Zombie Jon Snow said:

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I've seen clips, trailers, individuals performances, etc. I've never actually seen the 1970 movie and certainly never seen the entire concert.

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I'd only clips of that performance, too. It had never dawned on me that people couldn't actually see who was performing, due to the height of the buildings and the Beatles' positioning on the roof. I just assumed the people down below could watch as well as listen.

Re: the cops. Gotta love the bobbies in 1969, asking permission to go upstairs. Today's cops -- especially in the U.S. -- would have kicked in the door, dressed all in combat gear with guns drawn.

Could have been more like 5 one hour episodes.
It was a slog but enough good content to make it worth the effort.

It's so crazy that they made all their records in about 7 years.

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It's so crazy that they made all their records in about 7 years.

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It all comes down to this. Like them or not, it's hard to not recognize this level of artistry.

A modern all time great like Metallica - They did a lot of classic material in a short time, but it's still only 4 albums in 5 years.

Or look at Prince, considered enormously prolific, only did 1 album a year on average (36 in 37). And he certainly wasn't top of the charts or platinum for that whole run. Only a fraction of it.

Beatles doubled that avg.

Metallica is where you're going? Not Led Zeppelin?

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Metallica is where you're going? Not Led Zeppelin?

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I'd say Metallica is more of a "modern" all-time great than LZ.

I mean if we want a band that did a bunch of amazing albums in a short period...

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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I mean if we want a band that did a bunch of amazing albums in a short period...

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yeh, I said modern. 1969 is not modern lol.

And they 8 albums in 10 years. That's not amazing level of impressive. Just, impressive. Metallica did 4 in 5, same output rate.

Elton did 13 in his first 10 years, and another 1 per year for the next decade. That's approaching beatles level of impressive.

Billy Preston is pretty good huh?

Didn't realize he was from Houston.

69-73
LZ I, II, III, IV
Houses of the Holy

5 in 5. And I and II both in 69. Two classics in the same calendar year is pretty impressive.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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69-73
LZ I, II, III, IV
Houses of the Holy

5 in 5. And I and II both in 69. Two classics in the same calendar year is pretty impressive.

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yeh that can happen with a debut. Not a huge world tour in between like maybe on third or four to album. Their American tour in 69 was like 6 weeks long.
And it's certainly easier when your debut is half covers


Metallica's first two are 367 days apart.. pretty close!

Beatles did 3 in a year didn't they? And two in a year several times. Again, making it way more impressive.

Course their discography is unique with all the separate releases in US vs. GB

I think I talked my mom into watching this. I've been explaining it to her. She was 10 when they played on Ed Sullivan. I asked her what it was like to be 10 for I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 13 for I am the Walrus, then have it all over by 14.
She said the Beatles always had a silly side to them even on their more serious records. She was young enough to enjoy that at her age, then grow into their more serious work. She said they never knew what Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was really about, but lived the song. Her parents knew something special was happening and let them stay up late special to watch Sullivan.

I just learned from the Paul documentary on Apple that it' not actually about LSD

Interesting look at the film/audio restoration effort behind the documentary.

Another thing I was struck by was how people reacted to the music on the street. We have the ability to look back and realize this was a legendary band that was incredible.

But at the time of the movie, sure they were big but when people in the middle of it they don't realize what truly is happening. To a lot of people they were just a band doing a publicity stunt.

It's like if today there is a band that is pretty dang popular but we don't recognize their legendary status until they're gone.

Not sure I'm conveying the thought properly but I get the feeling people didn't realize what was happening to our level of understanding.

I'm though the first two parts and a couple of thoughts

1) They were really composers (across many genres ) more than touring rock and rollers at that point in their careers, so to come in and create an album like that from scratch in two weeks is not an organic act, but its amazing what they put together. As solo artists they seemed to tour later on.

2) When John states that he wants to add Billy Preston to the Beatles, Paul pretty much vetos it (its hard enough to get 4 to agree). Think about that. Telling John freaking Lennon he can't make personnel decisions for the Beatles. No wonder they broke up.

3) I have a sudden desire for English Muffins and Marmalade(yeah I know John had his on toast but still).

4) I think Billy Preston would have been like Timothy B Schmidt was with the Eagles, someone who just played for the pure Joy of making the music.

I'm sure if I was walking by and heard a band up on the roof and someone said "It's the Beatles. " I'd say" yeah sure it is..." And keep waking.
I don't think they were very visible from the street and they weren't playing known Beetles songs.

Quad Dog said:

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I'm sure if I was walking by and heard a band up on the roof and someone said "It's the Beatles. " I'd say" yeah sure it is..." And keep waking.
I don't think they were very visible from the street and they weren't playing known Beetles songs.

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Except that everyone they asked knew it was The Beatles. Kind of recognizable voices. Never mind the fact it was roof of the Apple building.

He hit the nail on the head in his post anyway. In the moment you can't know or appreciate the historical relevance of something like that. Sure The Beatles were huge but they (the crowd) didn't have the 50 years of hindsight to realize just how special they truly were. They'd only been The Beatles as we know them for a little over 6 years at that point. Or that they were witnessing their last public performance. Or that the band was about to break up.

It's the difference between walking down a street and finding out Coldplay (just an example, not comparing them to the Fab Four) is doing a show on a roof versus learning that The Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd or even U2 are doing a show up there and will then never again play together. You'd pay a bit more attention in the latter scenario.

SWC Ag said:

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Thank god Billy Preston arrived when he did.

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He literally saved those sessions

The entire rooftop sequence was freaking amazing. I never realized they took some of the takes from that for the album (eventually in some cases). How great must the engineers have been to accomplish that.

dave94 said:

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The entire rooftop sequence was freaking amazing. I never realized they took some of the takes from that for the album (eventually in some cases). How great must the engineers have been to accomplish that.

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I really enjoyed that aspect of this presentation - when they showed that this specific take was used for the album either from the roof or studio.

Only tangentially related, but I just watched a 1970 Led Zeppelin interview where Robert Plant was asked whether Led Zeppelin "was going to be able to last as long as eight years" like the Beatles.

Led Zeppelin talks about The Beatles (1970 Nationwide) - YouTube

Zombie Jon Snow said:

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dave94 said:

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The entire rooftop sequence was freaking amazing. I never realized they took some of the takes from that for the album (eventually in some cases). How great must the engineers have been to accomplish that.

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I really enjoyed that aspect of this presentation - when they showed that this specific take was used for the album either from the roof or studio.

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Every time the graphic came up saying that was the album take, I got chills.

Hah.

finally watching this.

It is very interesting how much of a driving force Paul was in the creation process. At times it felt like a 1 man show.

John was the perpetual smart a##, but very comfortable with who he was.

The jam session where 'get back' started to come together to me was incredible.. just strumming and building on a thought.

It was interesting how they would just randomly jam on songs and join in.

George had a tough time and I can see why. The force that Paul was in those sessions, plus being on the outside of Lennon/McCartney had to be frustrating. He did his best work and ideation when he went home in the evening then brought it in the next day.