The Beatles: Get Back by The Beatles

The Beatles: Get Back Reviews

• 
  Lisa Vegan

  I saw the Peter Jackson’s documentary feature film, The Beatles: Get Back
  first. 5 stars. I loved it. Seeing it is the main reason I wanted to also read the book.
  
  Wow! This is pretty much the documentary, but without the music but with some fascinating extra essays including one by Jackson. The documentary and the complement each other well. I think the entire transcript is in the book and I admit that I skimmed at times though I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t seen the film.
  
  One of the things that most impressed me about the documentary, and I was reminded of it here, was what good parenting Heather got from both Linda and Paul. I was impressed.
  
  It was fun to relive the documentary. I grinned again at the rooftop day. I wish I had been there. I make a decision I still regret to not get tickets and go to the Beatles last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. We didn’t know it was going to be their last concert. I was only 12, but a friend and I considered going and I was the one who nixed it. I had/have a few friends who did go. It’s a decision I regret. I never went to any of their other concerts either. The tickets were cheap and there were plenty of available seats. I guess these sorts of films and books give me some vicarious satisfaction. (There are many great links about it: look up August 29, 1966 Beatles last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.)
  
  I’m glad I read this and glad I got some extra information not in the documentary but this is a rare time when I enjoyed the movie more than the book.
  
  4-1/2 stars
• 
  Loretta

  Really excellent! True Beatle fans, such as myself, will appreciate this book. 😊
• 
  Teresa

  Using the same techniques he employed for his WWI movie, They Shall Not Grow Old, filmmaker Peter Jackson cleaned up the 60-something hours of film from the Beatles’ 1969 Let It Be sessions. Jackson and his team also developed techniques to amplify and clarify the twice-as-many hours of audio from the sessions. The almost 8-hour docuseries was shaped from the restored material, which was also available to this book’s editor, John Harris. The book is not a transcript of the series; it was created independently.
  
  Enough differences between the two products exist for a Beatles fan[atic] to consume both. I won’t say how many times I watched the documentary (I lost count), but I will say it’s good I had a limited time with the streaming service. Seeing it before reading the book added context—facial expression, body language—for when the text and video did overlap. Context is always welcome, and for Beatles fan[atic]s so is content.
• 
  Jeff Howells

  The holy grail of Beatles history - finally, finally the ‘Get Back/Let it Be’ sessions at Twickenham Studios and Saville Row are being given the lavish reissue treatment - a six hour series initially available on Disney + (boo!) multi disc versions of the album, and this gorgeous coffee table book with loads of photos, stills from the film and transcripts…it’s truly stunning. They really have passed the audition this time.
• 
  Renee G.

  This book has amazing photos and more in depth conversations than you get from simply watching Get Back. Definitely a valuable companion to the new movie.
• 
  Judy

  It was a very strange experience reading words spoken by a band that hasn’t been together for many years. Sometimes following the context of the conversations was hard, but getting a bird’s eye view of their creative process was fascinating. I will look forward to watching the documentary soon.
• 
  Christopher Keiser

  One must be an uber-fan to enjoy this, but, enjoy it I did. I believe it will be a nice refresher for the Pete Jackson documentary coming out soon.
• 
  Monique

  Het is uiterst pijnlijk om te lezen hoe vier mannen die voorheen zulke goede vrienden waren wanhopig proberen hun band en vriendschap te bewaren, maar zichzelf en elkaar uiteindelijk verliezen in irritaties en meningsverschillen. In het boek en de bijbehorende documentaire vallen The Beatles, de meest briljante band ooit, voor onze ogen uiteen, juist op het moment dat ze qua muziek op hun best waren. Wat zou er toch gebeurd zijn als Mark David Champman John Lennon in 1980 niet had doodgeschoten? Zouden The Beatles dan een vernieuwde samenwerking zijn aangegaan? We zullen het helaas nooit weten.
• 
  Tim

  For Beatles fans. As a picture book it’s superb. The print quality is wonderful and the paper stock is coffee-table-book quality. The book is a transcription of the tape recordings from January 1969 during the filming of Let it Be. It includes not only what is on film, but what was recorded when the cameras weren’t rolling. I couldn’t stop reading it. It’s 1st source material that made up the stories and anecdotes I’ve been raised on the these last 50 years.
  
  A day after George quit the band temporarily, John says if he doesn’t come back let’s get Clapton. So cool to read his actual words.
  
