Michael Corvin

Except that doesn't even jive with people in this thread, let alone a larger sample group. More than a few of us are die hard fans that think it's excessive and kind of a slog. So your take on it doesn't seem all that accurate.

Decker

Yup. Huge Beatles fan. Excited for this documentary, finding it a slog.

However if you are a HUGE fan of "I've Got A Feeling" and "Don't Let Me Down", I'm sure it's heaven for you.

deadlax

i'm a huge fan of band practice and fly on the wall type stuff. absolutely love this doc and don't find it to be a slog at all, yet. i'm about halfway through.

i just love how engaged everyone is.

Kurt D

Just finished Part 1 (in two sittings). Pretty stunned. Absolutely fantastic. Essential for Beatles fans obviously, but also for any musician, or anyone who's been in a band. Also for artists, or anyone interested in the creative process. Also for fans of pop culture, celebrity, or the cult of personality.

So fascinating. I can see though, that it's like candy, and too much in one sitting can make you a little ill.

cultshock

Yeah, I find that watching this in approx. 90 minute chunks is better, and is remaining very interesting to watch, I love it.

Kurt D

I will say this. After that post, I went ahead and watched the entire second episode last night, and then the third this morning. Loved every minute of it.

TomOpus

I would live to get my hands on the 60 hrs of original footage.

ViewAskewbian

I gotta' say, that moment in Episode 1 when Paul basically came up with Get Back on the fly waiting for John to show up was mesmerising.

In Episode two, when they were going back and forth on the lyric:
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass

until they finally hit Tucson and had to ask if it was in Arizona, also great because we know what the lyric eventually became and you want to show at the tv: TUCSON!

Also, "Get off the name Loretta MARSH and just say Martin...MARTIN!!!!"

Shannon Nutt

What did you expect? I mean, there was already a version of this movie released in 1970, so there should have been no surprises about the content (Beatles rehearsing/creating their final studio album).

GoldenJCJ

I’m really enjoying this. It’s DNR’d to hell but it’s not bothering me. I think the footage looks amazing. By comparison, I watched the Let it Be trailer on youtube and the picture looked like absolute shit.

It’s funny listening to them talking about how they’ve got the “doldrums” when they’re literally writing some of the best the best songs ever recorded.

whotony

I thought it was funny and ironic when Harrison asked or said, “so is that the name of the song?” After Paul sang one line of a song for about 4 minutes.

JasonF

I'm through 2 episodes and loving it. The moment where Paul and Ringo go up on the roof gave me chills just because I know what's going to come. My go-to answer for "If you could time-travel ..." has always been "Rooftop Concert," so I'm psyched that I'm going to get to "be" there for the whole thing.

I think this documentary really does a fantastic job of showing that these were four men who did love each other, and loved making music with each other, and that the split wasn't because "Yoko sat on an amp" or anything like that -- just that these were people who had started playing together as teenagers and were now four grown men who were busy falling in love with Yoko and Linda and Patti, busy figuring out their connection to the transcendental, busy trying to act in movies, busy with living a life other than being a Beatle 24/7. And what I can't get past is this: the Beatles invented so much of what it means to be a rock star, but the one thing that they never figured out even though it was right at their fingertips was the idea that a band could take a break. Nowadays, it's super common for a band to say "We're on hiatus," everyone goes off and does side projects for a year or two, and then the band says "OK, now we're going to release another album." Imagine if the Beatles had done that and we had gotten 2 or 3 albums out of them in the 70s, albums where they were fully collaborating, and not just cherry-picking songs that would otherwise wind up on Venus and Mars or Walls and Bridges.

