After George’s departure, John says, “Now the point is, if George leaves, do we want to carry on with The Beatles? I do,” suggesting Eric Clapton as a possible replacement. What’s surprising is the nonchalant reaction from the rest of the group. But in essence, true art is created within four walls you need your frame to fill. “The perception is that art is created with enormous freedom. “Are they making an album or rehearsing a show? That’s why there’s not that discipline there, because it doesn’t matter, because they’re like, ‘This isn’t the record, the record’s going to come later.’ “That’s the difference in the whole thing, is that there was no delineation between making a record and rehearsing on this,” Giles says.
And if they’re not going to do a show, then what are they rehearsing for? By January 6, George puts forth the idea that they not do a live show. “It was hell making the film Let It Be,” John Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1970.Ī lack of direction complicated the sessions. But they wanted the same magic without the same level of commitment. But now they were going home to their wives, their families, their houses, so it wasn’t the same level of commitment. And we haven’t got any songs but we can write them.’ And I think they would have done that in ’65 or ’66, because they were living together or were on the road together. They had this idea, which essentially was flawed, of going, ‘OK lads, we’re going to go and do a big concert and record it.
“And you can see that they are getting annoyed. “It’s frustrating, and it’s tedious,” says Giles of this first round of sessions. The group also disliked having to start work in the morning, when they were more accustomed to working in the evening. But Twickenham’s cold soundstages didn’t foster creativity. At this stage, no one thought The Beatles were making a new album they were simply rehearsing for an upcoming show. He assumed he was serving as an engineer, and was surprised to find himself instead a de facto producer. Instead, The Beatles brought in Glyn Johns, who’d worked with The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. We were just a rock and roll band.’ Which wasn’t really the case John admitted that to my dad later.”Īs a result, Martin didn’t attend many of the Twickenham sessions. “John always felt that, ‘You made things too complicated for us. We want to go back to being a band again,’” says Giles. “The Beatles, John (Lennon) especially, said, ‘We don’t want any of your production crap on this.
They’d already stressed to George Martin that they didn’t want to make an album full of lavish overdubs, like Sgt. That idea was scrapped by the time filming began on January 2, meaning the band now had to come up with new songs. The concerts were originally going to feature songs from the just-released The Beatles.
The December 1968 issue of fan club magazine The Beatles Book carried details about “a series of shows which will culminate in a final performance which will be filmed for transmission in this country and overseas” there was also a coupon in the magazine that readers could mail in for a chance to win tickets. Initial plans for the project centered around The Beatles making their first full concert appearance since 1966. Together, the film, music and book will offer the most in-depth look at the Let It Be sessions than has previously been officially available. But of course it wasn’t.” As he points out, just three weeks after the end of the January 1969 sessions, the band was back in the studio working on John’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” which would appear on Abbey Road. The perception of Let It Be was that it was the breakup of The Beatles. After listening to and viewing all the footage and recordings, “the first thing I’d say, and this sounds like a press release but it’s not really meant to, is that I was surprised that it’s not as acrimonious as I thought. “Sure, there’s moments of drama - but none of the discord this project has long been associated with.” “I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth,” he said when his involvement with Get Back was first announced. It seemed that Let It Be was something they wanted to put behind them.īut Peter Jackson contends that’s not the whole story. It wasn’t his type of record.” None of The Beatles bothered to show up for the film’s premiere in May 1970. And so Let It Be went against what he felt the direction should be he wanted them to be more refined. He liked things to be orderly, and that’s why Rubber Soul and Revolver and Sgt. “He liked organization that’s how he was. “My dad didn’t like Let It Be,” says Giles Martin.