The Beatles
Get Back

At the outset of this review, I would like to state that, in my decades-long interest in the world of music in all its nuances, I have always had a special regard for the Beatles. I may be an omnivorous cultivator of music as a whole, exploring various rock genres and beyond, but to underestimate, let alone ignore, the contribution of the four members of the English group to the cause of good music would be simply inexplicable and unjustifiable. But beyond what has been reiterated above, I am tempted to title this brief analysis of the book "Get Back" as the eternal return of the eternally the same.

Let me explain briefly. The text published by Mondadori is nothing more than the paper version of the documentary "Get Back" made by Peter Jackson, which will be broadcast next month on Disney+ Channel. It is a documentary, divided into three episodes, with a total duration of 6 hours, based on key moments of the footage shot in January 1969 when the Beatles were composing and performing new songs in view of both new long-playing records and an unprecedented live performance (which would be the one at the end of that month on the rooftops of Apple's headquarters). It is known that those new songs would end up in the Beatles' last LPs (specifically "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be") and the footage shot by Michael Lyndsay Hogg would later be edited the following year as a film titled "Let It Be."

That being said, my curiosity was to purchase the book despite already owning the one published with the album "Let It Be," in addition to the DVD of the film of the same name. I'll be honest about the "Get Back" publication just released: it is a classic example of rehashed and stretched-out material. Although the photos (some already known) in the book are credited to excellent photographers like Ethan Russell and Linda Eastman McCartney and are still a pleasure to rediscover, the feeling of déjà vu remains, and reading the transcription of the dialogues among those present in the recording room (Beatles and others) does not reveal anything new. In fact, even though the four Beatles are committed to playing for hours and hours, what emerges confirms a somewhat tense atmosphere within the group. And all of this was already known since, after the group's dissolution in 1970, everything about the English band has been written and talked about ad nauseam.

Having thoroughly read this volume "Get Back," the spontaneous question arose: what is new compared to what was already known about that episode in Beatles history? Practically nothing, and I don't think it's unknown that by then the four, albeit talented, were seriously struggling to break free from a certain inertia typical of a group at the peak of their career. The well-known dynamism of Paul clashed with certain perplexities of the other three. John was very focused on his artistic partnership with Yoko Ono, George had so many compositions in the drawer that he toyed with the idea of releasing them in a solo album (see "All Things Must Pass"). Even Ringo had acting aspirations in the film industry. In short, the Beatles project was starting to feel constrictive to the directly involved parties.

Even returning to perform live wasn't so simple, with odd ideas like a concert in a Roman amphitheater in Libya, only to settle for performing on the roof of the Apple offices, flooding the adjacent London streets with beautiful music. Right, but thinking about it now, what kind of concert could it have been when musicians and spectators were so distant they couldn’t conveniently see each other up close? Indeed, it always seemed to me a sad epilogue to an incredible musical saga marked by the Beatles, the unforgettable characters of Paul, John, George, and Ringo.

In short, with all the affection one might still feel for these events distant in time, it seems to me that the book "Get Back" (graphically impeccable) is just a paradigmatic example of how the rock business can always scrape the bottom of the barrel when a band or solo artist no longer has anything genuinely new to offer. This holds not only for the Beatles, of course, but there seems always to be some leftover song to unearth somewhere and present in an appealing package. Certain names in the rock business generate considerable royalties, and yet, the Beatles continue to have a discreet and indestructible charm.