The Beatles Again Reignite Insatiable Appetites

The Beatles were on The History Channel the other night and, thanks to my good friend Steve Goddard who tipped me off beforehand, I was able to fire up our clogged DVR.

The Beatles on Record turned out to be a rather passable documentary largely thanks to a soundtrack entirely of comments from the Beatles and producer George Martin.  One of them, it may have been Ringo, commented on how, at one point, the band could complete two singles in a three-hour session.

This remark underscored the fundamental problem with the documentary… too much content, too much incomprehensible magic left glittering on the cutting room floor, resulting in insufficient depth.  Well- intended focus on what happened inside the studio and the discipline to bypass most of the rest of Beatles lore still left a yearning for more.

How fun it would have been to watch a three-hour documentary, by and large unedited, where we see and hear the Beatles and George Martin produce two singles.  Or ninety minutes as they worked on one.  All the mistakes and miscues, all the muttering.

Martin was such an elegant master of managing the creative process that he was fine with the Beatles’ rather unorthodox fusing of rehearsal and recording.  Anyone whose tasks include participation in nurturing the creative process could hardly sit at the foot of a more accomplished master of artistic leadership.  As would any fan interested in the nuts and bolts of how these records actually came together.

Here is the good news.  We’re steaming into an era when the constraints of one hour of TV are collapsing.  We won’t be denied the depth of content we yearn for.  The splintered and perhaps relatively small number of us who would love to spend ninety minutes watching the fabs create “I’ve Just Seen a Face” will have our day.

So…

…what’s in the archives?  What magic can actually be swept up off the cutting room floor?  Many of the answers may lie buried in an obscure book.  The Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes 1962-1970 by Mark Lewisohn.