Ken Hoffman returns in new 8-hour Beatles documentary

Like millions of others, I am the biggest Beatles fan in the world. That’s why I was so excited, but more and more bored, and ultimately disappointed with To recover, Peter Jackson’s short-lived Beatles documentary now airing on Disney Plus.

To recover promised an intimate six-hour close-up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr writing, rehearsing and recording 18 songs while joking, bickering and breaking up, as well as the pressure of a three-time deadline weeks for their last album, So be it, in January 1969.

Except …

The documentary ultimately lasts more than eight hours. The Beatles really only came up with a handful of new songs and, more oddly, why does this documentary feature So be it like the Beatles’ swan song, with their last public concert on the roof of their Apple headquarters as the closing scene?

You would think the Beatles came down from the rooftop, hit the downstairs button, and never saw each other again.

The final scene of the documentary is not a concert anyway. Over 40 minutes of stopping and starting on a winter afternoon in London, the Beatles performed nine songs – three takes from their upcoming single “Get Back”, two tries at “Don’t Let Me Down”, the Lennon’s main contribution to the project, which somehow was not included in the So be it album, two versions of “I’ve Got a Feeling” and one each of “Dig a Pony” and “One After 909”.

The stage was set up towards the back of the roof, not exactly in public, out of sight of the crowds drawn into the street below. It might as well have been played on the radio. Apple employees must have told fans that the music is from The Beatles.

When it comes to writing, rehearsing and recording 18 new songs for their “last” LP, only eight songs written from scratch during the documentary period made the 12 tracks. So be it album. Other songs, like “One After 909” and “Across the Universe”, were written long before the So be it project. “Dig It” appears as a 50 second release, and “Maggie Mae” is a 40 second show of an old folk tune from Liverpool.

Beatles fans and historians wonder if So be it is actually the band’s farewell album. While this was their last album released over a year later in May 1970, it was because The Beatles were not happy with Glyn Johns’ original production and brought in legendary producer Phil Spector to finish. pieces with added strings and choir voices.

The true final album with the four Beatles in the studio together was their acclaimed Abbey Route album, recorded in February-August 1969 and released in September.

Were the Beatles really under a three week deadline for the Let It Be album? There’s an old joke: a doctor gave a man three months to live. When the patient did not pay the bill, the doctor gave him three more months.

The three-week deadline was said to have been imposed because drummer Ringo Starr was scheduled to start shooting a film titled The magical Christian, with Peter Sellers in February 1969.

But really? If the Beatles wanted to run a week or two longer or as long as they wanted, who was going to tell the biggest and most successful act in musical history that they had to stop? A record company executive once told me that the Eagles were late to deliver an album. The executive said, “What are we going to do, fine them?” They are multimillionaires. And we need the Eagles.

Was the Beatles label going to fine the Beatles? The Beatles owned the label.

So while there is a day of work to do, I watched every minute of my four favorite people create timeless music. The film is beautifully restored, you can see the pores of their faces and their relationship to each other. However, their voices are raised when the red light comes on.

Contrary to the controversy and the death knell presented in the first documentary of this period, the film by Michael Lindsay-Hogg Leave it Me, Jackson’s version, taken from 57 hours of never-before-seen video, shows the upbeat Beatles getting along and clowning around with each other. They had been through a lot together, from the sweaty Cavern Club in Liverpool to noisy seedy bars in Hamburg to an unprecedented global superstar. Sure, there are moments of tension, like George leaving the band, but you don’t believe this is a group on the brink.

While historically there was nothing new to learn – hundreds of books have been written about The Beatles – there is a glimpse into their personalities and quirks. McCartney, with his hands in his hair combed back, had indeed become the band’s musical director and his bossy nature particularly annoys George Harrison and Ringo Starr until Lennon looked away from Yoko Ono long enough to put McCartney back on his feet. square.

The Four Beatles were hardcore smokers in the studio, which would never be allowed today. Lennon had to be a two-a-day guy. And he kisses Yoko, whenever he has the chance, with that mouth?

George Harrison is a little whiny, sarcastic under McCartney’s thumb, unhappy that his songs are being skipped on previous Beatles albums, unwilling to travel to North Africa for the Beatles’ closing concert, even voting against the rise of two flights of stairs to the roof of Apple. Yoko Ono is not the unwelcome and unwelcome harpy that shatters the Beatles. More than anything, she looks like a bored bride during the Bring Your Wife to Work day.

McCartney is clearly deferential and kind to Yoko. He realizes that Lennon loves him and the Beatles will just have to deal with him. It’s different from Ringo and George wanting her to leave the studio and would prefer her out of Lennon’s life. They say they can’t communicate with Lennon with Yoko by his side. They want to get their old “Johnny” back.

For all the controversy and criticism of the original So be it Project of 1969, it should be noted that the album climbed to the top of the Billboard charts and included three No.1 singles, “Let It Be”, “Get Back” and “The Long and Winding Road”.

Ironically, in a documentary on this album, two of the biggest hits, “Let It Be” and “Long and Winding Road”, were not performed during the rooftop concert because the makeshift stage could not stand. a piano.

The three slices of the To recover documentary airs on Disney Plus, which charges $ 7.99 per month and you can cancel anytime – like exactly a month like I do.