I think the second and third episodes are far better than the first. I know they had to tell the Twickenham story but it was so disorderly compared to the later parts.

The overall length was daunting to me as well but once you get into it goes pretty fast.

Two words: Bee Gees.

You knew it was coming, didn’t you? 🙂

The three wrote the vast majority of their 1000+ songs together – music and lyrics – and you can’t tell who did what, and that’s the way they wanted it. Their songwriting process was a very similar collaboration. They also said that it was their favorite part of the whole thing, and that only the three of them knew what they did and how they did it.

“Get Back” is gorgeous to look at. I believe Peter Jackson used digital techniques to enhance the original footage. Much better than what I remember of the laserdisc.

I had forgotten the ambitious plan — to create an album from scratch on camera, then perform it live — all within two weeks. I remember thinking the “Let It Be” album sounded pretty thin, even slapdash, in comparison to their deeply layered albums from “Revolver” on.

It was weird to see them working in such a barren looking space. I was also struck anew by what handsome young men they were.

There was a great moment when John, for no particular reason, suddenly broke into the theme from “The Third Man” and played with more flash than I gave him credit for.

Versions of “The Third Man” were #3 andd #7 in the Billboard Hits of 1950. That was a different world of pop music.

Dave:

Good point. Not so much the complex structures, but the close collaboration between three remarkably talented songwriters with different sensibilities. Ringo rose to the occasion in his way too.

I can’t think of any other group that achieved such integration of its members. And it showed, as you say, when the band broke up. John, Paul and George had plenty of power to write for and lead major rock groups. They did fine on their own. But their solo work never had the same fullness of the Beatles.

Related… Recently I learned the story behind Traffic’s “John Barleycorn Must Die” album. Traffic had broken up and Steve Winwood was making a solo album. Like Paul, Winwood had talent to burn and planned to play all the parts. But he missed the camaraderie and group effort so he called in Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood for some help.

Thus Traffic was reunited and they made what many consider the best Traffic album. Certainly, IMO.

Why do you think such complex structures were unique to the Beatles? Just to take one example, Roy Orbison was known for complex song structures that broke the boundaries of verse, chorus, repeat, before the Beatles.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” actually WAS several songs grafted onto each other, although all three were by Mercury (“”It was basically three songs that I wanted to put out, and I just put the three together”).

The Bee Gees wrote in a manner not unlike that of the Beatles, for the most part. Usually one of them had an idea for a hook or a melodic line that was a fragment, and then together they improvised with a tape recorder running until they had a song. Sometimes the process was very very quick. Their song structures are sometimes conventional and sometimes quite complex. Please see this.