I stumbled upon the book Let It Be: The Making of the Beatles' Final Album (Book 1) by Terry Wilson because it was free with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. I am so glad that I found this book because it was amazing!
Wilson takes the Nagra tapes and the visuals from the Get Back documentary and puts together a complete deep-dive analysis of the Twickenham sessions from January 1969. Now I know that Sulpy did a similar thing years back before the Peter Jackson work, and Sulpy is credited for his research, but this is a fresh take on these session now that we have much more visuals to go along with the tapes.
One of the first examples that interested me was in the tapes. You hear George say something about wanting a screwdriver. I had always assumed George was fixing something on his guitar or an amp. But come to find out -- when you look at the visual, you see Kevin Harrington handing out orange-colored drinks in glasses. George was not fixing his guitar- he wanted an alcoholic beverage!
So, as you can see from this example, this book is for nerdy Beatle fans who like to read every small detail. Wilson debunks several myths and rumors throughout the book. He really looks closely into why George quit - looking at his relationship with Pattie, exactly what words Paul said to him, and other factors. From reading this book, I started to wonder if George actually was quitting the Beatles or just quitting the Get Back project and especially the live performance when he walked out of the session. That is a theory that he has brought forward.
One area that I was surprised didn't get more attention was John and Yoko's heroin use during this period. He talks about "Spanish Tony" supplying drugs for them. He talks about the "Two Junkies" interview with the Canadian journalists. However, he does not state at all that John and Yoko were using heroin and the effect the drugs might have had on them during the sessions. The other complaint I had when I first started the book was that it was obvious that Wilson was a McCartney fan, and I was afraid that a strong Paul bias was going to make the book unreadable. While he comes across as a heavy pro-Paul author at the beginning of the book, once he starts talking about the sessions, he is much more unbiased and doesn't favor one Beatle over another.
I took my time reading Let it Be: The Making of the Beatles' Final Album (Book 1) because I was taking many notes and thinking about much of what I had read. Unfortunately, Book 2 about the Apple Sessions won't be released until 2026, but that does give me time to re-read Book 1 and perhaps watch some of the footage discussed.
I was truly excited to read this book- it was one of the top Beatles books I had read in 2024 (and barely squeaked it in --- I finished it on December 30). I just had never heard anyone in the Beatles circles I am involved with talk about it at all.
I can't recommend this one enough for fans who like a deep dive into the Get Back Session. As a matter of fact, I am going to eventually buy a hard copy of the book to keep for reference, and I have only bought both digital and physical copies of books on rare occasions.
If you would like to purchase this book for yourself, please consider using my Amazon Affiliate link (below). Each purchase made through this link helps support this site with a small percentage of money from the sale. The site will be renewed in March, and the money from the Amazon Affiliate will pay for the domain. I thank you and appreciate your support.
Sara, great point you bring up about whether George's departure was permanent or not. I think Clapton would know! He & George were obviously close, and I'm sure the 2 of them mustve spoken over the years about John's suggestion to replace him with Clapton. Eric once said in an interview that the prospects of accepting an offer to "join the Beatles" would have seemed daunting to him at that time -- interesting that he didnt say it was joining to just wrap up the GB project.
ReplyDeleteIt had never occurred to me that George might have been just backing out of the television program. But it sort of makes sense -- John's remark about asking Clapton also fits -- just to fill in for George for the show that was supposed to happen in something like 6 days from then. George still showed up to the Beatles meeting with Neil Aspinall during that time, and it was a regular business meeting. I don't know the answers, but this book gave me a lot to think about.
Deletesounds interesting
ReplyDeleteBut then why did George say: "See you at the clubs" ?
ReplyDeleteUntil we heard the tapes that MLH said he made, we won't really know if George said it and how he said it.
Delete