The Beatles: Get Back *[EPUB]
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The most anticipated book in more than a decade by the legendary band, The Beatles: Get Back is the official account of the creation of their final album, Let It Be, told in The Beatles’ own words, illustrated with hundreds of previously unpublished images, including photos by Ethan A. Russell and Linda McCartney. Half a century after the 1970 Let It Be album and film, this milestone book coincides with the global release of Peter Jackson’s documentary feature film, The Beatles: Get Back. The book opens in January 1969, the beginning of The Beatles’ last year as a band. The BEATLES (The White Album) is at number one in the charts and the foursome gather in London for a new project. Over 21 days, first at Twickenham Film Studios and then at their own brand-new Apple Studios, with cameras and tape recorders documenting every day’s work and conversations, the band rehearse a huge number of songs, culminating in their final concert, which famously takes place on the rooftop of their own office building, bringing central London to a halt. The Beatles: Get Back tells the story of those sessions through transcripts of the band’s candid conversations. Drawing on over 120 hours of sound recordings, leading music writer John Harris edits the richly captivating text to give us a fly-on-the-wall experience of being there in the studios. These sessions come vividly to life through hundreds of unpublished, extraordinary images by two photographers who had special access to their sessions—Ethan A. Russell and Linda Eastman (who married Paul McCartney two months later). Also included are many unseen high-resolution film-frames, selected from the 55 hours of restored footage from which Peter Jackson’s documentary is also drawn. Legend has it that these sessions were a grim time for a band falling apart. However, as acclaimed novelist Hanif Kureishi writes in his introduction, “In fact this was a productive time for them, when they created some of their best work. And it is here that we have the privilege of witnessing their early drafts, the mistakes, the drift and digressions, the boredom, the excitement, joyous jamming and sudden breakthroughs that led to the work we now know and admire." Half a century after their final performance, this book completes the story of the creative genius, timeless music, and inspiring legacy of The Beatles. Read more
Download Now
Why Must Read The Beatles: Get Back?
The book arrived today and I read it, skimming half of the text. While I am a huge Beatles fan, the transcript of conversations is a tough read. Maybe it's because they knew they were being recorded, or maybe it's group-speak that means little to outsiders. Or maybe it's because they were stoned half the time. Either way, if you are looking for a book where people speak in whole sentences, this is not that book. Much of the talk is trivial or filler. And this is the "good" stuff - imagine what they left out. The pictures are nice. The movie stills are small, but the larger images make the book worthwhile. That said, it's still interesting to read this and get a feel for what their work was like in the studio. Which is not easy, since you're missing the songwriting part, the audio itself, and the sound mixing. A few lines made me laugh out loud. Until the movie comes out on Disney+ I can only imagine what some of these clips actually sound like. I have the original "Let It Be" movie on a bootleg DVD, but it was so boring I didn't watch most of it. Hopefully Peter Jackson does a better job. As this book shows, much of what they said was dull stuff. If you are looking for profound insight, you will be disappointed. At least you can skim it, which is hard to do with an audio recording. Part of me thinks that the Beatles must have been crazy to even think of documenting their music-making. On the other hand, it makes for a historical document that doesn't exist for their earlier albums. One thing I realized while reading the book: What, they started filming in January and expected to do a concert on the 18th? And it got pushed back to the 30th. So they basically whipped an album together in a month?! Granted, some songs had already been started, but what kind of group can go from raw to ready in a month? The Beatles, that's who. And when they didn't like the results, they made "Abbey Road for a September release. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! Today's groups can barely get one album out per year. Some comments are notable, like George talking about doing his own album. When he briefly left the group, the rest had no trouble naming possible replacements. It must have been a shock to John and Paul when "All Things Must Pass" came out. Too bad George's later work was rather dismal. But it goes to show how much creativity there was just from being in each other's orbit. Even Ringo wrote a song. What a great ride they had, and what a great legacy they left us.
Read Now