The Beatles are fucking good.

[Ham Bap]

Yeah my impression of Ringo has gone through the roof after watching these.
He just seems to be a thoroughly nice, friendly guy. Genuinely happy to just be there. Not causing any aggro but enjoying the ride.

It's great watching as classic songs are unveiled. They are long, in both parts I had to take a break when Yoko Ono starts wailing/barking.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

John - cunt

Why do you say that? There are moments when he comes across as quite snippy, largely due to 'tiredness' and frustration, but for the most part he's very funny and endearing.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I had to take a break when Yoko Ono starts wailing/barking.

They're just pissing about there. Even Paul (on drums) is enjoying their freakout. I also find myself fascinated by Yoko's knitting. Did she ever finish... whatever it was she was knitting?

As for Ringo, yeah, what a lovely chap. No wonder everyone adored him.

[BJBMK2]

Why is Mal trying to get the lyrics down?

By this point, they were doing just as much writing, as well as recording, in the studio. Probably just needed him there with the ole biro ready for when inspiration struck.

[Replies From View]

This is the interview that John and Yoko are doing on the 14th January and John returns to the boys saying he was sick halfway through:

[Replies From View]

They're just pissing about there. Even Paul (on drums) is enjoying their freakout.

I love it - it's a very raw and truthful musical expression of "what the fuck do we do now".


Yoko sitting on George's cushion grates with me, though.

[SpiderChrist]

Why do you say that? There are moments when he comes across as quite snippy, largely due to 'tiredness' and frustration, but for the most part he's very funny and endearing.

I had just watched him

Spoiler alert

pat George on the head and act the cunt about I Me Mine

[close]

plus I was in a foul mood anyway. I'd have chinned the speccy smackhead.

Anyway. Watched all of part 1 with me mate last night and loved it. Not sure when I'll be able to watch the rest but looking forward to it. What a great bunch of lads.

[Replies From View]

The only reason I Me Mine ended up on the Let It Be album was that the film showed clips of it being rehearsed.  They then had to get into the studio in 1970 and do a recording of it as it was one they had left behind.  Across The Universe appears in the film as well, so Phil Spector dug a 1968 recording out.


All Things Must Pass was such a beautiful song.  It probably should have been on Let It Be instead of I Me Mine, but then it wouldn't have ended up being the title track of his triple album.

[phantom_power]

It is interesting to see how little of a fuss they make about Yoko being there, and how anonymous she basically is, putting paid to the other received opinion that she broke up the Beatles

My favourite little moment is watching Paul teach some kid about the piano while playing Martha My Dear and other stuff and the kid just looking wide-eyed an in awe

Also, random Hare Krishna dudes just sitting at the side looking weird. There is an awkward moment in ep 2 when John and Paul are taking the piss out of Rishikesh a bit and George looks on with slight disapproval

[SpiderChrist]

The only reason I Me Mine ended up on the Let It Be album was that the film showed clips of it being rehearsed.  They then had to get into the studio in 1970 and do a recording of it as it was one they had left behind.

and even then it was just George, Paul and Ringo.

Y'all will have heard that Dave Dee is no longer with us, but me, Mickey and Titch are gonna continue the good work that's always gone down in number two

[phantom_power]

I keep forgetting the chronology of the last two albums so it was a treat hearing embryonic and more advanced versions of Abbey Road songs, especially the fact that Carry That Weight started off as a Ringo-bound plinky plonker

[Custard]

As strong as John's contributions to the sessions were, it's Macca who is absolutely on fire, creatively.

He's sat there playing through tunes that don't even feature until his solo career, like Another Day and Back Seat Of My Car.

It's just lovely, this. Seeing them having a lark, coming up with classics off the cuff, the sheer enthusiasm once one of them hits on a great tune. It's everything you'd want them to be. There's a bit of tension and mardiness, but nothing like we'd been led to believe.

I'd have killed for this access to the Revolver sessions, or Sgt Pepper!

