Yeah, it is long as a thing in itself, but when I think about the hours spent listening, reading about, talking about, watching, etc The Beatles, really, I spent all that time and never got to watch them work, so what’s another 8 hours?
I’m a BIG Beatles fan, but even I found the whole experience of three long films a little tedious. We don’t need to know every detail. There’s reason Greatest Hits packages tend to sell better. This could have been a really good one, maybe two hour synopsis. You don’t have to show the whole working through of songs, multiple times. It’s like, we get it already, Peter. There were good memories too despite the fact that they were coming apart as a band.
Bumped.
I have to admit, this kinda creeps me out.
On the one hand, it’s not all that different from the two “new” songs that the then-three surviving Beatles made in the 1990s (“Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”), starting with demo tapes that John had recorded. At that time, it was a matter of producer Jeff Lynne, and the engineers, using the digital tools of that era to clean up recordings that Lennon had made on noisy, low-fidelity cassette tapes. (Though, I know that the songs received mixed reactions from fans.)
OTOH, with AI involved, it makes one wonder how much would be cleaning up the old recording, versus creating something that isn’t actually there in the recording.
Both songs were failures IMHO, they just were too lightweight and forgettable to make any great impact. Does anybody other than die-hard Beatles fans remember one of these songs? That’s why I’m surprised that Paul tries it again. I don’t think it’s because of the money which he already has buttloads of, and he never seemed like the materialistic guy who does anything for a buck.
He’s as much, if not more, of a Beatles fan as anybody. Every fan wants to relive the experience of hearing a Beatles song for the first time. The result is inevitably disappointing, but fans aren’t known for their rationality.
FWIW, I like, and still regularly listen to, “Real Love,” but then, I suppose that I am a die-hard Beatles fan. 
Even so, I recognize that it’s not a song that’s really on par with most of their work.
This may well be a big part of it. I’m assuming (or, at least, hoping) that the old recordings do have actual guitar work and/or vocals from George, as well.
I’m a die-hard Beatles fan too, of course, but “Real Love” is the one I totally have forgotten. I still remember the chorus of “Free As A Bird”, but with “Real Love” I draw a total blank. And I own all three volumes of “The Beatles Anthology” on which they were first released.
Calling them “failures” implies that they failed at what they were trying to do, which I don’t think is fair to say. I think they were successful at turning a couple of demo tapes into finished-sounding songs. Those songs didn’t really sound like what the Beatles were doing in the 60s, but they do sound like what the Beatles might have done as a group years later. And as far as quality, memorability, etc., I’d put them near, but not at, the bottom of the Beatles’ overall output together.
Free As A Bird and Real Love both lack something, a Beatles “spark” is how I would characterize it. To my ear they’re melancholy dirges that don’t summon any feelings of joy or celebration of their work.
Yes, I agree, and they sounded too much like contemporary ELO than what the real Beatles could have sounded in the 90s. (no dig at ELO and Jeff Lynne, I usually like what he does, but you have to admit that he has a characteristic production style that you hear in every song he produced. One thing: the snare)
Speaking as a huge ELO fan: you aren’t wrong. I love Jeff, and his music, but the songs he produces with other artists do wind up having that signature ELO sound. I imagine that that’s part of the draw for musicians who work with him: they’re looking for that sound.
One thing I took away from “Get Back” is that Paul seemed to have a compulsion to create, which he could never turn off. I assume he’s still that way.
It’s as if he thinks in music, and that’s the way he expresses his thoughts and ideas.
So when he decided to do something with these tapes, I doubt it had anything to do with money or even preserving the Beatles’ legacy (which is just fine). But I suspect - and this is just me speculating, of course - that once he got this idea in his head, he simply couldn’t not follow through with it, for better or worse.
Regarding the song “Real Love,” which has been brought up a few times…
Regina Spector (no relation to Phil) recorded a version of this song that never fails to give me chills, in the best possible way.
Though she originally recorded it for a benefit album, I actually prefer this live version, in which her vocal delivery is more impassioned, IMHO.
She made me love that song.
100%. Anyone that follows his releases knows that not only does he keeps not stopping to make music, the dude keeps experimenting with genre and styles. Regardless of whether the results float your boat or not, I am stunned he has maintained such a passion to not just play the oldies, but to create.
Very nice - thanks. To my untrained ear, she sounds a lot like Ruth B.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58TBZnvyGwQ
I much prefer “Real Love” to “Free As A Bird,” but neither are anywhere close to the Beatles’ best.
Since Lynne has produced all the surviving ex-Beatles in addition to the faux-Beatles songs, one could put together a compilation that holds together sonically pretty well.
Nice! You introduced me to a new artist I’m going to have to do a deep dive on! Thanks!
Glad to, B.Serum!
Didn’t Lennon say that ELO was what the Beatles would have become, or something like that?
I think he called ELO the “sons of the Beatles.”