Get Back Archives - The Beatles Bookstore

Get Back

Beatle fans were amazed at the music and dialog that was featured in the Peter Jackson Get Back project. This provided nearly 8 hours of wonderful music and dialogue which altered the perceptions of many concerning the group’s demise. Much of the audio that appears in the Get Back film was sourced from something called the Nagra Reels, used to source film shot with the respective audio that matched.

This book- THE BEATLES In The Studio With The Beatles – Nagra Tapes published in 2009 in both Dutch and English was written by author Dennis Dekker.

It is a 134-page hardback book and was edited by Henk-Jan Hoekjen and translated into English by Pien Steffes. Dekker was able to listen to the Nagra reels and was able to transcribe many of the conversations. Though he lacked the technical advances available to Peter Jackson, the book represents one of the first attempts to give a fuller picture of what actually transpired at the Get Back sessions. The Nagra reels story itself is fascinating to read about as apparently they were stolen from the Beatles and were discovered/recovered in a police raid held in the Netherlands in 2021.

Here is a photo of the cover of the book

Buzz

Let It Be?

With all of the publicity surrounding the “new” Beatles Get Back film directed by Peter Jackson, I have had countless conversations about the new film. The anticipation is at almost fever pitch as the trailers we have seen look incredible.

It made me decide to back and watch the original “Let It Be” film that was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. It has been years since I last watched it and through all the discussions over those years, one theme seems to permeate through everything: we were watching The Beatles fall apart. But were we?

Paul and George Argue

The most famous element was always the argument between Paul and George, where George tells Paul that he will play whatever Paul wants him to, or he just wouldn’t play. Fans also refer to Yoko being permanently at John’s side, which she was.

But was it a negative film? Is it too painful to watch?

I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed watching it again, and it was filled with lots of fun scenes where you could see all four of them enjoying what they were doing, especially when they break out into funny arrangements, or the silly voices come out, like in “Besame Mucho”. But, it wasn’t the dark, depressing film that I seemed to think it was.

The Beatles Rooftop Concert

Then of course, we end with that incredible rooftop concert. How Lindsay-Hogg and his team were able to capture that is incredible, with the limited technology and space available. Plus, when you see them performing, I think they were recapturing memories of playing to crowds, which they hadn’t done since August 1966. The Beatles were enjoying themselves and it still such an iconic film.

Apology Needed?

We know Peter Jackson’s 6 hour special series is going to be superb, and it will have been worth the wait. However, I believe we also owe an apology and debt of thanks to Michael Lindsay-Hogg who has probably had a lot of negativity surrounding the film he made. He did a great job with what he had to work with.