[JesusAndYourBush]

It is interesting to see how little of a fuss they make about Yoko being there, and how anonymous she basically is, putting paid to the other received opinion that she broke up the Beatles

I assumed it was easier to just put up with her rather than make a scene demanding she not be there, upsetting John etc.
Especially as she's not interfering by offering advice about lyrics etc.

[phantom_power]

Paul says in, I think, episode two that John wants her there and that is his business, and Linda is around for a bit as well, and she is more vocal than Yoko (but still not too much). More distracting is those Hare Krishnas

[Custard]

Yeah, if anything, Yoko looks bored. Occasionally she laughs at something they are doing, but she hasn't interjected once. They clearly enjoyed her being part of a couple of the silly jams. Where's the harm?

I think that myth about her interfering mainly cones from the Imagine/Gimme Some Truth documentaries, where she speaks up a bit during sessions. But that was John's solo stuff, so it's not quite the same

I did laugh at Paul balking at George's idea to add more Beatles. "It's bad enough with four"

And in what world would Dylan have agreed to become a fifth Beatle? Billy Preston probably would have, and that'd have made much more sense

[kalowski]

Is it me or is the speech often out if sync with the film? Or even from different moments? It's odd at times.

[Glebe]

It's not like some Metallica thing where a guy makes Lars Ulrich into a toilet.

Seriously though looking forward to watching this.

[the science eel]

Seriously though looking forward to watching this.

Me too!

[JesusAndYourBush]

Is it me or is the speech often out if sync with the film? Or even from different moments? It's odd at times.

Yeah there's a caption at the beginning that explains they basically had to use a bit if artistic licence because the cameras didn't catch everything.

The audio was recorded with 2 seperate Nagra machines so in theory there should have been one machine running when the tape was being changed on the other.  Each tape lasted 16 to 17 minutes.  I think despite this setup they still might have missed some audio but hopefully not much.

They also had (I think) 2 film cameras running but they weren't as diligent as they were with the audio so sometimes there was only one camera running, sometimes none.  Only having one camera running at times explains those bits where one Beatle is in sync but then it cuts to another out of sync - they've had to use other shots to make it more intetesting rather than stick with a single camera shot for long periods.

[Rizla]

Quite exciting to see Paul's original violin bass in action, the one that seemingly went missing after the shoot, never to be seen again. I made a superb joke on facebook that got just as lost, so I'll make it again here.

(ahem) Magic Alex probably covered it in some invisible paint!!!!

Fuckin Beatle humour GOLD, that.

[kalowski]

Yeah there's a caption at the beginning that explains they basically had to use a bit if artistic licence because the cameras didn't catch everything.

The audio was recorded with 2 seperate Nagra machines so in theory there should have been one machine running when the tape was being changed on the other.  Each tape lasted 16 to 17 minutes.  I think despite this setup they still might have missed some audio but hopefully not much.

They also had (I think) 2 film cameras running but they weren't as diligent as they were with the audio so sometimes there was only one camera running, sometimes none.  Only having one camera running at times explains those bits where one Beatle is in sync but then it cuts to another out of sync - they've had to use other shots to make it more intetesting rather than stick with a single camera shot for long periods.

Ah cheers.
This is magic. Paul and John looking at each other like two totally proper mates during She Came In Through The Bathroom Window is beautiful.

[kalowski]

Oh...

Spoiler alert

The way they have Isn't It a Pity at the end of part 1 is bloody tear jerking. Oh George!

[close]

[phantom_power]

Yeah there's a caption at the beginning that explains they basically had to use a bit if artistic licence because the cameras didn't catch everything.

The audio was recorded with 2 seperate Nagra machines so in theory there should have been one machine running when the tape was being changed on the other.  Each tape lasted 16 to 17 minutes.  I think despite this setup they still might have missed some audio but hopefully not much.

They also had (I think) 2 film cameras running but they weren't as diligent as they were with the audio so sometimes there was only one camera running, sometimes none.  Only having one camera running at times explains those bits where one Beatle is in sync but then it cuts to another out of sync - they've had to use other shots to make it more intetesting rather than stick with a single camera shot for long periods.