  I read it in two days. Couldn’t stop. We’ll done!
• 
  Joe Schilp

  I am a huge and lifelong Beatles fan in my 50s; I grew up on their music, but having seen the film, there really wasn't much left to learn so so my expectations for the book were not high. I think most of the reviews here were from readers who read the book before the Peter Jackson film was released on Disney+ which is why they are 5-star reviews. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but 98% of the book is transcribed dialogue from the film, so having received the book for Christmas, four weeks after watching the film, I knew all of the content before reading the book.
  
  The large photos are truly outstanding, but most of the photos are still frames from the movie and are really small, so they don't really add much, either. Because the book is so large and heavy, it's not easy to read unless you don't mind breaking the spine - I hate breaking the spine.
  
  Still, it was nice to review the text of what I'd seen and, again, remember that these 4 guys loved to play together, no matter the impression of the original Let It Be film 51 years ago. I didn't buy the book because I suspected I'd get it for Christmas, and I'm glad it was a gift because I'd hate to have spend $60 on it. Seriously, don't Paul, Ringo, Olivia Harrison and Yoko have enough money?
  
  I did get the Target version of the book, which includes 4 movie cards in the back, which was a nice little bonus, but after looking at the photos, I put them back in the book where they'll remain.
• 
  Gavin Meisels

  If you finished the Get Back documentary and you were hungry for more, this is the book for you.
• 
  Michelle "Champ"

  This is a beautiful book! The pages are high quality. The photographs are outstanding and some of them fill the entire two-page layout. If you are not a Disney+ subscriber, then you can follow along with the movie because the dialog is here along with photographs of what was taking place. The rooftop concert photos give you an in-depth look at the set-up, the crowd, and what took place during the last time that The Beatles performed live together. A perfect book for your collection of books.
• 
  George

  3.5 stars. An interesting account of the Beatles ‘Let it Be’ album rehearsing and recording sessions in January 1969. The beautifully packaged book with photos, conversation transcripts, three introductory articles and contextual summaries, complements the 8 hour, three part movie, ‘Get Back by the Beatles, released in late 2021.
  
  A book for Beatles fans.
• 
  Erik

  The perfect companion piece to the awesome Peter Jackson documentary!
• 
  Ryan

  Absolutely necessary for anyone who considers themselves a serious Beatles fan. Revelatory to read even for someone who has read and watched everything else on them ever put out. Just beautiful.
• 
  Brian Bess

  This is a great companion to the Peter Jackson-directed film, 'The Beatles: Get Back'. There are at least as many photos as there is text. I can't recall ALL of this dialogue being in the film. The only part that may not have been in the film was the extended passage in which John extols the talents of Allan Klein as a desirable cutthroat manager to George. Ringo may have been in the room but Paul is notably absent. There's a similar conversation between John and George in which George says he'd like to put out his own album, just to get the huge backlog of songs he's written out there. Both he and John acknowledge that this is a good idea and they both assume that it won't affect the Beatles from continuing to get together to do group projects. Significantly, Paul is absent from this conversation. If he had been and if George had pursued the subject in situations in which all four of them were present then they might have not blown apart so dramatically later in the year.
  
  Relations soured significantly, mostly because of the rift that resulted from John's insistence on getting Allen Klein to manage them, which George and Ringo went along with but Paul, notably, resisted. I find it ironic that the 'Get Back/Let it Be' sessions were NOT the nadir of relations between the group as has been interpreted over the past 50 years. Throughout these sessions, those tensions are present but contained. John and Paul's bond is still close, at least as creative leaders of the group, even if they may have drifted apart personally. The thread of George's mounting resentment runs through the entire experience. Repeatedly, he tries to suggest another new one of his that they can try, only to be politely ignored. He'll say, "I've got a new one", only to have John say, "Well, I've got something I've been working on" or Paul would say, "Let's work on this one some more (referring to one of his own compositions)".
  
  One unspoken problem throughout this time is John's heroin addiction. It's largely responsible for him showing up late, him showing up with no new compositions except for the well-worn "Don't Let Me Down" or "Dig a Pony". The only other new ones from him are older, already complete songs: "Across the Universe" (one of his all-time best) and "One After 909", an early song that never measured up to his best early songs.
  
  But when the energy blends just right, they create some joyous musical experiences. They're still capable of creating magic together. As I've said before, I just wish the quality of the songs were consistently as good as the batch on 'Rubber Soul' or 'Revolver' or 'Sgt. Pepper'. Now, THAT was something to get excited about!
  
