The Beatles' final gig, on the rooftop at Apple Corps, January 30th 1969.

For example: that clip of John teasing George with real affection over the drug bust, reading the headlines in a reporter's voice. I loved that!

it's nice to see

I thought it was implied that Jackson chose to show the happy bits in his teaser because he wanted to bring some cheer at a time when the world was going to shit over the pandemic.

I posted about this in another thread, but it's telling that the happy footage generally came from Apple's studios. It's been repeated many times (especially in Anthology) that everything about Twickenham was awful. For starters, they couldn't work their usual hours of late in the evening going into early morning, instead it was more or less regular business hours, something they were NEVER accustomed to. (Coincidentally, I just saw an "Old Grey Whistle Test" DVD where they mentioned how that show started work in the morning which was tough because rock stars in general HATED those hours.) It was also cold and resembled a dim, shitty-looking air hangar. When things fell apart and they tried to work it out, the first thing they all agreed to was to vacate Twickenham for the confines of their own company's space. That alone probably made a huge difference - I'm certain it was a great help in "resetting" the sessions. As mentioned Preston coming in helped things even more. If you dive into those 40 discs of bootlegs that were produced from the Nagra tapes, you can hear that divide. The Apple sessions were a LOT more relaxed and amicable. The horrible shit is mainly in the Twickenham part, particularly the January 13th "session" (where there's actually no real music, just frank talk) and it'll be interesting to see how much of it makes the film.

Jackson started this long before the pandemic and said back then, too, that he felt people had the wrong (or exaggerated) impression of these sessions

I mean to say that I wouldn't be surprised if this is largely representative of the end product

can we go back to that green suit though??

Lol

would very much wear, to be clear

I didn't expect to get 'cited about this at all but that's quite something to see.

Really weird how whatever they've done in the restoration makes it look like a recreation that's graded to look like footage from the period. It looks hyper real and unreal.

Just like The Hobbit.

Having never seen any genuine unrestored footage from Middle Earth I wouldn't know.

https://s27363.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Hobbiton-New-Zealand.jpg.optimal.jpg

surely, the original miserable footage was to fit the existing narrative, or to simply CREATE a narrative, one which everyone needed at the time to explain what happened to the band, but while the new happier slant is obv to boost the brand, and say something new about that period and the beatles story in general, the truth is somewhere in between. the old version was too neat. this new one will likely be also, just at the opposite end. the truth is probably just too broad, all over the place, and messy to really grapple with without much nuance, but with so much time having passed, now we prob have the distance to see it a bit more clear eyed, in less simplistic terms.

Yeah, I’m simultaneously super stoked about this movie and disappointed that it’s Jackson, who makes I dunno John Hughes look like a sophisticated & subtle storyteller. I’m sure there’s a big beautiful nuanced movie lurking in all that footage (probably enhanced with a lot of footage from the era that’s not from the LIB vault proper) but I 100% trust that it won’t be this one.

Watched LIB for the first time in many years yesterday. It’s a pretty shoddy piece of filmmaking but there’s a lot to recommend it, just seeing the physicality of each of them & (esp during the rooftop concert) how they click when they perform together well.

Paul did an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit today, and was asked about the Peter Jackson film:

I think the main thing was that after the release of the 'Let it Be' film I was saddened with the break up of the Beatles. And the film always reminded me of that. So I was very happily surprised when Peter Jackson told me he'd been reviewing the unseen 56 hours of footage and he found it to be entertaining and upbeat. Since then I've seen clips from it and it's very joyful. I particularly like me and John jiving together. And also the birth of the song Get Back. It's pretty exciting, I must say. Crazy!

Crazy!

lol that's basically "it was a pretty shitty period and made me feel shitty and sad, but I just saw this footage and maybe it wasn't shitty and sad and I'm remembering it wrong?"

Maybe Jackson will reveal that they didn't break up after all and they can reunite and tour as state of the art Weta holograms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K_oYJvag4U

lol, JiC.

Doesn't Paul come across as a wanker in the original film? But now George and John are gone we can at last see the thumbs up bobbly head Macca we know and love.

... forgot raised eyebrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGuH7Zxbr84

Actually, while I'm sure this famous fight has been a bit overblown, what I recall from the film is the band just generally being over Paul's shit. Paul is playing cheerleader but the band is just not feeling it, or is elsewhere mentally. It's been a while, but I recall a scene of them rehearsing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" with Paul going so far as to call out the chord changes (like George or John really need them), and the guys shooting lasers at him with their eyes in response as they play the dumb song over and over again, bored.

Not Ringo, though. He's always having a blast.

Philip Norman, often wrong, said the following correct thing in '87 when Harrison was promoting Cloud Nine: "With John dead, George is the only person you can talk to about The Beatles now. Ringo can't tell you and Paul won't tell you.

I always liked the way George would talk about the Beatles like they were just some band he was in when he was younger, often exactly like that. "When I was in my old band, the Beatles ... "

I don't pay as much attention to the Beatles as most of you (LOL) but I remember the bits in the Anthology doc (was there one?) when Paul and George were together being extremely awkward.

