The Smiley Smile Message Board

Anyone else enjoying "Get Back" on Disney+?
BB content I've noticed so far...
1.  At the early rehearsals, Paul laments that EMI is providing them with only four-track recording equipment. Paul: "But I know for a fact that they got 8-track out for the Beach Boys."  Michael Lindsay Hogg: "But the Beach Boys are American."
Paul was apparently referring to the recording of the BBs' "Live in London" which was just one month earlier (Dec. 8, 1968).  Was Paul at that show?  
Not sure what Hogg's point was about the BBs being "American," as clearly the Beatles were much bigger a money maker for EMI at that point. Paul looks at him incredulously, and then the film cuts away so if Paul responded, it was edited out.

2.  Derek Taylor is in the studio a couple times. It was interesting to see a bit of him, as he's also such a legendary figure from the Pet Sounds/Smile era.

3.  Mike Love makes the cut, as Paul mentions him when reminiscing about the India trip.  Footage of ML hanging out with a couple Beatle wives/gfs is featured.  This name-check has gotta make ML's Thanksgiving weekend, as that 1968 trip is something about which he's been extraordinarily proud (and never shy about mentioning) over the last 50+ years.

Mike has to be absolutely thrilled that he's featured!! And as a BBs fan I think that's awesome. 8)

It's subtle but when Paul mentions Mike Love, he pulls a face that suggests (to me at least) he found him a bit of an ass.  :lol

Yeah there's something there he's alluding to. I can't say whether or not it was Paul suggesting that Mike was an ass, but there definitely is something there.

It is cool that Mike gets mentioned right after someone mentions the lyrics to 'Back in the USSR' and Paul is like "Yeah yeah!" and he immediately brings up Mike Love because of it.

Also hearing Paul mention The Beach Boys (regarding the 8 track) made me smile - I honestly don't even know why. I think since The Beach Boys are my favorite band, its great to hear the greatest band acknowledge their existence (even in this case when it's just about an 8-track recorder).

AWESOME documentary and it makes me sad that The Beach Boys won't really have anything like this. This was such an intimate view of the Beatles and it really helped me appreciate their talent so much more. It's amazing how each episode seemed to fly by even though they were almost all 2 1/2 hours long a piece. The documentary was great at explaining the timeline of things - so I was surprised it never did a simple explanation of what happened with the Let It Be album (Phil Spector being handed the tapes, etc). But overall that was by far the best music related 'documentary' I've ever seen.

The underlying footage of the Beatles is just so unbelievable, it must have cost a fortune in film stock alone. And of course the cameras did not exactly create a creative working environment, so its almost certainly for the best that the Beach Boys never tried something similar. But man, what I would give for even a half hour of 32 mm color film showing Brian and the band working in the 60s! The Good Vibrations footage in the new Brian doc is more than I ever expected to see, of course, but it's amazing what a difference the higher quality film stock makes. In the Beatles footage, you're *there*, it's unbelievable.

> if Paul responded, it was edited out.

I believe that the response was captured in the 1969 glossy photo book that accompanied the Let It Be release, credited to Jonathan Cott and David Dalton. The entirety of it:
George: Are we getting an 8 track?
John: Phone America, they're quick
Glyn: They've only got 4 track
Paul: I know they got the 8 track out for The Beach Boys. (Texan voice) 'n if they got it owt fer the Beach Boys...
...and then George changes the subject by singing a little of All Things Must Pass

FWIW, the Beatles' footage is actually 16mm film.   But I agree with you that the picture quality is absolutely incredible.  There's no graininess or color distortion at all.  You say it well: it's like you're there.  It looks like it could have been filmed yesterday.  Kudos to whatever Peter Jackson and his team did to scan and digitize this film.  And kudos to the Beatles and Michael Lindsay Hogg for spending freely back in the day on the original footage.   It's an absolute grand slam.

I heard Jackson used the same technology that he used with 'They Shall Not Grow Old' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrabKK9Bhds) - in the film it is stunning to see the transition from choppy black&white footage to smooth, crisp, large color footage. I highly recommend that film to anyone as well.

I'm finding the film restoration to look a little too glossy for my tastes.  By removing the film grain a lot of detail goes out the window and everything looks a little unnatural.  This technology of upscaling old images with artificial intelligence is still in its infancy and I don't think this video quality will age well in time. 

But other than that this is still a fantastic documentary.  I just finished the first episode.  Which episode contains the Mike Love reference? 

Has anyone, ever, found him otherwise?

Part 2.