  'The Beatles: Get Back', whether as written transcript or visual documentary or recorded album, works best as a character study that does provide a fascinating insight into these four personalities, how they worked, joked, played, and argued. In those respects it's a fascinating document.
• 
  Translator Monkey

  Loved this book! Thank you for the perfect birthday gift, Tina! :) <3
• 
  Richard West

  The question that needs to be asked is, does the world really, truly need another book about the Beatles? This is number - what? - 1001 perhaps? Makes no difference, but the question did need to be asked.
  
  Having asked it, the answer to that question might conceivably be, yes, but let this be the last one. After all, how much more can be written about a group that did so much to revolutionize pop culture and popular music?
  
  This is the story that culminates in the famous "Rooftop Concert" which pretty much finished off the group, although they did do a few more tunes together just for the sake of continuity in the film which accompanied the "Let It Be" album. Shortly after, John Lennon left the group and shortly after that, Paul McCartney announced his departure. End of group.
  
  This book effectively gives you the transcript of the film which has finally been re-released although not in it's original form since any time things are updated these days, it seems those doing that updating think they have to add things not in the original. That's Ok as long as at some point, they give us the original. Boomers aren't getting any younger and would like to be able to view the original.
  
  So - now we have a super souvenir book loaded with photos - and I do mean loaded - transcripts of what was said and even some background information. No more is needed. This is for the Beatles fan or for the person who wonders what it was all about - a very well put-together chronicle of the end days - and it should be the last Beatle book. Nothing else is needed.
  
  And at the end of the "Rooftop Concert" John says "Thank you and I hope we passed the audition" (paraphrased before someone tells me I got it wrong). Yes John, you and your bandmates passed the audition admirably.
• 
  Mark

  Created to accompany the release of the Peter Jackson documentary (which I've not seen at this writing), this oversized coffee table book includes the transcripts of behind-the-scenes conversations that went into the making of the albums "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road", along with high-quality photographs throughout.
  For years the story circulated that tensions were high between John, Paul, George, and Ringo during these sessions. This book dispels the myth, showing The Beatles joking around amongst themselves and still enjoying being together and creating great music.
  With all of the lads wanting to stretch their individual songwriting muscles (especially George), the breakup of The Beatles was inevitable. But it's nice to travel back in time and visit with four friends that changed music forever
• 
  Gary Anderson

  This coffee-table book is mostly a transcript of Peter Jackson’s three-part “Get Back” series currently streaming on Disney+. For me, it provides a welcome reading experience as the dialogue in the film is sometimes rushed or hushed, and this text version allows readers to slow down and consider the implications of what is being said. Along with the words, this book includes dozens of photos of all sizes from the film that capture The Beatles at work, smiling, playing, and interacting with each other and the various people who were in the studio during filming. For the hefty $60 price tag, the binding should be sturdier, but the contents of Get Back are enjoyable and visually appealing.
• 
  Marco Navarro

  Es difícil hacer una reseña de éste título sin dejar de lado mi gran admiración por el cuarto de Liverpool. Me hice del libro después de ver el documental de Peter Jackson, y aunque el libro es básicamente la transcripción de los diálogos contenidos en dicho documental, no me decepcionó en absoluto. Es fantástico (ahora) leer (y ver en sus fabulosas fotografías, que es lo mejor del libro) todo lo que conllevó realizar el álbum Let It Be y el icónico Rooftop Concert. Es un libro que, sin duda, todo Beatlemaniac debe tener en su librería personal.
• 
  Nan

  If you've already watched all eight hours of the Peter Jackson documentary (guilty), then reading this transcript seems a bit besides the point. Unless you actually want to read the conversations, arguments, and brainstorming that transpired in those recording sessions, all that's new is the bounty of excellent photographs. Not being able to witness the music coming to life is a huge deficit. What's left is a project that speaks, but doesn't sing. Actual rating: 2.5
• 
  Paul Shotsberger

  This is a great look back at a great band. I assume these are the dialogues from the streaming series Get Back. Sometimes it’s difficult to read because of the start-stop nature of the dialogue as well as the interruptions, but I think the most important thing that comes across is that this wasn’t the finale for a bunch of guys who didn’t like each other anymore. Instead, we are allowed to see creativity up close and we understand their view of this work was as part of a continuum that led directly to Abbey Road. Well worth checking out!
• 
  Amanda

  This is a companion book to Peter Jackson's documentary The Beatles: Get Back of the filming of The Beatles creation of Let It Be. It has beautiful photography and it's cool to read the transcriptions of the conversations of The Beatles during recording, so you catch things if you missed it during watch the doc. Great coffee table book and essential for any Beatles fan!
• 
  Maria

  I absolutely loved this book. It's so nicely executed.