You could tell George was very much holding Paul at arms length.

G: ".. my song 'Dehra Dun'.."
P: "(oh.. I remember that one...)"

Had I known nothing about the Beatles watching the doc, I'd swear George was the leader.

For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPf98jsxyDs

I love the way George talks, could listen to him all day.

Actually, while I'm sure this famous fight has been a bit overblown, what I recall from the film is the band just generally being over Paul's shit. Paul is playing cheerleader but the band is just not feeling it, or is elsewhere mentally. It's been a while, but I recall a scene of them rehearsing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" with Paul going so far as to call out the chord changes (like George or John really need them), and the guys shooting lasers at him with their eyes in response as they play the dumb song over and over again, bored.

Not Ringo, though. He's always having a blast.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, December 23, 2020 3:58 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just watched the movie today for the first time since I was a kid and your recollection is accurate.

John and Paul are kind of a classic duo consisting of one person who revels in being a confrontational jerk but who is also charming and amusing much of the time, and another person who wants to be seen as nice or "nice" but is all too often overbearing, manipulative insufferable, etc./PopPsych101

lol you wanna George staring daggers in the modern era? Check out his response to Paul's request (order?) to play "Blue Moon of Kentucky" ("The short version"). Paul's relentless cuteness gets to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wrgrm1eabI

Yeah, was gonna mention that one

I posted this in another Beatles thread, but whenever Paul starts talking during those group interviews in Anthology, George gets this look on his face like, “Ugh, this fucking guy.” If a camera or mic was on Paul, his Performing Persona took over, which George had no use for: “I’ve known you since you were 14, and I can tell when you’re bullshitting.”

One thing I love about that clip, though, is that they’re all, George included, enjoying it, but you get the sense that George just wants to hang out and play without the cameras, and without it being THE REUNITED BEATLES. He might’ve had a blast just swapping tunes and stories without the pressure of it being a heavy Beatle moment.

(Also, when Ringo goes into half time on “Raunchy,” it suddenly sounds more Beatle-y.)

Christ the Anthology era sucked so hard.

Christ: the Anthology <---- the perfect Christmas gift

Too bad Neil Innes and Eric Idle had a falling out before they finished it.

I heard somewhere, maybe from my Beatles nut friend, that the Anthology in the end was designed to be an easy, equitable way to get a heap of money to "the principals" (as I think they were collectively termed). So it served its purpose by, say, making Pete Best a millionaire.

Have I related, or posted anywhere, about the Beatles reunion story I read via the Edge's storied guitar tech, Dallas Schoo? This is the key bit:

There was the time in 1995 when Steve Miller invited him to his home studio in Idaho to service his guitar collection. Miller then warned him: He had some people coming to use his studio and Schoo had to promise to not freak out. Schoo rolled his eyes; he had seen it all.

Two days later, a fleet of SUVs pulled up and out get Paul and Linda McCartney, Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach, George and Olivia Harrison, and Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. They were there to mix “Free As A Bird,” the final new Beatles music that was made using a John Lennon demo tape of an unrecorded song, and they asked Schoo to maintain their guitars.

Schoo freaked out.

At one point, McCartney leaned over to Schoo during a break and struck up a conversation.

“So you’re with that U2?”

“Yes, yes, sir, I am.”

“That’s meant to be a big deal, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“But they didn’t change the world did they?”

Schoo erupts in laughter. “Then he looked at Harrison and said, ‘If it wasn’t for us, you’d still be walking around in Buddy Holly glasses.’ That story I’ve taken all over the world, man, and Paul and I have remained friends to this day.”

The bonus story I heard came from my friend's cousin, an esteemed producer in Nashville. Apparently he was in a session when he got a whispered furtive phone call from Dallas.

"Hey, man, it's Dallas. Do you hear this?" He holds up the phone to let him hear muffled music. "That's the fuckin' Beatles, man!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L-PUCx6PzA

Sorry, your story is better.

it's too bad paul didn't finish by excoriating chris for the lame and deeply unfunny sin of reading off of CUE CARDS

Heh, is that a reference to Zappa? #OneThread

ja

Having been thru a separation, if someone had asked me how to edit footage of the last year of my marriage while it was ending I would have chosen the material which showed the reasons for separation. As a grieving and justification process.

yeah but they did that already. in another fifty-one years, you might be ready to look at some photos of the kinder moments in your latter times.

I heard somewhere, maybe from my Beatles nut friend, that the Anthology in the end was designed to be an easy, equitable way to get a heap of money to "the principals" (as I think they were collectively termed). So it served its purpose by, say, making Pete Best a millionaire.

George was open about doing the Anthology stuff because his manager had stolen all his money via HandMade, and fucked off to an island. (The year of Anthology, Harrison sued O'Brien for £16 million, only won £6.7 million, but continued to actually lose more money suing him in bankruptcy court.)

yeah but they did that already. in another fifty-one years, you might be ready to look at some photos of the kinder moments in your latter times.
For sure, which is why I offered it to explain the difference between LiB and this film.

ah!