The Beatles 'Get Back' thread

[mikel]

40 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

@WinterMute I love Ringo - the suggestions get punched in and he replicated it with feel and like you say, precision.

I remember Paul saying that when they first played with Ringo on drums the collectively said "Wow" this is whats been missing.

[casapete]

1 hour ago, mikel said:

I remember Paul saying that when they first played with Ringo on drums the collectively said "Wow" this is whats been missing.

I’ve always been saddened by all jokes over the years sparked by the ‘not even the best drummer in the Beatles’ lines etc. Without Ringo it just wouldn’t have been right, and I think his contribution to the band’s success is hard to overstate. In the ‘Get Back’ episodes I’ve seen (1&2 so far) I’ve seen nothing to make me change my view.

[mikel]

15 minutes ago, casapete said:

I’ve always been saddened by all jokes over the years sparked by the ‘not even the best drummer in the Beatles’ lines etc. Without Ringo it just wouldn’t have been right, and I think his contribution to the band’s success is hard to overstate. In the ‘Get Back’ episodes I’ve seen (1&2 so far) I’ve seen nothing to make me change my view.

More so live. They could hear virtually nothing on stage as monitors were almost none existent. But they could hear the drums, so he was driving the songs. Imagine being able to do those wonderful harmonies when you cant even hear your own instrument. Pure class.

[Jason Karloff]

I'm watching it and enjoying it immensely. It's pretty much how I thought events transpired during that period.

General consensus has always been that Ringo had zero creative input. Which I don't condemn him for in the slightest. When you have writers of the calibre of Lennon/McCartney, it's a tall order to shunt one of their tunes off an album for one of yours. 

But what I can't fathom is the complete lack of opinion. A comment of 'I like that bit' or 'do that bit again'. Showing some support or interest to what is being created around him, i find disappointing. 

I remember his only recollection of the Sgt Pepper sessions being that he learnt how to play chess. 

I'm not bashing the bloke. I just don't understand why he didn't chip in with something, anything. 

 

[mikel]

15 minutes ago, Jason Karloff said:

I'm watching it and enjoying it immensely. It's pretty much how I thought events transpired during that period.

General consensus has always been that Ringo had zero creative input. Which I don't condemn him for in the slightest. When you have writers of the calibre of Lennon/McCartney, it's a tall order to shunt one of their tunes off an album for one of yours. 

But what I can't fathom is the complete lack of opinion. A comment of 'I like that bit' or 'do that bit again'. Showing some support or interest to what is being created around him, i find disappointing. 

I remember his only recollection of the Sgt Pepper sessions being that he learnt how to play chess. 

I'm not bashing the bloke. I just don't understand why he didn't chip in with something, anything. 

 

I think he chipped in the drumming parts. I was in an originals band with three songwriters, but I changed the feel, the tempos and the time signatures of some of the songs with my drum parts. We also serve etc.

[Jason Karloff]

Providing the drums was his job. Which he did do very well in my opinion. But it's that very word that irks me. Opinion. Have one. 

Lob a drum stick at Macca' head and say no, sometimes. Smile  like a loon at other moments. Just have an opinion. Don't just sit there watching Yoko doing her knitting. 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Jason Karloff

[wateroftyne]

1 hour ago, Jason Karloff said:

 

I'm not bashing the bloke. I just don't understand why he didn't chip in with something, anything. 

 

 

I suspect he tried for the previous six years so so, and realised it was pointless.

[Jason Karloff]

Yes there could be an element of feeling ground down by it all. 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

13 minutes ago, Jason Karloff said:

Providing the drums was his job. Which he did do very well in my opinion. But it's that very word that irks me. Opinion. Have one. 

Lob a drum stick at Macca' head and say no, sometimes. Smile  like a loon at other moments. Just have an opinion. Don't just sit there watching Yoko doing her knitting. 

Honestly, he didn't look at all well throughout most of it. Or just very tired.

[mikel]

4 minutes ago, Jason Karloff said:

Yes there could be an element of feeling ground down by it all. 

He never came across as ground down to me. He was in the most successful pop/rock band in history and didn't need to write any of the songs as the others wrote so many they could give lots of great ones away. Ground down? I could live with his legacy.

[Doctor J]

Don't worry, you'll see him writing Octopus' Garden in ep. 3. 

[Jason Karloff]

Well as its 6 hours of edited footage out of 600 plus hours. Maybe there was a point where he walked in with a completed symphony and got shot down 😁

 

That guy in the studio. Dennis somebody. The one always saying let's all go and do this in an empty amphitheater in Syria. Was he responsible for Pink Floyd playing in that empty amphitheatre a bit later? 

He seems obsessed with the idea. 

[Huge Hands]

3 minutes ago, Jason Karloff said:

That guy in the studio. Dennis somebody. The one always saying let's all go and do this in an empty amphitheater in Syria.

 

I'm up to about halfway into episode 2 and I have really noticed the Apple effect - lots of "creative types" hanging on and trying to constantly suggest more lavish ways to spend the Beatles money.  

 

Of course the stories about Magic Alex are well known, but as you say - watching various people constantly pestering and pushing for north Africa for a live show is a bit much - especially as we all know how it ended with Apple losing loads of money.

