Beatles Get Back documentary

What an amazing 6 hours.  Watching masters of their craft create the classics knowing how they came about musically and lyrically was soooo good.  For me one of the best parts is when they got thru the drudgery of creating the music, the joy they exhibited performing as band.

I've seen it twice and will watch several more times I'm sure.

@larsman

Yes, Phil Spector was later drafted in to try to assemble an album out of the wreckage.

Probably by Lennon or Harrison.

Definitely not by McCartney.

I’m a fan of Phil’s work on Let It Be but I wish he’d included Don’t Let Me Down in the finished album as it’s surely one of the key songs of the period.

According to some reports it would appear that both the original Let It Be film and Jackson’s Get Back left out a few key details.

"The atmosphere in the film studios, the early start each day, and the intrusive cameras and microphones of Lindsay-Hogg’s film crew combined to heighten the Beatles’ discontent.

When the band rehearsed McCartney’s "Two of Us" on 6 January, a tense exchange ensued between McCartney and Harrison about the latter’s lead guitar part.

During lunch on 10 January, Lennon and Harrison had a heated disagreement in which Harrison berated Lennon for his lack of engagement with the project.

Harrison was also angry with Lennon for telling a music journalist that the Beatles’ Apple organisation was in financial ruin. According to journalist Michael Housego’s report in the Daily Sketch, Harrison and Lennon’s exchange descended into violence with the pair allegedly throwing punches at each other.

Harrison denied this in a 16 January interview for the Daily Express, saying: "There was no punch-up. We just fell out."

After lunch on 10 January, Harrison announced that he was leaving the band and told the others, "See you round the clubs."

Starr attributed Harrison’s exit to McCartney "dominating" him."

In Jackson’s version all this is only alluded to, but Harrison’s leaving followed Ringo’s from the year before. However, the next ones to leave weren’t so easy to entice back.

Perhaps more detail will be included in the extended version if Jackson gets a free hand to tell like it was?

I really don’t think Jackson’s film glossed over the strife.

Could this have been more unflinchingly depicted? Perhaps.

It’s worth noting that Yoko, Ringo and Paul, and other family members of Beatles, deceased or not, are still alive.  We don’t really know how much influence those people had on what was left on the cutting room floor.

While they very well may have been magnanimous as to their respect towards the importance of honesty in the storytelling, it’s not unreasonable to assume they may have been apprehensive towards the depiction of certain Beatles’ unsavory behavior.

@cd318 - thanks for that detailed explanation! All this time I  thought it was always Phil Spector, except for that 'Naked Let It Be'....

I just know I bought it when it came out, put it on, and went "EH?". It seemed like a whole album's worth of songs as good as 'Octopus' Garden' and 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'. 

This did not sound at all like the band that recorded the White Album, MMT, Sgt Pepper, A Hard Day's Night, etc etc with all those awesome songs, and I initially blamed it on Phil Spector. He deserved blame, for sure, but apparently so did a lot of other folks.

And lots of folks don't think 'blame' should even be involved, because they like the record! It's all good....  

I always felt John’s opinion of the album (not very printable here) was spot on.

Paul had every reason to be irate over what Phil did to his song, but Phil-or-no-Phil, it’s still their weakest album. 

”Across the Universe” is a career highlight in a discography loaded with highlights, but I don’t really consider “Across the Universe” a Let It Be song (I prefer the Feb. ‘68 Take 2 version). They went with, IMO, the two weakest songs of those Feb. ‘68 sessions for their March ‘68 single, “Lady Madonna/The Inner Light.”  I would have strongly advocated “Hey Bulldog/Across the Universe” (what a single that would have been) but who the heck am I.

”Let it Be” and “I Dig a Pony” are great.  I think “Two Of Us” is pretty nice.  
That’s about it.