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8.29am
17 March 2019
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Im still reeling. Personally? I think this is the most complete account of those sessions that we’ll ever see. Considering all the fears some had of Paul or Disney watering things down, I think more than anything Paul deserves credit. I hear complaints lately he’s been thinking about his legacy, and even I myself have accused Paul and Ringo of remembering things too fondly and painting a happy picture for the sake of The Beatles as a “Brand” these days, but this film…it changes my entire view of him from this time period. I’m blown away!
SPOILERS AHEAD! I DONT KNOW HOW TO DO TAGS! RUN! DO NOT LOOK BELOW IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ SPOILERS FOR PART TWO. THEY WONT BE HID! GET OUT WHILE YOU STILLL CAN! AAAAAAH!
…Look at the “And then there were two” scene! My GOD. This is not the face of a man who’s a “Control freak” like i thought. Those tear filled eyes belong to a man who’s trying to preserve the brotherhood between he and his best friends, and being powerless as he watches it all fall apart around him. It’s absolutely enthralling, and then we follow it up with a bit of SPY ESPIONAGE as we listen to John and Paul finally address the issues that had been facing them since Bryan’s death! AND THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW THEY’RE BEING RECORDED! Holy mother of GOD! THIS is the kind of thing we all wanted to see!
AND IT KEEPS GOING! In part 3 (Did you think i was done with SPOILERS yet?! Why are you reading this?! Watch the movies! Go! Now! Do it!) We see John and George–No Paul in the room–talking about how great Klein is, and how he “Knows me as much as you do!” – FIND ME IN THE ALPS! Do you realize what we’re watching here?! This is the moment it’s decided! This is the decision that rocks the band to it’s core and seals it’s fate, and John’s being played like a dang fiddle! He’s turning George to the dark side! WHY, JOHN?! WHY?! YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE, JOHN! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING BALLENCE TO THE BEATLES, NOT LEAVE THEM IN DARKNESS! 🙁
*Ahem!* Sorry!
…But then, after all that…we get (MORE SPOILERS, THATS WHAT!) the coolest, trippyest, most comprehensive cut of the Rooftop Concert I’ve ever seen. Sure, some will bemoan the camera cuts and the police talk, but the point is that it’s not just about the band simply performing, it’s about the fact that they’re performing and simultaneously causing a phenomenon in real time! The police are on their way, Mal and Debbie are trying their damnedest to buy time and preserve the band’s project, which they know could be the last. If it all ends now everything building to this is for nothing! So they stall them, but the pressure is mounting. The Sargent’s here now, and he he’s going up the stairs! Meanwhile, people are VIBING in the streets and we see the world clearly still loves them, even after all the fear and anxiety of the situation, they’re still the best damn show on earth, even till the bitter end. ALL THIS going on in real time, with multiple feeds! YES! YES! YES! This is brilliant. I never need to watch LIB ‘s version ever again. Why would I? It’s just a watered down version of this amazing experience! We all should see this concert as a bigger deal than LIB made it, and i have such a newfound respect for it that the original film never allowed me to have. It put everything in perspective for me in terms of the risk, stakes and payoff. Seeing everyone return to the control room absolutely thrilled with their work after all that was the icing on the cake. You did it, lads! YOU DID IT!
