The Beatles: Get Back: By The Beatles
£18.70£38.00 (-51%)
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 These sessions come vividly to life through hundreds of unpublished, extraordinary images by two photographers who had special access to their sessions―Ethan A. Russell and Linda Eastman (who married Paul McCartney two months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.
“It would be fair to say that today Let It Be symbolizes the breaking-up of The Beatles. That’s the mythology, the truth is somewhat different. The real story of Let It Be has been locked in the vaults of Apple Corps for the last 50 years.” ― Peter Jackson
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Additional information
| Publisher | Callaway Arts & Entertainment, 1st edition (12 Oct. 2021) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 240 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0935112960 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0935112962 |
| Dimensions | 25.02 x 3.81 x 30.18 cm |
by Quiverbow
Not counting the very limited 160 page glossy book that came with the first copies of ‘Let It Be’ back in 1970, also titled ‘Get Back’ and which was mostly photos interspersed with 26 pages of dialogue, this is the second book of the Beatles by the Beatles.
Other than their innermost circle, many of the hundreds of photos included have never been seen before, which makes this worthwhile for die-hard Beatles fans, and as an aside, I counted over 500. As most reading this book won’t have seen the previous tome, I don’t think it’s worth comparing the two as to what photos have been duplicated, as it’s rather irrelevant, seeing as there are plenty of new ones to view. All you need to know is some have and some haven’t. Also, I don’t know if the text will be in the forthcoming three part film but again, that isn’t really applicable to those who buy this.
With a foreword from Peter Jackson and an introduction from someone called Hanif Kureishi, it’s presented in three acts; Twickenham Film Studios, Apple Studios and The Rooftop, The photos are very good and you’ll know why they weren’t too enamoured being at Twickenham, looking a cold, sparse place. (The photo on page 62 shows it only too well.) Apple seems far warmer and more conducive to actually recording and the Rooftop ‘concert’ is just that. Some of the photos (those with rounded edges) are taken from the original 16mm footage.
The text, and there’s nice chunks of it from most days and not always from the Fab Four, show some interesting discussions but it’s a shame they never took George’s idea of ‘The Beatles’ Dance Album’ any further than this brief chat. And the mention of a rooftop version of ‘God Save The Queen’ sounds enticing, but probably isn’t.
by Dr Winston O’Boogie
The original ‘Let It Be’ photographic book came as a freebie with the 1970 box set version, from the album of the same name, it contained lots of lavish photographs by Linda McCartney (and assorted others) from the much talked about Twickenham and Saville Row studio sessions that made up this project. Nick named ‘The Winter of Discontent’ by the UK music press. It was a great idea, and now is a big collectors item among hardcore Beatles fans. Fast forward to 2021, with the COVID delayed Peter Jackson ‘Get Back’ project very much on the runway and ready for immediate take off.
A six hour marathon documentary hits Disney+ next month, maybe arguments from the original session are erased in favour of The Beatles 21st Century calling card “Peace & Love”, maybe they aren’t, no one knows for sure yet. This Friday the ‘Let It Be’ album and it’s ‘Get Back’ counterpart, are released as part of an uber deluxe box set, with full supporting cast of picture disc, double CD and standard vinyl. Earlier this week, in a newspaper interview Paul McCartney put the blame for The Beatles split at the feet of John Lennon. Which seemed to have both disgruntled and amused different sections of Beatles fans.
Today see’s the release of The Beatles ‘Get Back’ the first of many attached products, it’s a lavish coffee table book featuring all the photos from the original collectors item ‘Let It Be’ book, along with many additions. It now comes complete with a decent amount of text, courtesy of music journalist John Harris, and of course a writing credit for Peter Jackson, though it’s the Fab Four themselves who get top billing, just as you’d expect from any Apple sanctioned product. It is, to say the least pretty damn impressive, in much the same way that ‘The Beatles Anthology’ coffee table book was some years ago. And very much recommended for purchase if your a Beatles fan….
by Simon
Nice companion book for the documentary series
by Pmatz
A must have for any beatles fanatic!
by Makara
With all the hype surrounding the impending Peter Jackson film ‘Get Back’ (a substantially reworked, far more flattering version of the legendarily infamous Let It Be film) building amongst casuals and hardcore Beatles fans alike this sizeable, luxuriant hardback book provides a welcome starter before the gloriously HD main course later this year.
Originally scheduled for 2020 to coincide with Let it Be’s 50th Anniversary certain ‘viral’ themed difficulties delayed the project to 2021 – and naturally this book with it. Regardless, the prospect of a wealth of previously unreleased photographs and hours of never before seen footage from the sessions is a tantalising one that’ll undoubtedly be well worth the wait. Hopefully now, over half a century later the Beatles’ twilight months and final album (Let it Be was released after Abbey Road) can now receive the long overdue reappraisal it so obviously deserves…
The book itself was an automatic purchase for this longtime Beatles fan and, having now received it, I’m pleased that I did. Well for the most part. Indeed, I was relishing the promised surfeit of glossy photographs and accompanying text meticulously chronicling the album’s development… and the former at least has been amply fulfilled.
Unfortunately though the bulk of ‘Get Back’s’ text comprises copious transcripts of Beatles’ chatter recorded throughout the album’s strained genesis. Now no disrespect to John, Paul, George and Ringo but these snippets of rough, spontaneous dialogue weren’t always insightful, pithy or else informative!
Some will of course justifiably argue that contemporary band discourse presents a far more authentic account than research conducted by a professional author years after the fact ever could. I for one though would’ve definitely preferred a more cohesive, conventionally told story than morsels of inane dialogue.
On tangentially related note another reviewer has taken issue with the decision to utilise Hanif Kureishi to compose the book’s lengthy introduction. Well unlike him I have actually heard of the highly respected playwright (!) but have to echo his scepticism over Kureishi as a contributor and not someone closer, more qualified or else synonymous with the band. A strange, seemingly random choice though otherwise a very minor and inconsequential grumble all things considered.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
For those familiar with the lavish 1970 Let it Be box set resplendent with glossy presentation book ‘Get Back’ presents itself as very much the latter’s spiritual (and substantially expanded) successor. It also has the added bonus of being made of more robust materials that won’t disintegrate after being opened more than twice, unlike the notoriously fragile original!
FINAL WORD:
The vast majority of Beatles fans won’t be disappointed with ‘Get Back’, the companion book, but just be mindful of what you’re buying…
by Julie A Mason
Very nice hard cover book nice picture