or the band <especially with these deadlines. We've only got the edit to go on, but by end of ep2 even Paul only occasionally hints that maybe they should try and finish something.

i think the edit is a little misleading on that front as they're not going to include 8 takes in a row of a number, but they will include all the pissing about and trashing through songs that pop into their minds, which at least adds variety to the watch. also i think in the edit Peter Jackson held some numbers back for impact - for example IIRC let it be only comes up at the very end of episode 2, and George says something like ' are you going to do it like we did in twickenham', but im pretty sure we never saw them do it in twickenham. in fact the general impression from twickenham was that they only touched around 3 tunes that make the final album

finished episode 2 <nice to see harmony breakout between the band. i wonder what changed? they had a talk, they moved into a cosy safe-space studio, billy preston added some good energy, but main difference from episode 1 seems to be that john lennon is back in action and paul turns himself down a notch, I guess the old order of things returned. I guess John's mood will switch again soon enough so as to give up on the Beatles for good.

some of the conversations though, like the secretly recorded one at lunch, seemed so indirect and saying so little. the whole thing is interesting to see the different ways in which people can communicate with one another. and then other times when Lennon was "on" he was doing some amazing total shit chatting - explains a lot of the lyrics like on Dig a Pony!

A highlight for me was Paul reading out some bullshit article that was actively encourage people to literally, quote: "Hate" the Beatles. That's one thing that hasn't changed in this country, the open sewer that is the press.
 
danny la rouge said:
I’ve seen the original, albeit many years ago. I think perceptions of the original were coloured by the fact that it was released in May 1970, after they’d split, so the things that were noticed both by the band themselves and the public were things that could be interpreted with hindsight as foreshadowing the split. Such as George getting tetchy with Paul over the arrangement of Get Back, and George walking out.

Seen in a wider context, as it is in the current documentary, that’s not actually such a big thing. There’s lots of fun and camaraderie, and they genuinely seem to enjoy themselves.

When Billy Preston turns up they’re all really happy to see him, and the jams with him they’re grinning from ear to ear. They even discuss making him a permanent Beatle.

I’ve not seen the final episode, mind.
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My Ma sent me a big box of my “stuff” a year or so ago and in there was a cassette on which I’d recorded the original film audio (from when it was shown back in the 80s) direct from the telly with a DIN plug. We didn’t have a VCR at the time so it was the next best thing. Anyway, I played it on a long car journey and (surprisingly good quality aside) it was a thoroughly depressing listen - a band that seemingly hated each other and couldn’t wait to split. I can’t wait to have that memory altered as no band has ever meant so much to me.

 
ska invita said:
its incredible to me just how much endless pissing about there is and how little resistance there is to it from anyone in production or the band <especially with these deadlines. We've only got the edit to go on, but by end of ep2 even Paul only occasionally hints that maybe they should try and finish something.

i think the edit is a little misleading on that front as they're not going to include 8 takes in a row of a number, but they will include all the pissing about and trashing through songs that pop into their minds, which at least adds variety to the watch. also i think in the edit Peter Jackson held some numbers back for impact - for example IIRC let it be only comes up at the very end of episode 2, and George says something like ' are you going to do it like we did in twickenham', but im pretty sure we never saw them do it in twickenham. in fact the general impression from twickenham was that they only touched around 3 tunes that make the final album

finished episode 2 <nice to see harmony breakout between the band. i wonder what changed? they had a talk, they moved into a cosy safe-space studio, billy preston added some good energy, but main difference from episode 1 seems to be that john lennon is back in action and paul turns himself down a notch, I guess the old order of things returned. I guess John's mood will switch again soon enough so as to give up on the Beatles for good.

some of the conversations though, like the secretly recorded one at lunch, seemed so indirect and saying so little. the whole thing is interesting to see the different ways in which people can communicate with one another. and then other times when Lennon was "on" he was doing some amazing total shit chatting - explains a lot of the lyrics like on Dig a Pony!

A highlight for me was Paul reading out some bullshit article that was actively encourage people to literally, quote: "Hate" the Beatles. That's one thing that hasn't changed in this country, the open sewer that is the press.
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Re the edit: Yeah, it’s clear that John still has the lead guitar solos in Get Back because they were arranged during George’s flounce. But we miss that happening.

You’re right, episode two John is much more together, and even learns a new instrument before our eyes (the Hawaiian lap steel that turns up. No, they’re not “just like a guitar”. I’ve tried).
 
i didn't know they hadn't payed in public for 3 years at this point - "we've got a little shy" said Paul...they dont seem that shy when surrounded by cameras and so on. I wonder why it was
 
ska invita said:
why they didnt play in public for so long
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Well, they gave up because they'd got sick of not being able to hear themselves play, goes the story, due to screaming drowning out the crappy sound systems they had to employ in venues far too large for normal PAs. This led to more experimental stuff in the studio they probably couldn't reproduce live and which was more exciting than playing 200 times a year.
 