 

Loving watching it though - especially hearing classic tracks still in development and working through lyrics.  Amazing bit of history.

[Jason Karloff]

Agree for sure. It's a must watch. 

 

I don't understand why they let themselves be boxed into a 2 week deadline. 2 weeks to write an album, record it, rehearse a performance. 

They own the company. Total masters of their own destiny.

[Dankology]

18 minutes ago, Jason Karloff said:

I don't understand why they let themselves be boxed into a 2 week deadline. 2 weeks to write an album, record it, rehearse a performance. 

They own the company. Total masters of their own destiny.

 

So true. The proof of the pudding being that, once they removed the self-imposed time and creative restrictions, they crafted Abbey Road out of essentially the same pool of material.

 

I do feel they were just short of one person pointing out how needlessly destructive the whole idea was but between the dead Epstein, apparently disillusioned George Martin, clearly star-struck Glyn Johns and the imbecile Lindsay-Hogg there was no-one to state the obvious and gently guide them right.

 

Complete aside: I absolutely love the fact that history's very first "shut up, Yoko" jibe seems to have been cracked by McCartney himself, aimed at Linda 

[wateroftyne]

8 minutes ago, Dankology said:

 

So true. The proof of the pudding being that, once they removed the self-imposed time and creative restrictions, they crafted Abbey Road out of essentially the same pool of material.

 

I do feel they were just short of one person pointing out how needlessly destructive the whole idea was but between the dead Epstein, apparently disillusioned George Martin, clearly star-struck Glyn Johns and the imbecile Lindsay-Hogg there was no-one to state the obvious and gently guide them right.

 

Complete aside: I absolutely love the fact that history's very first "shut up, Yoko" jibe seems to have been cracked by McCartney himself, aimed at Linda 

 

'...imbecile Lindsay-Hogg'? Really?

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, Jason Karloff said:

Providing the drums was his job. Which he did do very well in my opinion. But it's that very word that irks me. Opinion. Have one. 

Lob a drum stick at Macca' head and say no, sometimes. Smile  like a loon at other moments. Just have an opinion. Don't just sit there watching Yoko doing her knitting. 

perhaps as well he didn't, they may not have lasted 10 years if he had, many a band has broken up because of too many opinions, or musical differences as it's called

[Happy Jack]

18 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

'...imbecile Lindsay-Hogg'? Really?

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/original-let-it-be-movie-michael-lindsay-hogg-peter-jackson-get-back-1250561/

 

Don't know about then, but he sounds quite sensible now.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Happy Jack

[wateroftyne]

Just now, Happy Jack said:

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/original-let-it-be-movie-michael-lindsay-hogg-peter-jackson-get-back-1250561/

 

Yeah. The guy really isn't an imbecile.

[Dankology]

19 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

'...imbecile Lindsay-Hogg'? Really?

 

In this context I think so. The editing here admitedly emphasises it but I think his insistence on pushing the live show aspect when the band were clearly in the midst of an existential crisis shows a complete lack of emotional intelligence. I'm not sure he comes across at all like a benign or even helpful influence.

 

And that's not to mention his utterly outlandish ideas for the show itself or his pointless desire to use codenames for the individual Beatles.

[wateroftyne]

2 minutes ago, Dankology said:

 

In this context I think so. The editing here admitedly emphasises it but I think his insistence on pushing the live show aspect when the band were clearly in the midst of an existential crisis shows a complete lack of emotional intelligence. I'm not sure he comes across at all like a benign or even helpful influence.

 

And that's not to mention his utterly outlandish ideas for the show itself or his pointless desire to use codenames for the individual Beatles.

 

His raison d'etre was to make a film with a narrative that people would want to watch, so he's going to try and spice stuff up a bit.

 

Let's not forget he managed to shoot hours of amazing footage & audio, of The Beatles being fairly candid, in a time before DSLRs, SD cards and LED lighting.

 

Imbecile? No. He deserves a bloody medal.

[Crawford13]

What is crazy is they were all 29 or younger at this point, when putting this into context of how their lives had been for the several years leading up to this, no wonder they need a bit of guidance.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Crawford13

[Dankology]

15 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

His raison d'etre was to make a film with a narrative that people would want to watch, so he's going to try and spice stuff up a bit.

 

Let's not forget he managed to shoot hours of amazing footage & audio, of The Beatles being fairly candid, in a time before DSLRs, SD cards and LED lighting.

 

Imbecile? No. He deserves a bloody medal.

 

I'll have to agree to disagree on this one as I reckon his tenacity almost certainly contributed to the toxic atmosphere. But I suppose that's an eternal conundrum: how much does the observer change events merely by observing them?

 

Or by continually punting daft ideas, of course.

[wateroftyne]

Just now, Dankology said:

 

I'll have to agree to disagree on this one as I reckon his tenacity almost certainly contributed to the toxic atmosphere.

 

More than the alcohol, junk, resentment, egos and interfering girlfriends?

[Dankology]

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

 

More than the alcohol, junk, resentment, egos and interfering girlfriends?

I'm not sure I said that. 

 

But as an outsider he perhaps had a degree of perspective (and freedom to speak his mind?) that others that others did not but he chose to bullishly pursue his own agenda.