Of Beatles & Hobbits Part 1

The big music news recently is that Sir Peter Jackson of 'Lord of the Rings' fame is going to take a crack at re-editing all the unseen footage of the Beatles from January 1969, with the goal of creating a new documentary. One presumes that the end result will replace 'Let It Be', although the original is still expected to also be released as part of the process. That seems equitable, a carefully chosen word. There is still a lot of tension over the project, the most abysmal failure of the Beatles' career. Some back story might help.

The reason behind 'Let It Be' dates all the way back to December 1963, when Brian Epstein, the Beatles'  manager, signed a three picture deal with United Artists. It was a good move for Epstein; one picture a year, with no guarantee at that moment, just months before the Beatles would conquer America, that the group would still be a going concern that far in the future. The first movie, 'A Hard Day's Night', proved wildly popular. 'Help' was put together quickly in 1965, this time in color.

There was a team built up around these projects that had proved successful. Richard Lester, an expatriate American, was trusted as the director. Certain actors, such as Victor Spinetti, had become friends with the group, showing up repeatedly. Spinetti even co-wrote a play with John Lennon. The machinery seemed in place to finish the contract the next year.

There was a four month gap built into their 1966 schedule in the fall to do the third film, but they couldn't agree on a script. The Beatles were 'arty' by now, not satisfied with the amount of artifice in 'Help'. Various screen writers were hired, such as John Osborne, more in the 'Kitchen Sink' school, but all scripts were rejected. In actual fact, the Fab Four had just finished a punishing world tour, including trouble in the Philippines and the famous 'We're bigger than Jesus' crisis in the States. They wanted a break.

Hidden between the lines is the fact that the Beatles' organization managed a film in 1967, 1968 and 1969, all under the new 'Apple Corp' banner. Brian Epstein was involved in the first two in the months before he died. However, both wouldn't start serious production until after his death. The last one, 'Let It Be', would be released under both Apple and ABKCO. In 1970, they were working on a history of the Beatles 'called 'The Long & Winding Road'. More on that later.

It was thought that perhaps 'Magical Mystery Tour' from 1967 could satisfy the contract, but United Artists found the end result too amateurish. Recording started immediately upon completion of the Sgt. Peppers' sessions, so much so that they really bleed together. Most of the songs from that television special, as well as three of the four new songs that would appear in 'Yellow Submarine', were recorded before 'Sgt. Peppers' was even released. They even managed to squeeze in a few singles as well before shooting and editing their Christmas special.

Deciding to manage themselves, it fell on Paul McCartney to be the organizing force. Ringo was good at acting, while John's occasional ideas were pretty weird but interesting. George got his slot and hung around, complaining. Trying to direct 'Magical Mystery Tour' themselves, Paul was the only one who would bother to do any homework. With the crew waiting every morning for instructions, it was natural for him to become the organizing force.

'Yellow Submarine' was also started in 1967, premiering in January 1969, but it was a side deal with producer Al Brodax, who had done an animated Beatles series for American television. The band initially had no enthusiasm for the project, but when the producer hired a German graphic designer with a more artistic bend who quickly put together the 'Eleanor Rigby' segment, they were on board. All was needed were a few new songs to be scraped together for the film. All of the new tunes were outtakes and leftovers

It was 1969, and the contract was still owed one more picture. The Beatles, Paul and George in particular, were red hot creatively, continuing to work very hard after the completion of the grueling 'White Album' sessions. Both produced albums for Apple signings, Mary Hopkins and Jackie Lomax specifically, working diligently to make their new company a success. Now owning the  means of production, with technical guru Magic Alex supposedly turning the basement of their office building into a studio, the best selling band in the world looked to be in a great position for continued success.

The dream would all be over in a mere month. How it happened is all locked within the 'Get Back sessions, as well as the following 'Abbey Road' album. That's one reason that McCartney has such negative feelings about the period. The other is the arrival of Allen Klein on the scene. In fact, he first met John and Yoko on January 28, 1969, right near the close of the sessions. By the time of the rooftop concert, Klein was representing part of the Beatles

Allen Klein had already marched through rock and soul music like Sherman marched through the South during the Civil War, burning everything in his path. He was an accountant by trade, but he had found a specialty in going after record companies on the behalf of recording artists, uncovering unpaid royalties. He was good at it, too, even if he was abrasive. Unfortunately, he would often control the money seized in his own bank accounts. That was the fine print on the contract that the artist failed to read.

Klein started handling the Rolling Stones during their most stressful times, after a series of drug busts in 1967. Their current manager, Andrew Loog Oldman, bailed, convinced that the days of high tide and green grass were over. ABKCO managed the Stones until they became a successful band again, even in charge of most of the logistics of their 1969 American tour. For saving the band from extinction, Klein wound up owning all their recordings before 1970 forever. It was a magnificent screw job, especially painful to Mick Jagger, who had attended the London School of Economics.

It is quite possible that for once the Beatles borrowed an idea from the Rolling Stones instead of vice versa. Jean Luc Godard had just spent some of the summer of 1968 filming the Stones in the studio, working through various arrangements of 'Sympathy for the Devil'. Combining it with Godard's usual agitprop bullshit, and a film came out with art school credentials. The Stones really didn't have to work too hard, just do what they would normally do.

Sounds good, unless you have had the misfortune of actually seeing the movie. Even then, chances are you weren't awake when the end credits rolled. 'One Plus One', the original title, was released at the end of 1968. It shows the London band as somewhat broken, with Brian Jones so stoned that he literally cannot focus his eyes. Keith Richards even replaces the bass player, Bill Wyman, on the track. And the half of the film that doesn't have the band in it is the usual incompetent and amateurish left wing political propaganda, totally unwatchable.

There was another Rolling Stones film project that year that might have had an even bigger influence, at least in terms of personnel. 'The Rolling Stones' Rock & Roll Circus' might have been unreleased for a quarter century, but John Lennon had been one of the participants. The director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, was familiar to both groups, having shot music videos going back to 1966, working on shows such as 'Ready, Steady, Go' before that. He would be in charge of the new Beatles documentary that would get United Artists off the band's back.

The rumor mill has been saying for at least a decade that 'