Red Mosquito

Finished the whole series now. Really enjoyed it.

Watched Part One last night. Fascinating stuff. It always continues to amaze me how prolific Paul and John were during such a short amount of time.

Also, Yoko being right there in the band circle will never stop being weird/awkward.

I've only seen Part 1 so far, but I didn't see Paul come across badly at all. I actually found George to kind of be the annoying/difficult one. And I fucking love George. I also don't blame him for being frustrated. It's obvious that it was hard for him to get anyone to take his ideas seriously most of the time. John actually seemed the most dismissive of George's stuff.

Paul knows he's Hot Shit, but he's not wrong. I found myself agreeing with most of his ideas and opinions. He also seemed fairly reasonable for a musician at the peak of his powers.

John was also a lot more pleasant, agreeable, and easy-going than I was expecting, but that might have been the heroin.

I want that pink suit George wears in the last episode.

What’s really interesting is that Ringo basically just sits out of any real decision-making they make in regards to the business part of it all. The documentary, the show. He’s just non-existent in any of those talks. He may as well just be a hired hand and not a member.

Farmer John wrote:I've only seen Part 1 so far, but I didn't see Paul come across badly at all. I actually found George to kind of be the annoying/difficult one. And I fucking love George. I also don't blame him for being frustrated. It's obvious that it was hard for him to get anyone to take his ideas seriously most of the time. John actually seemed the most dismissive of George's stuff.

Paul knows he's Hot Shit, but he's not wrong. I found myself agreeing with most of his ideas and opinions. He also seemed fairly reasonable for a musician at the peak of his powers.

I think this doc will be a personality litmus test.

There's also some level of expectation that clearly goes into it.

Still in the middle of part 2. They really do get it together once Billy Preston arrived.

I felt like what it did best was to show how reductionist biographic narratives are for an artist’s story. How far beyond the truth you get by putting too much coin in the narrative (“they hated each other,” “the others were stifling George,” “John was checked out and Paul had ambitions on being a dictator”) and not enough in the artist’s humanity.

I’m not saying it disproves one existing narrative or the other. I’m saying it demonstrates how much understanding you strip away when you rely on them to help you understand a figure.

wease wrote:What’s really interesting is that Ringo basically just sits out of any real decision-making they make in regards to the business part of it all. The documentary, the show. He’s just non-existent in any of those talks. He may as well just be a hired hand and not a member.

Might also be why Paul and George take it so seriously when he leans on the piano and says “Well, I’d like to go on the roof.”

All the footage of the cops during the concert was fucking gold.

Ringo also vetoed going to North Africa for a concert at the beginning of the documentary.

Part 2 is the greatest so far. Feels good to see them getting on and having fun.

"Give up Canned Heat. We’re The Beatles now. Do it like The Beatles." That whole part into Dig a Pony was so good.

Loved Billy Preston's reaction to John asking him to play with them.

Farmer John wrote:I've only seen Part 1 so far, but I didn't see Paul come across badly at all. I actually found George to kind of be the annoying/difficult one. And I fucking love George. I also don't blame him for being frustrated. It's obvious that it was hard for him to get anyone to take his ideas seriously most of the time. John actually seemed the most dismissive of George's stuff.

George was always humorless and self-important. He doesn't seem to have been very humble. And his bereft solo career after "All Things Must Pass" shows that perhaps the others were correct in being dismissive and unimpressed by his attitude. And knowing that he was fucking everyone's wives behind their backs doesn't put him in a very good light either. Seems like he was a lousy bandmate and friend.

Monkey_Driven wrote:Yoko being right there in the band circle will never stop being weird/awkward.

There was a book detailing all of the audio tapes that were bootlegged (which is like 90% of it) and there is a moment where the annoying director (and Linda, I think) were negatively discussing Yoko's presence and Paul intervened and declared that John and Yoko were newlyweds trying desperately to have a family and wanted to be by each other's side at all times, and that it wasn't anybody's business to question that, basically smacking down his own wife for having the thought. It was a really sweet and unexpected sentiment, but I'm guessing it didn't make it to the film as they seem to have scrubbed out most of the anti-Yoko narrative.

Wendy Carlos's Twin wrote:

Farmer John wrote:I've only seen Part 1 so far, but I didn't see Paul come across badly at all. I actually found George to kind of be the annoying/difficult one. And I fucking love George. I also don't blame him for being frustrated. It's obvious that it was hard for him to get anyone to take his ideas seriously most of the time. John actually seemed the most dismissive of George's stuff.

George was always humorless and self-important. He doesn't seem to have been very humble. And his bereft solo career after "All Things Must Pass" shows that perhaps the others were correct in being dismissive and unimpressed by his attitude. And knowing that he was fucking everyone's wives behind their backs doesn't put him in a very good light either. Seems like he was a lousy bandmate and friend.

Monkey_Driven wrote:Yoko being right there in the band circle will never stop being weird/awkward.

There was a book detailing all of the audio tapes that were bootlegged (which is like 90% of it) and there is a moment where the annoying director (and Linda, I think) were negatively discussing Yoko's presence and Paul intervened and declared that John and Yoko were newlyweds trying desperately to have a family and wanted to be by each other's side at all times, and that it wasn't anybody's business to question that, basically smacking down his own wife for having the thought. It was a really sweet and unexpected sentiment, but I'm guessing it didn't make it to the film as they seem to have scrubbed out most of the anti-Yoko narrative.

Paul made pretty much the same comment in the film. Not necessarily directed as a smack down of anyone I don’t think, tho.

Now, what’s this about George fucking all the other wives? Never heard anything about this.

wease wrote:Now, what’s this about George fucking all the other wives? Never heard anything about this.

Ringo’s wife, anyways.

I was skeptical that a 9 hour Disney/geezer look at the Let it Be sessions would be anything but a very-expensive sleepy retread. I’m inclined now to say it might be one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen about a record. It just refuses to reduce the available exposure in the name of storytelling. It’s as close as you’ll ever get to being right in the hurricane.

wease wrote: Paul made pretty much the same comment in the film. Not necessarily directed as a smack down of anyone I don’t think, tho.

Now, what’s this about George fucking all the other wives? Never heard anything about this.

Well they cleverly edited a bunch of things, I've been told. For example, the scene with Peter Sellers is completely fabricated to make it seem like he was annoyed by John clowning around, when he actually became disgusted by John and Yoko candidly bragging about their heroin use. I'm sure the same would have been done to the Yoko conversation, as surely they wouldn't include Linda and the director talking shit about her (I think he even calls her a Jap!!!).

And George fucked Ringo's wife and other friend's wives too (not the other Beatles, but wouldn't one be enough?...poor Ringo!). I find him to be a major douchebag, but peace and love and praise the Lord!

I'm only through part one, but my main feeling is sort of being shocked that this even exists. Probably, you'd have to be a band with the popularity and stature of the Beatles for anyone to even watch this, but the honesty and granularity of it is stunning, at least to me.

I think my biggest takeaway is that for all the larger-than-life aspects of the discussions they're having (like trying to decide on a venue), I haven't seen a doc that so intricately looks at the minefields of what it is to be in a band and creating music with others, from the balance of your own self-confidence and insecurities to the ways you have to navigate fighting for (and instilling) your own vision for a song while negotiating the other egos (and creative voices) in a group. It may be the biggest band ever, but a lot of these discussions and arguments play out in every band writing original songs.

I'm only through part one of this too, and just blown away by this. Amazing doc here.

I think I'm mostly surprised by how talented Paul was. Yes, he comes across as a bit pushy - but, not in an obnoxious way. He's really trying to keep the band focused and working hard. The arrangments he comes up with on the fly while giving instructions to others is incredible. Great musical vision.

George does seem a bit whiny, but we don't really no the past context that got him here. I mean, they were basically done after the White Album, so it likely just carried over from that album's overall baggage.

John seems more pleasant than I'd expected so far.

And, Ringo is basically a fly on the wall in the band. That was a bit surprising too.

Looking forward to the next eps.