Is 'Let it Be' DVD finally coming?

I guess to me it's more a matter of asking "so what?". 1969 overall -- the entire year --- produced some good material. That's looking at the bigger picture. Okay, if we just focus in on the "Get Back" sessions, John was not as dedicated and did not have as much material -- but the difference is, I find that okay. He was really into his girlfriend, and undertaking projects with her. He was growing bored with The Beatles and looking to focus on other things, which may be viewed as a type of growth (no, I'm not including heroin usage in that). It's really a relatively small portion of time, looking at the full picture. I know Beatle geeks wanted John for themselves, but he wasn't as into it even as they were at that point.

I think you're right. And I think John should be allowed that change of interest at this point of his life.

 

You mean now George (maybe through Dhani and/or Olivia) are going to be reclaiming John's songs too?

 

Oh yeah, you're right. Actually I remember reading that the cameras there might've again caused increased tension between Paul and George.

 

I just listened to the lunchroom tape for the first time in a while. It probably sheds more light than any other document on this period of their history. It also continues to show how, even when they're trying to dissect the band politics, they're reinforcing them at the same time: Ringo says next to nothing.

 

Can you give another example? I'm curious about what you mean.

 

Of the band politics at play in the recording? Paul and John lead the conversation. Even Yoko and Linda have more to say than Ringo.

Things start off with John essentially acknowledging that George is taking out his frustrations at Paul and John solely on Paul. By the end of it, John is explaining to Paul why Paul has pissed them all off by dictating arrangements for his own songs and for theirs and how he sees know why to overcome it. Paul is far more optimistic throughout and tries to support the concept of them doing stuff on their own and getting back together later. John is more frustrated and doesn't come up with any real solutions.

It's fascinating.

 

"know why" of course means "no way"......oops.

 

Yeah, it's really interesting. The other thing is that even though the whole discussion is about George leaving, John and Paul keep veering off into talking about each other, and Yoko keeps trying to get them back to talking about George, lol.

As an aside, this made me laugh (taken from crosshair's transcript):

YOKO: You can get back George so easily, you know that.

JOHN: But it's not that easy, because it's a festering wound—

PAUL: Yeah.

JOHN: —that we’ve allowed to – and yesterday, we allowed it to go even deeper. But we didn’t give him any bandages. And it’s only because George, uh, when he comes up, when he is that part of him… We have egos. We can’t help but have—

RINGO: Well, it can be a burden.

JOHN: I have, you know—

YOKO: Well, I have one too, you know.

PAUL: You don’t say.

 

One of the most interesting aspects of all the Nagras is hearing Paul talk freely, or at least more freely than we ever hear him speak these days.

I also think that the tapes put Yoko in a much better light than the movie does. She's often very reasonable and thoughtful.

 

Hmmm. Yoko's casual attitude towards hard drugs ("Shooting is exercise", giggle giggle) and her nagging of John to get more drugs sure don't paint her in a very good light. The "play in front of empty chairs" idea, while not an unreasonable idea unto itself, is a ridiculous notion for the Beatles' big comeback. It's interesting to me that those outside of the band demonstrate far less tolerance towards Yoko than Paul and Ringo do when all are able to speak more or less freely. Michael Lindsay-Hogg and Neil Aspinall really don't like her at all.

 

Sorry. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the film's director. I amended my post.

 

That's true. The Get Back sessions completely changed my opinion of Paul. I wish he showed that side more often.

This isn't a slight on Linda, but it surprised me how she was also pretty involved with all the drama going on. Is she in Let It Be? I can't remember.

 

She's still Yoko doing Yoko things but it's not as if she's vicious or nasty. Quite harmless mainly...except, of course, for, apparently, getting John onto Heroin. Other than that, she comes across as just his artsy girlfriend. Linda is as present as Yoko at times.

 

Well, discussions on audio only weren't going to be in the movie - it wasn't really for the public, and he may have forgotten about the tape for the time being. Plus, he likely sensed that the future of the band was in jeopardy, and felt he needed to be forthcoming at that point, tape or no tape, because much was at stake. Also, he hadn't been through the legal disputes and subsequent media criticism leading to ruining his image at that point; maybe he was less defensive. Just my guesses.

 

Perhaps she was reading the writing on the wall and suggesting anything just to get them playing more together.

I mean, "the Beatles' big comeback" may have been the goal at the time but it went out the window pretty quickly.

 

I don't think that Yoko had any interest in spurring on the process of The Beatles playing a live show (if anything, her wishes may have run in the opposite direction). She just felt the need to add her avant-garde ideas to the discussion of where to have the show, and who to perform it for.

 

This thread inspired me to start re-reading Ray's book and listen to the Get Back sessions again. In all fairness to Yoko, I don't find her any more annoying than Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who was just as bad about giving input where it wasn't wanted. All these extra people attempt to join The Beatles' conversations, and I feel like to some extent they all played a part in making the tension worse and preventing The Beatles from communicating with each other.

Yoko's suggestion that they play in front of 20,000 empty chairs just makes me giggle because it sounds like the type of thing someone parodying her would say.

 

MLH was trying to get them to take some actions that he could make a documentary on, so his suggestions are somewhat understandable, although he seems to have a very irritating way about him.

Yoko's suggestions are just...well...Yoko.

 

I would love for this to come out!!

 

Yoko has certainly established an identity. "Yoko being Yoko" has some kind of meaning to everyone (here, at least!).

 

I'd like to see a sitcom developed, sort of an "I Love Lucy"-type show, in which Yoko causes havoc in every episode, and every episode ends with a shot of Yoko grinning, shoulders shrugged, palms turned up, as if to say, "Well, I can't help. Ya gotta love me!" Call it "Oh, Yoko!"

 

Would John and Yoko sleep in separate beds?

 

For Peace.

 

I saw an episode of Silicon Valley the other day where not once but twice, they referred to a female character as "Yoko" (as in somebody disturbing the friendship of the others and causing dissent). I'm curious what the real Yoko thinks of the fact that her name has come to have this meaning, at least in America. She's probably more famous for that than anything else in her entire life.

 

But the big comeback was not abandoned - the concept changed and the sessions we are discussing produced hit singles and some material that ended up on their big comeback Abbey Road.

The song Get Back comes off so well in every single frame of this footage that I have seen. It's a remarkable song. A very big hit single for the Beatles.

The other big hit Let it Be is just an exceptional as well. Absolutely first rate single loved the world over.

Long and Winding Road was huge too.

So if the Beatles had not filmed the Let it Be movie (The Get Back sessions), and simply released the three singles plus Across the Universe, then shelved the outtakes as they moved onto the Abbey Road album. We would consider those months of recording more fruitful and productive, or more positive.

It's too late now to suppress the film, or put a spin on it either way.

But the best tunes of of these sessions are such important tunes in their career, that is about all I care about really... At this point. Shaking in the Sixties. Hi-Lo Silver, Tennessee, and House of the Rising Sun are just the icing on the cake to me.