After numerous delays, it’s finally here and if you are a massive Beatles fan – as I am – then you are going to be both elated and disappointed.

Feature

First the elation. This is a the first and probably the only real insight we will ever get into the working relationship between the Fab Four and it’s as candid as it can be. There are of course camera moments (John is particularly good at mugging for the camera as he always was) when they are aware they are being filmed but generally speaking, we are flies on the wall. It paints a very different picture to the original Let It Be film and watching Get Back, I can understand why Let It Be has remained in the vaults through the VHS* – DVD – Blu-Ray years as it is non-representative of the band and the sessions.

It’s an insightful journey. Reluctance, lethargies and despondence lead to a breakdown. The resolve takes time, a shift in location and an old friend to finally bring them back together and it all leads to their last ever public performance which is a very long way physically metaphorically from the original plan. Probably the most insightful part though is how much music they had throughout those sessions, the songs that did get released on the last two albums and the ones that didn’t. There are at least a dozen songs in this documentary credited as original compositions which have never seen the light of day before and they are all worthy of being included on a Beatles album. I suppose if you re that prolific, songs and ideas do fall by the wayside, especially back then when you are writing to a 40-minute vinyl album format.

It’s not only a fascinating look at John. Paul, George and Ringo though, just as interesting are the crew and their entourage. Yoko is present wherever John is but doesn’t seem to be as interfering as she has been made out to be the in past (although be warned, she does let loose on a couple of occasions). When Linda arrives, those two seem to get on like a house on fire. Big Mal Evans steals scenes without knowing it. His face when they go off to lunch and ask him to get a hammer...and an anvil, is priceless but come the afternoon, he has somehow pulled it off and his schoolboy grin when he does the ‘bang-bang’ on Maxwell’s Silver Hammer will have you grinning with him. Glyn Johns is recording the sessions but he seems a bit lost at times and the director, Michael Lyndsey-Hogg doesn’t so much direct as just set the cameras up and let them roll. Pretty much every idea he has is shot down in flames within minutes. It’s all good footage though and hence entertaining throughout it’s 468 minutes runtime. (I’ll save you the trouble: 7 hrs and 48 minutes).

Picture and Audio

Your eyes and ears will enjoy this. The audio tapes had been baked and transferred to digital some years back so it was a case of syncing and mixing to get a good balance and clarity when several people are talking at once. The 7.1 mix achieves this and you do get the feeling of being in the rooms with them as an observer. Along with the atmospherics, the sound of their instruments is clean and spacious. E.g., in a scene where Paul switches bass, the difference in the tones of each bass are as clear as day. As for the video, given that it is over fifty years old, was originally planned for a TV show, shot on 16mm and then blown up to 35mm, it looks spectacular if a little unnatural at times. Personally, I prefer the spectacular especially as it shows off their clothes; the unnatural is in a large part due to the fact that the 16mm film grain has been removed. We’ve never seen the Beatles in real life, without film grain before, so it takes you by surprise in the close-ups but you get used to very quickly and is highly acceptable.

Extras and Packaging.

So here is the only disappointment; there are no extras whatsoever. There’s no restoration documentary, no interviews with anyone involved, no inclusion of the Let It Be film either in its original state or upgraded, no…well, nothing. Not even a trailer. I can’t help feeling it’s either a missed opportunity - which would be an astonishing oversight on everyone’s part - or that Disney are holding back for a second ‘Special Edition’ later on which if so, is just annoying after having shelled out for the Collector’s Edition of which, it must be said, the packaging is nice. Each disc comes housed in its own silky sleeve made of stiff board that looks like it will stand the test of multiple putting ins and taking outs. These in turn are mounted in a tri-fold, hardback storage folder with the same silky finish and the folder is printed with a selection of previously unpublished photos. Also included is a 6” x 4.5” print of each member and the Japanese version has a 4-page b/w liner note insert and a selection of advertising flyers. The tri-fold is housed in a very study slip-case. The packaging is top quality but is the Collector’s Edition worth the extra money? That’s your choice and I suppose it’s down to if you are a serious or a casual fan.

Conclusion

After waiting so long and having so many unofficial releases of Let It Be starting with my VHS recording from the telly in the early eighties, Get Back is a revelation. It’s a superb piece of work by Peter Jackson and his team and although I feel there’s a couple of things and songs that are featured too much, that’s just personal taste and I really have no right to judge. This documentary is unlikely to be bettered even if they release the remaining 50+ hours of video and 150+ hours of audio in a mammoth box set (please don’t) and given my age and The Beatles’ speed of releasing stuff from the Apple archives, that’s not going to happen in my lifetime anyway. The Beatles were and still are the greatest band of all time but the reality is, their fans are diminishing purely because of age. If this is the video coda to their legacy as the band that changed the world of music in so many ways, then I am satisfied to Let it be.  

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*In 1981, Let it Be did have a videocassette and Laserdisc release in the USA, Japan and The Netherlands and also Germany in 1984 but was withdrawn from sale in all territories soon after due to copyright issues.