It has also been made clear to me that if there was ever any revisionist history at work here from these sessions, it’s been that of Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Not only did he have the total wrong idea of what the band thought of themselves as people right from the start (“You’re The Beatles! You aren’t four jerks!” – What bull! If John had been full of zeal and passion like he was in ’66/’67 and later in 71, he would have told him “Yes we are! We’re just PEOPLE! Don’t make us into your gods!”) He also wouldnt take no for a f*cking answer! “You wanna go to the amphitheater? You wanna go to the amphitheater? You wanna go to the amphitheater? You wanna go to the amphitheater? You wanna go to the amphitheater? HEY GUYS, DO YOU WANT TO GO PLAY TO 2,000 ARABS IN A TORCHLIT AMMMMMMPITHATRRRRRRRREEEEEEE?!!!” – And as if that wasn’t enough, he constantly talks down to everyone! “Im a bigger fan than you are!” he says to Linda! REALLY?! “Harry-who?” he says to Ringo! WHAT? DID YOU NOT DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE YOU CAME ONTO THIS PROJECT, YOU STEREOTYPICAL HOLLYWOOD PIECE OF—Ugh! He’s by far the worst part of the film, and he returns in part 3 to bitch about a lack of story because the project didn’t go his way. You can tell he’s pissed about it. He wanted his dramatic “Glitz and Glamour” Beatles movie, and it SICKENS me knowing that when he knew he couldn’t get that from this footage, in stead of doing what Peter Jackson did and use it to make something like this, he takes all this amazing stuff – these HOURS of footage he was blessed to capture for the sake of showing the world how the band truly was – and uses it to tell his “Story” of how the Beatles “Broke up” and hated one another. Because of his actions, not only was this album marred in controversy and false narratives for years in the eyes of casual fans, but the release went over so poorly that no one involved wanted anything to do with it for decades! To the point that even Paul himself has gone on record saying he almost started to believe it was that bad himself! All you had to do was tell us the damn truth, MLH! You just had to have your “Story” in stead, didn’t you? Well, look what it did! Are you happy? – Seriously, F*ck this guy after seeing this. THIS was what LIB should have been, and that’s what it really was. It’s just a damn shame we had to live with what we now know was a badly put together piece of garbage for so many years!
Thank you, Peter Jackson. You’ve done us fans an irreplaceably precious service by setting the record as straight as possible at long last. As a lifelong fan, I couldn’t be happier that this chapter in the lives of four of my most loved and respected people can now be represented with a definitive account. It’s everything I could have ever dreamed.
Im so happy. I truly, truly am! Now bring us that blu-ray and give us the full versions of the music videos LIB had, and we’re set for the rest of all time!
GOD, I love The Beatles! It’s a great day to be on Team FAB! 🙂
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KyleKartan, Von Bontee, walrusgumboot, Into the Sky with Diamonds, glazball9.06am
24 August 2021
Offline Well, if there’s supposed to be 6 bonus hours for the Blu-ray, then this is great! It’s basically like after the TV version of Anthology, and being told “Hey, the home video is twice as long!”
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KyleKartan9.24am
3 July 2020
Offline @MattWatchingWheels Thanks for your review! Very great read. I think too that the narrative we had since 1970 from the LIB movie was false. Paul and Ringo over the time said so many times. GB shows that they were right.
Gonna watch Episode 2 this evening!
9.37am
17 March 2019
Offline KyleKartan said
@MattWatchingWheels Thanks for your review! Very great read. I think too that the narrative we had since 1970 from the LIB movie was false. Paul and Ringo over the time said so many times. GB shows that they were right.Gonna watch Episode 2 this evening!
Thanks, but YOU WERN’T SUPPOSED TO READ IT THEN IF YOU’RE STILL ON EP 2! I spoiled so many good bits! 🙁 lol
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KyleKartan9.56am
3 July 2020
Offline MattWatchingWheels said
KyleKartan said
@MattWatchingWheels Thanks for your review! Very great read. I think too that the narrative we had since 1970 from the LIB movie was false. Paul and Ringo over the time said so many times. GB shows that they were right.
Gonna watch Episode 2 this evening!
Thanks, but YOU WERN’T SUPPOSED TO READ IT THEN IF YOU’RE STILL ON EP 2! I spoiled so many good bits! 🙁 lol
That is not bad at all mate. I’ll experience it in a good way still. It sounds amazing!