George and John even have a conversation to that effect at one point -- George saying "I have like 20 songs, and it will be a decade before I get them on Beatles albums -- what if I just release a solo album, then come back to the Beatles" and John is like "Yeah, that would be cool with me." And Peter Jackson said he showed that to Paul while he was making this documentary and asked Paul if he'd had any idea about this conversation, and Paul's reaction was "I hadn't -- but if I had, things might have turned out differently." And I think a lot of that is rose-colored glasses and nostalgic hindsight (stuff got pretty acrimonious over the role of the Eastmans), but it's a nice fantasy ...

ytrez

I just finished episode one and thought that it was slow in parts but was fascinated with how Paul and John seemed to get more collaborative over the course of the week. Early on John seemed distant and aloof but seemed really into the creative process by day 7 he and Paul are standing face-to-face (and close) just looking into each other's eyes and developing songs live on the spot. It was also fascinating to see George getting more and more disillusioned and even pissed until he finally just walks out. My favorite bit was the part where Paul is trying to explain to George what he needs on guitar during Get Back. The back and forth is incredible and you could just see and hear George's frustration. Paul tells him a chord is "passe" and George responds "No it wasn’t, it’s just a chord. … Some chords fit things." I wonder if George felt insecure about his abilities as he tells Paul and John they need Eric Clapton (I'm pretty sure he also compared himself negatively to Clapton earlier in the episode too). They immediately responded "no, we need George Harrison" which I thought was nice, but it obviously wasn't enough.

Looking forward to episode 2.

TomOpus

It's been 31 years today that we lost John

Eddie W

41! 2021 - 1980 = 41 years. At this point he's been dead longer than he was alive.....

Decker

I remember that day. I wasn't allowed to watch TV as it was a weekday. I was hanging out in my room and I turned on my clock radio. I heard a Beatles song playing and I was happy about that cuz I love the Beatles. And then another Beatles song playing I thought that was unusual but I'll still enjoying it. When the third Beatles song played I thought something was weird. Then this DJ came on and told us the news for those who hadn't heard, like me. I started sobbing. I still remember it.

The Cow

It's definitely another one of those "I remember exactly where I was at moments". I, like many folks, heard the news from Howard Cosell.

Kurt D

I was 11 when John was killed, don't remember where I was when I heard the news.

To get back to the documentary, here's 90 minutes or so of reading, depending on how fast you read, regarding the whole kit and kaboodle. Beware it may make you want to watch the documentary again!

The Making of The Beatles' Let It Be and Peter Jackson's Get Back | Sound & Vision (soundandvision.com)

TomOpus

I had 31 years in my mind all morning. That day affected me more than I thought. I lost 10 years.

Hokeyboy

GoldenJCJ

I was almost a year old when John was killed. It’s crazy to think that he and I were alive at the same time.


Damn, I turn 42 in a couple of months?!

rocket1312

I finally got around to finishing the last part of this. I still stand by my initial reaction that this doesn't really work as either a film or a tv series in the traditional sense, but in the end I've done almost a complete 180. There are for sure stretches that feel like a slog, but there's just so much brilliant footage that it's all worth it. As a more than casual, but hardly obsessive, fan of the group, I'm sort of astounded at just how invested I was in gleaning every last bit of insight into the personalities of these 4 guys. There are too many amazing moments to even mention. The icing on the cake, of course, is the rooftop concert. I was in awe of how completely in control they were performing after watching 7 hours of them screw around in the studio. Like, I 'm listening to them run through I've Got a Feeling for the umpteenth time and wondering just how the heck they're going to pull it all together. Then, bam, they hit the roof and bust out the version we all know. Crazy. Then it was over and I was annoyed that there wasn't another hour of footage from the final day of recording.

Again, I'm still not sure it's a great tv show or film, but as a historical document it is absolutely priceless and one of the best things I've seen in recent memory.

whotony

I’m no Beatles fan by any means, their music never clicked with me.

Recently many of their records have been added to music streamers in Atmos so I’ve been listening.
Still not big on it but I have an appreciation for it that I never had before.

Im a little more then Half through the first show and I think it’s terrific television.

Watching Paul Riff into the creation of Get Back is brilliant.

I love how Ringo is essentially just up there on his drums just waiting for the guys to do what they do and then he adds his part with the percussion.
so far he has rarely said more then a few words.

I’ve been watching just about 20 or so minutes at a time and that’s good enough.

TomOpus

Romeo???

whotony

Autocorrect. Gets you every time.