S☼I said:
Well, they gave up because they'd got sick of not being able to hear themselves play, goes the story, due to screaming drowning out the crappy sound systems they had to employ in venues far too large for normal PAs. This led to more experimental stuff in the studio they probably couldn't reproduce live and which was more exciting than playing 200 times a year.
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interesting! i wonder how much truth there is in it. Certainly its easy to forget the tech limitations of the time and how shit venue Sound Systems (outside of Jamaica ;) ) probably were.

Theres some amazing kit geeking out to be done in this - Magic Alex and his genius building a studio that sounded like it was a geiger counter and couldnt be used - wouldve loved to see that. ETA; heres some kind of picture - looks like a physics lab
36444428-9015279-Alexis_Mardas_in_his_small_workshop_in_Boston_Place_in_Marylebon-a-54_1610562184847.jpg


George Martins "portable" 8 track breezeblocks.... the Apple studio with what looks like mad metal enclosed speakers...I like those dampening panels they had on the walls that could be opened up
also the EQ desk, which you can get as a VST plugin now
its funky, ive had a go on a crack of it, the eq pots are all limited in frequency range compared to modern eqs

tg-mastering-chain.png
 
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ska invita said:
why they didnt play in public for so long
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Jackson kind of covers that at the start. But technically, between 1966 and 1969 amplification suddenly gets better. On their last tour of the states they were playing sports stadia with AC30s. I use a 50 watt amp in a rehearsal shed. They were using 30 watt amps in Shea Stadium.

Plus they were pioneering studio techniques during that time. All the stuff like backwards loops, Tomorrow Never Knows, Strawberry Fields, Revolution 9, that couldn’t be done live.

The point of these sessions was to get back to songs they could play live. That’s why they don’t want to overdub the piano parts. They have discussions about how to do it without overdubs. They’re talking about bringing in a piano player before Billy Preston happens to drop by for a visit.

Incidentally, it was interesting to see that both John and George are playing bass (a fender six string bass that Paul doesn’t use) at different times during the sessions, when Paul is on piano. Paul is such a distinctive bass player, so it surprised me to see it’s not always him on bass.

Amusing too that Glyn hates the sound of the Hofner bass but Paul refuses to change the tone settings.
 
danny la rouge said:
Jackson kind of covers that at the start. But technically, between 1966 and 1969 amplification suddenly gets better. On their last tour of the states they were playing sports stadia with AC30s. I use a 50 watt amp in a rehearsal shed. They were using 30 watt amps in Shea Stadium.
Plus they were pioneering studio techniques during that time. All the stuff like backwards loops, Tomorrow Never Knows, Strawberry Fields, Revolution 9, that couldn’t be done live.
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Fair enough but it wasnt stopping every other psychedelic/rock band playing, though maybe they didnt have people screaming over the top of it
 
Took me a while to realise that Jaguar of Lennon's is a bass not a guitar :D I knew his Epiphone was his guitar of choice at the time so wondered why I'd not heard of his Jaguar "guitar"
 
S☼I said:
Took me a while to realise that Jaguar of Lennon's is a bass not a guitar :D I knew his Epiphone was his guitar of choice at the time so wondered why I'd not heard of his Jaguar "guitar"
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I’m also fascinated by the black bass strings on that Jaguar and on the Hofner and Rickenbacker. What were they? Can I get a set?
 
danny la rouge said:
I’m also fascinated by the black bass strings on that Jaguar and on the Hofner and Rickenbacker. What were they? Can I get a set?
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Yes

www.stringsdirect.co.uk

Rotosound TBL135 Tru Bass Black Nylon Flatwound Bass Guitar Single String .135 Long Scale Low B

Our guitar strings store has been supplying musicians since '97. We are guitar players and strings fanatics, and we're here to help you discover your favourite set from the widest range of acoustic, electric, and bass guitar strings anywhere in the UK.
www.stringsdirect.co.uk www.stringsdirect.co.uk
 
danny la rouge said:
Jackson kind of covers that at the start. But technically, between 1966 and 1969 amplification suddenly gets better. On their last tour of the states they were playing sports stadia with AC30s. I use a 50 watt amp in a rehearsal shed. They were using 30 watt amps in Shea Stadium.

Plus they were pioneering studio techniques during that time. All the stuff like backwards loops, Tomorrow Never Knows, Strawberry Fields, Revolution 9, that couldn’t be done live.

The point of these sessions was to get back to songs they could play live. That’s why they don’t want to overdub the piano parts. They have discussions about how to do it without overdubs. They’re talking about bringing in a piano player before Billy Preston happens to drop by for a visit.

Incidentally, it was interesting to see that both John and George are playing bass (a fender six string bass that Paul doesn’t use) at different times during the sessions, when Paul is on piano. Paul is such a distinctive bass player, so it surprised me to see it’s not always him on bass.

Amusing too that Glyn hates the sound of the Hofner bass but Paul refuses to change the tone settings.
Click to expand...

Not quite true as Vox did some custom “Super Beatle” 100w amps but they were still woefully underpowered for a stadium where the vocals would often just be fed through the in house PA with variable results. I’ve got quite a few bootlegs which show how together they managed to be in the middle of all the screaming. A nice document of them is the film from Budokan in 1966 with a very restrained (by Western standards anyway) audience 🙂

 
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