10.03am
14 December 2009
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I think you’re being a little hard on ML-H, Matt. (Welcome
back to the forum, btw!) Sure, he seemed obsessed with his “2000 Arabs” and other silly ideas, and he did come off as overbearing (as did Mr. Paul McCartney ), but we still have to give him credit for supervising the camera and sound crew that captured all this stunning stuff for Sir PJ to work with in the first place. I don’t think Mike’s final 80-minute “Let It Be ” necessarily tells the story of the band disintegrating, or much of any narrative at all, the way it’s indifferently assembled. Maybe the original 150 minute cut went more in that direction, but as it is, the only part that really hints at turmoil is the George-Paul bit.
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
10.51am
17 March 2019
Offline Von Bontee said
I think you’re being a little hard on ML-H, Matt. (Welcomeback to the forum, btw!) Sure, he seemed obsessed with his “2000 Arabs” and other silly ideas, and he did come off as overbearing (as did Mr. Paul McCartney ), but we still have to give him credit for supervising the camera and sound crew that captured all this stunning stuff for Sir PJ to work with in the first place. I don’t think Mike’s final 80-minute “Let It Be ” necessarily tells the story of the band disintegrating, or much of any narrative at all, the way it’s indifferently assembled. Maybe the original 150 minute cut went more in that direction, but as it is, the only part that really hints at turmoil is the George-Paul bit.
I disagree. Paul may have been overbearing, but he still knew what the deal was. MLH on the other hand comes off as a clueless buffoon who has no idea as to what the real state of the band is and shows no regard at all for what’s going on emotionally between them. He’s more concerned about making a movie based on this fantasy of who and what the Beatles are in his head: Four messiahs who are the answer to all the world’s ills. At least, that’s what he’s dead set on portraying them as. He even goes so far as to suggest they perform in a hospital for sick kids or an orphanage. I don’t think i need to explain to you just how obnoxious and phony that would be for The Beatles. John would have never forgave himself and hated the band even worse after 1970. There’s wanting to make a movie and then there’s being absolutely unable to read into the needs and desires of your subjects. Im willing to bet Linda could make a better Beatles movie with more care toward the situation than MLH showed at Twickenham or late-stage Apple. She at least knew the severity of what was happening and cared enough not to pile on. Meanwhile, Even after George QUITS, this fool has the gall to open his mouth and say “Maybe you can just say George was sick!” – F that. F that sideways! Who even would so much as suggest that?! I’ll tell you who: A two bit Hollywood suit who cares more about the project than the health and wellbeing of The Beatles themselves.
He didn’t have his precious story, so in the end, he made one. We could have just not had this to debate with for all these years if he had just cut the footage together honestly and gave each scene proper context in the first place, but he chose not to do that and, indifferently cut or not, We have what many saw as exactly what he wanted: A drama. The story of how his Gods saw their empire crumble, instead of the best band in the world persevering amidst heartache and uncertainty, holding their heads high. THAT was the story here, and thank GOD it’s finally been told.
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KyleKartan, PauliesGirl, Into the Sky with Diamonds, The Hole Got Fixed12.16pm
28 March 2014
Offline MattWatchingWheels said
Paul may have been overbearing, but he still knew what the deal was.
What amazes me the most about Macca is how he got the Band back together to make Abbey Road so quickly.
We’re only talking 6 months between the “Get Back ” Single (w/Billy Preston) April 1969, to Sep. 1969 “Abbey Road ” LP release. 
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KyleKartan, Into the Sky with Diamonds 
BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms!
1.41pm
14 January 2013
Offline meanmistermustard said
It seems to me that the biggest issue in 1970 was that Paul stopped fighting to keep the band together and instead realised that there was no coming back from Klein getting between them. He had to sue his three mates. The dread in his being when they are discussing if George will return is very evident, getting John into the building that day was a massive deal. In September(?) 1969 John announced his leaving but they might have managed to get it together again until Paul sued and then it was done. That’s not to say Klein was the only issue but he was a major division.The issues in January 1969 were evident but there was still a desire to keep going, which is clear from the three wanting to meet with George as soon as possible, and then all four finding a compromise in getting into Apple, having Billy Preston join and ditching the TV show.
