Tag: #ringostar

  • Personal Review, The BEATLES: Get Back (Part 2)

    Having taken another day to think about the documentary “The BEATLES: Get Back” I keep returning to the same question, why do we still care so much about The BEATLES, fifty years on?

    For me, the beginning and the end of it will always be the music. I have always felt that when I listen to The BEATLES in order, From Please, Please Me to Abbey Road, I run the emotional gamut of growing up. I start with just infatuation and wanting to hold someone’s hand, to then understanding that giving love is more important that taking it.

    I also think that the overall BEATLES story still resonates because these were four nobodies in 1962, that really shouldn’t have amounted to anything given their backgrounds, and became four of the most famous people in the world, for what they created. That story makes them relatable, because they are regular people, like you and me. They weren’t born into great musical families, or had every opportunity handed to them. They liked music, did what they loved, and worked really hard at it.

    The last thing that I keep going back to is that they were really friends. The BEATLES weren’t a business arrangement, like other bands. It seems like every bio I read about other bands, there is always the line about, how the public thought that said band members were best friends, like The BEATLES, but they weren’t. I want to believe that if the music is that much fun, then it has to be due to it being created by a group of best friends.

    Watching The BEATLES: Get Back, I felt like I was having those points confirmed. I was watching how my favorite songs came into being. How they were taking from what was going on around them and tying to express it in music. How it was hard work, but relatable work; playing around, trying out ideas, leaving the song, working on another song, and then coming back to the song. Listening to each other and hearing the suggestions, and trying them out. It was work, but man, didn’t it look like the most fun work? And when they did get up on that roof, and got about three songs in, the excitement, the joy on their faces; It did look like they were those nobody kids at The Cavern club, just rocking out.

    With fifty year on now, The BEATLES still make me feel good, about myself, about the world, about love, and about being optimistic. After all this time, they still make me feel included in the party.

  • Personal Review, The BEATLES: Get Back (Part 1)

    There were many things I was looking forward to this Thanksgiving, and one of the biggest was watching, The BEATLES: Get Back. As a stupidly huge BEATLES fan, I had known for some time about Peter Jackson’s documentary about the LET IT BE documentary. I had been waiting and waiting, and then I got very excited when it changed from a single movie to a three-part series that would be on Disney+. And yes, I made my family watch it on Thanksgiving night…

    Or at least tried to…

    When I pulled up the first episode, and saw that it was two and a half hours long, I knew my wife and daughter weren’t going to make it. I was right. About thirty minutes in, they were like, maybe this is something dad should watch alone. And they weren’t wrong.

    Even though other critics have been saying that this eight-hour mini-series is for serious and casual fans, I have to disagree. This is a deep dive for huge fans, and there is no shame in that. Making an album is kind’a boring. They play the song over and over, and then spend a lot of time talking about what they should do, and then they play the song over and over. Boom! That’s how albums are made, and it is long, hard work.

    Now, for us stupidly obsessive fans… This thing is like heaven. Watching them work, and try out ideas, and then fart around for a while, and then try the song again. John, Paul and George had been playing together over ten years, and with Ringo for at least seven, so the ease in which they could just pick up a song, shout out chord changes and go, was stupefying. They are only in their late 20’s, and they are that good. I think the other aspect I really enjoyed having confirmed was seeing that they were an actual good band. Not just recording artists, but a band that could play.

    As for the arch of the episodes, the first one is a bit tough to get through. Even though Jackson and the PR for this show had spun the story that footage of The BEATLES shows that they weren’t actually on the verge of breaking up, and there was so much fun and love between them. I respectfully have to disagree. The first part shows that they all weren’t hip on being in this band anymore. I mean, George walked out. What I will agree with is that when they are playing music together, they do look like they are having a blast. But once they stop and start talking about managers and anything other than songs, the tension starts to show.

    In the second episode, when George brought Billy Preston in, it changed everything for the better. Preston had an ease and cool confidence, so when joined them at the Apple Recording Studio, man, he just brought an energy to the band that they all feed off of. People start showing up on time, and happy. The songs start clicking, and it is really exciting to watch all of them work.

    When we get to the final episode, and the rooftop concert, it’s a blast, and so heartbreaking. It’s great because once they get going, you can just see that the four of them love it. Love the songs, playing together, being out there, just being together. It’s heartbreaking because, the band only has about a year left, and if they could have got their shit together, they could have toured for Abbey Road, but in the end, it’s the last time they played together as a band.

    There are so many deep dives I could do on these three parts, especially how awesome and great Mal Evans was. (Seriously, is there a bio on Mal, or a movie or anything on that guy? He is the greatest behind the scenes guy of all time.) For that, Peter Jackson did a great job. I have a feeling in a year or two a “Director’s Cut” of this will come out which will be like fifteen hours long with more songs and outtakes. And yes, I will line up to see that as well.

    For me, I got what I wanted. What I wanted to see was that four friends, who really did love and care for each other, would get together and do something really cool, and have a lot of fun doing it. I was not disappointed.

  • The Beatles (The White Album) Super Deluxe Edition

    I listened to the 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of The White Album yesterday and today. I have been waiting for this to come out for some time, as I am a super Beatles fan. Over all, I am very happy with what they put out in this edition.

    My first impression is that the remixing of the original album is great. The music on this mix is much sharper, clearer, and also, they pulled forward sounds that had been lost in the background due to the use of a four track in the initial recording.

    The other treasure is the Esher Demos on the third disk, which were recordings made at George Harrison’s house of the songs that John, Paul and George had been working on for the new album. Some of these tracks had been released on the Anthology Three way back in the 90’s, but on this edition, 27 tracks were included. In these demos, we are given an amazing insight to the first drafts of some of these songs; some songs evolved, while others were pretty much complete and ready to go.

    The final three disks are outtakes from the studio, a few jams, and instrumental tracks. It is interesting to get a glimpse of the building of these songs, but in this presentation of this material, a false reality is created. These outtakes leave one feeling that The Beatles were having a great time recording in the studio, when the reality was quite different.

    Of the 30 original songs on The White Album, only 16 tracks had all four playing on them. The real sessions had arguments, and walk outs, and lots and lots of tension that would start the process of the band’s eventual breakup. I know the recording exists, as I have heard stories about it, and I wanted to hear the tape where John calls Paul a “fucking idiot,” because they were a band that was making great music while they didn’t like each other. That is an amazing accomplishment as well, and I want to hear how they did that, but that is not what is being presented. What we have is a celebration of a great album, and not a historical document.