The Beatles : Get Back [Blu-Ray]

What happens when you review something from watching it on the telly and before it’s actually available? You make yourself look silly.I can’t believe there are people whinging about this. We were all hoping the ‘Let It Be’ film would eventually be released on DVD but Apple surprised us all by turning it into something more than sumptuous. Nearly eight hours of rich footage to fulfil us and some are still not satisfied. Anyway, we can forget all those misery guts and concentrate on what’s here for our delectation. (And for those clamouring for 'Let It Be' to be released, I'm sure those 90 minutes are all included here.)Coming in a slip case, that is a tad difficult to remove, the book style trio of CDs is presented in three parts with obvious breaks (Twickenham, Apple Studios and Rooftop) and shows how much more they were at home at Saville Row than the cold, empty vastness of a film studio. It’s also apparent that Ringo does seem a bit bored at times, not having as much screen time and far less dialogue than the others. However, what it does show is how he, and the other three, and you’ll notice this very early in proceedings, concentrate on following the one whose song it is by seemingly staring at him whilst trying to follow what he’s doing. I guess that’s how it worked for them.Yes there may be lots of sitting around and talking but when Paul starts strumming his bass and George joins in, despite appearing to meander aimlessly, it eventually turns into a nascent ‘Get Back’. The inception of a classic before our very eyes. And there’s the thing about the songs. Mr Harrison turns up one morning having written ‘I Me Mine’ around a television show about dancing he saw the night before. Not an instrument associated with him, he also performs admirably on piano on ‘Old Brown Shoe’. Even Ringo tinkles the ivories on “the octopus one” when demonstrating it to George, who chucks in his own ideas seconds after hearing it. What you need to bear in mind is that most of what’s here is the group rehearsing and there are no full songs before the ‘rooftop show’. Though it was available on the Beatles’ own website, it’s a pity the director didn’t include the ‘rooftop’ segment without the cutaways to the public in the street.As for the songs mentioned in the credits, it references a lot of Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr compositions, of which some, viz. ‘Too Bad About Sorrows’, ‘I Fancy My Chances’, ‘Thinking Of Linking’, ‘Just Fun’ and ‘I Lost My Little Girl’, for example, will be familiar to die-hard fans, but none of us will know about the remaining ones such as ‘Song Of Love’, ‘Cupcake Baby’, ‘My Imagination’, ‘You Wear Your Women Out’ and many others. Okay, these very brief snippets of music (and some barely there ‘made-up-on-the-spot’ vocals) have probably been given titles as they could hardly have all been called ‘Improvisation’, but then again, maybe they really did exist, such is the minefield that is music copyright. Mind you, ‘Freakout Jam (featuring Yoko Ono)’ should have been taken further and eventually issued.Having watched this, you’ll ask yourself whether these sessions really were as bad as we were first led to believe. Okay, George left for a few days but what we see here isn’t the oft peddled disintegration of the group. It couldn’t have been that bad, as they did go on to record ‘Abbey Road’ later in the year, though many of the songs on that were premiered here. Then again, maybe all the nasty stuff was left out so as not to sully their image.Whilst the packaging is a bit disappointing, as it would have been nice to have something included to read, after years of ‘will it’ ‘won’t it’ speculation, I, for one, am pleased we can now have this. Okay, this won’t really appeal to the casual buyer, but we all know the legion of die-hard fans will. And that means you! Oh, and you get four postcard size photos of the Fabs.

Firstly like another reviewer I have to counter the ludicrous 1 star review posted before the product was even released. Yes a 4K release with extra footage would be nice.But all this costs more money, and for a lot of people you really can't see the difference. I own a 4K bluray player and 4K TV and have stopped buying 4K films because the difference just isn't noticeable most of the time.Furthermore at the moment costs are an issue and I don't want to spend twice the amount of money. The reviewer maybe right about one thing. People who have Disney+ may not be buying this. But I bet some do, as the downside to all streaming, be it music, TV or films, is you don't have control over when something is available. Don't start me on musicians being ripped off....No this IS a great release. In the early 1980s Let It Be did get a video release but was quickly but not for long, and I never managed to get a copy, so I had given up hope that we'd ever see Let It Be again (and we probably won't now), but this is so much more and so much better. After the initial 10 minutes where the band's career is reviewed up to the point when the film was made, we are then taken to the studio as The Beatles arrive to start writing and rehearsing. I found this incredibly moving. To see and hear them in their prime again in a film that sometimes (not always) looks like it was shot yesterday is amazing.The tensions present certainly aren't glossed over, but the overall mood of the film is much lighter than the original Let It Be film.At nearly 8 hours long I think it probably could have been trimmed a bit, but I'm not complaining! I'd have paid the cost of the set just for the rooftop concert. You are seeing one the most important groups of musicians of the 20th century (in any genre of music) writing and performing. whilst still near to their creative peak.Though there are many many great musical moments (particularly writing songs), it's always the rooftop concert that will remain my favourite part.Truly it's an astounding release, which after 40 years of waiting is worth every penny.

This arrived this morning & being on annual leave I was able to view the first disc.I cannot add to what has already been said about this superb documentary other than to say it’s fantastic!The three discs come in a booklet style presentation box, which includes four postcards of the Fabs. The box & slip case are of a very high quality indeed.As for the picture, it is clear ‘n’ crisp & the atmos sound is glorious! Seriously, the sound quality is so good you could easily believe that the band is rehearsing in your living room!There are no extras on any of the discs, so us fans expecting additional / bonus material will be (slightly) disappointed about this. Rumours of a “12 hour” directors cut are just that: rumours. Perhaps in the future when the Beatles (finally) re-release the original Let it Be movie there may be some additional material but what’s included here is exactly what’s been streaming on Disney. So...no option to ‘just’ watch the rooftop concert without cuts to the street / audience, which I know some of us Beatle nuts wanted.However, now having this set on three discs is fantastic & (as I’ve said already) the sound & picture quality is amazing, especially when one considers the rather dark & poor quality of the original Let it Be movie (which I have on a bootleg DVD!)All told, I’m over the moon with this & I'm looking forward to spending some of the rest of my holiday watching this glorious documentary, a documentary showing (without a shadow of a doubt) the very BEST rock group ever to record music.If you’re a Beatle fanatic then you WILL want to own, watch & enjoy this glorious set.There are no extras but...so what!!! this is 468 minutes (nearly 8 hours) of pure Beatle magic. What more could you ask for!!!?Buy ‘n’ Enjoy y’all!!