Currently I’m an hour into part two (and will continue watching later tonight) but the delight in seeing George back was massive. It’s easily the best programme/film I’ve watched in years. To watch all four together like this is beyond anything I could have hoped for a few years ago, so I don’t care about words out of sync or whatever errors or editing problems occur. I was yearning for a 90-minute ‘LOB’ reissue and maybe an hour or two of outtakes, instead I have almost 8 hours already of alternate footage never seen before with more to come and ‘LIB ‘ reissued. It’s like hoping you get a DVD from your granny for Christmas only for her to send you a year membership to Netflix, state of the art technology to watch it on and a weekly takeaway of your choice. To turn around and say “but I cannot watch a show on Apple TV’ is just missing what you got. So what Apple got the history wrong, they have given us something much greater.
I was reading this article
https://www.nme.com/news/music…..um-2556347
and I was just thinking the same thing when Ringo said they were not going to break up. Had Paul maybe not sued they would have eventually came back together.
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KyleKartan4.33pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I think for the home release we will get a lot of complete performances. It looks like it’s been edited to easily insert longer clips without affecting the overall narrative.
The footage with Heather is some of the most adorable footage I’ve ever seen. The vibe is incredible.
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sir walter raleigh, Von Bontee, Vera Chuck and Dave, Into the Sky with Diamonds"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
5.22pm
14 December 2009
Offline Yes, love that Heather stuff! I’d never noticed before how she was dressed up just like Ringo while she was helping him drum, so cute! And that bit with John and George teasing her about the kittens was lol…
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
5.40pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I’m on the 29th January so two days to go and less than an hour left. The Rooftop concert is 42 minutes which leaves about 15 minutes for the 31st. That seems very short. No. You’ve got the end credits which last about 5 minutes.
I’m going to watch the last two days tomorrow night after work.
This actually reminds of listening to the ‘Anthology’ set, especially for the casual fans. ‘Anthology 1 ’ can be a hard slog due to the interviews, average quality home demos, live tracks, and not always the most wonderful songs. The reward comes when you get into ‘Anthology 2 . It’s the same here where part one is hard going at times but it picks up in part two and is a blast from there. But how many people who only know the greatest hits and a few select albums are going to sit thru three/four hours to get there?
The change in attitudes and approach in Apple is staggering and Billy makes such a difference. It’s clearly a series that requires repeat viewing to take it all in as so much is going on. Hopefully Jackson and his team’s work gets the recognition it deserves.
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KyleKartan, Into the Sky with Diamonds"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
5.42pm
28 April 2020
Offline Loved her (Heather) doing the ‘Yoko singing’! That was so cool! 🙂
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Von Bontee6.05pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline My guess for the home release footage is
—————————————-
A couple of hours devoted to all the BTS work and interviews.
The Rooftop concert deeply immersive with alternate angles, no split screens options etc
The series expanded with full performances added back in (easily navigated to) lasting an extra couple of hours.
The best of the rest not featured in the above.
——————————————
That lasts over 12 hours but already we were told the length for the streaming film was 6 hours and it turned into 7 hours 40 minutes. I’m probably going to be conplete wrong.
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KyleKartan"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
10.26pm
3 July 2020
Offline Finished Episode 2 yesterday evening and headed into bed after to let it sink in.
I mean…WOW! How could this have been so much of a turner in tone. First you’re at Twikenham and Paul and Ringo are at the brink of tears because George is gone and John wont show up or answer the phone. Then John comes in they talk it all over perform and get a little better in mood. After they convinced George to return and cancle the show its up to Apple and thats where it really takes off.
Damn how was that the same 4 guys as in Twikenham?! Especially John seems to have a change in mood. He wasnt passive and quiet anymore but is very very active with his known for wit, jokes and gives much more action when performing the songs. George seems way more into it too and enjoying himself. I now see the difference between Ep 1 and 2 in their body language and face, the whole act changed at Apple. That even before Billy Preston gets on. When he joines its taken to a new level with the songs. Really outstanding stuff we are able to watch here.