It says at the start that they had much more audio than video as well so probably had to put some out of place video in where there was only audio available

[studpuppet]

For all your technical queries, it's really worth listening/watching this 3hr 52min podcast interview with Peter Jackson - he basically says at the beginning that he's an obsessive who loves listening to Beatles podcasts and so he gives free rein on questions and really explains the process by which it was all put together. Things like why you can hear dialogue so much better than you can on the NAGRA tapes, and how they put the audio and video together before editing, so the screen would go black when there was audio with no corresponding film, and then split-screen if two cameras were running.

He also gives his theories about what they ended up trying to do, and points out another mystery by showing photos of a later session in Apple that doesn't correspond to any documented ones. He's also more charitable to Magic Alex*, suggesting that they decided to move to Savile Row while he was halfway through building it and he may have created something usable if given more time.

* I notice that Nick Anthony on the Winter Of Discontent podcast has also cast him in a more favourable light in his most recent episode.

[Goldentony]

I am apalled that there could be but isnt an equivalent documentary of the same length and scope of Get Back but based entirely on Magic Alex's twatting around wasting millions of quid on clown guitars and plug in wallpaper. I'd have watched an entire episode of George and Glyn walking into the studio for the first time.

[LynnBenfield69]

Lennon is way less of a cunt than I thought, other than the bit where he shuts down I Me Mine rather cruelly. Other than that he's super funny and vulnerable. Didn't see much evidence of being stoned and/or dope sickness, unless I missed something it would appear his heroin use was fairly transitory.

George is a victim of J&P's success but also a bit of a brat. I feel for him because of his beautiful ignored songs but at the end of the day he's a second-rate guitarist in the world's greatest rock band. Ringo has the right attitude in this regard and is otherwise adorable.

Like a lot of brilliant talents Paul is hard work but for the most part the band understands this and lets him lead, because they know they'd be nowhere without him.

The sight of Magic Alex's prototype invention in ep. 2 is hilarious, can't believe I'd never heard of that before.

[McChesney Duntz]

Didn't see much evidence of being stoned and/or dope sickness, unless I missed something it would appear his heroin use was fairly transitory.

Hard to gauge, certainly, but I would wager that the day he turns up (without Yoko) in the Twickenham episode, he's smacked to the gills. There's a long close-up of him at one point that rivals the Mark Wahlberg blue-screen-of-death stare near the end of Boogie Nights for sheer checked-outitude.

[the science eel]

Lennon is way less of a cunt than I thought, other than the bit where he shuts down I Me Mine rather cruelly. Other than that he's super funny and vulnerable. Didn't see much evidence of being stoned and/or dope sickness, unless I missed something it would appear his heroin use was fairly transitory.

George is a victim of J&P's success but also a bit of a brat. I feel for him because of his beautiful ignored songs but at the end of the day he's a second-rate guitarist in the world's greatest rock band. Ringo has the right attitude in this regard and is otherwise adorable.

Like a lot of brilliant talents Paul is hard work but for the most part the band understands this and lets him lead, because they know they'd be nowhere without him.

The sight of Magic Alex's prototype invention in ep. 2 is hilarious, can't believe I'd never heard of that before.

I agree with all of this except for what you say about Paul. He comes across as much sweeter than I'd expected. He's distracted sometimes when people are talking to him, but that's about the worst I've seen.

[LynnBenfield69]

Don't get me wrong, Paul is sweet as hell. He's driven, and it baffles me when people describe that as a negative characteristic.

[McChesney Duntz]

Yeah, Paul is mostly lovely. My heart was warmed in an odd way when he encourages the gents with the sketches for a potential stage design to consult with John and Yoko - "they're artists." And that's just one of the moments that made me well up a bit - this bunch (and that includes the Beatle wives-to-be, Mal Evans, the lot) really has a hold on a lot of our hearts, and seeing them further humanized like this only strengthens that feeling. (Hell, just seeing how close Julian and Sean were at and after the premiere affected me emotionally. And I don't know any of these fuckers.) So, good stuff. Best Peter Jackson film since Meet the Feebles.