The only bit tension we see at the end talking the show. Especially Paul seems upset but when they come up with the solution that bit is solved to. I really wonder what was the difference for them at Twikenham. My guess is that it was the pressure of the show and the shuedgle that caused alot of trouble with Paul trying to guide them and John and George not in the mood of all of it. The concert wont seem so much different in tone now as it did in the LIB because you can see them enyoing themselves and the company of each other before the rooftop gig. The LIB left a picture of grumpy band who put on an act for the concert when it wasnt this at all.
Can’t wait for Episode 3. Will watch on friyday afternoon when Iam alone.
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Into the Sky with Diamonds10.37pm
25 November 2021
Offline Well I just signed up to this forum when episode 1 went out, which I thought was absolutely fantastic.
I am not a “Huge Beatles Fan”, but I do like them alot (my favourite band is The Stone Roses which were ‘my time’), and do like the story of them and the documentaries and films etc, so I would say I am a casual fan of the music, (but adore about 20 of their tunes) but a big fan of the story, so this is maybe a slightly different viewpoint to others here…
I have seen episodes 2 and 3 now, and whilst still very good I guess I preferred episode 1, mainly because of the more tense atmosphere, and also the very early seeds of songs being shown, and also the novelty of feeling like I am hanging out with these guys.
For me episode 1 was a 10/10 and one of the best things i have seen in years.
Episode 2 I found almost a drag in places, particularly around the middle hour / 90 minutes or so where I almost got sick of hearing versions of Get Back and Two Of Us , flipping heck that was a bit of a slog for me…the episode certainly had some good moments, with George coming back, Lennon waking up, being funny and getting into it, the secret recording and the introduction of Billy of course… But it did really become too repetitive in the middle there for me, and wouldn’t have minded all those takes in the middle being cut down by about half.
I enjoyed Episode 3 a bit more than 2, Little Heather was fun and great to see the fellas enjoying her company, Debbie the Receptionist was great, and the Rooftop scene was pretty good, but felt like nothing particularly new to me overrall, apart from a few bits. I liked seeing all the gang involved listening to the playback afterwards.
So for me it was a great “experience” of a series and felt like a privilege to hang out with these guys for 8 hours, but just that middle chunk of episode 2 felt like a bit of a slog.
But still one of the best things I have seen this year.
Episode 1… 10/10
Episode 2… 7.5/10
Episode 3… 8.5/10
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KyleKartan, Into the Sky with Diamonds11.48pm
3 July 2020
Offline I want to point out one more thing: George recommended to release Get Back as a single. The guy who walked out because he is supposed to not anymore get along with the guy who wrote the tune said they should release it as a single. There goes the George didnt like/respect Paul narrative.
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Richard, Into the Sky with Diamonds12.44am
14 January 2013
Offline Practices and recordings of songs are repetitive in general and it is just part of the music field. That’s how they learn the songs or swap ideas and get the best takes. It’s not always the most exciting thing; however, its interesting to see when those sparks fly and everything clicks.
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KyleKartan, Richard, Timothy, Vera Chuck and Dave, Into the Sky with Diamonds6.27am
24 March 2014
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Honourable mention to Debbie for holding back the police…
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Rube, Richard, Vera Chuck and Dave, Into the Sky with Diamonds"I Need You by George Harrison"
11.13am
13 April 2018
Offline The rooftop concert has become so iconic it can be hard to evaluate it but while previous to this I felt it a fun burst of one final show from the guys, I now see it more as an exhausted, smallest option available to get that ‘payoff’ Paul and MLH were after. It’s disappointing it kept the band at a remove from the audience, but that may have been the point. Clearly Paul thought that maybe he could leverage the good will from this compromise to another effort. Maybe if the band had just not focused on getting one good cut out of playing the songs multiple times, thrown in some non-Beatles classics they all knew well, it may have slightly, possibly led the other to see potential to doing a more ambitious concert locally.
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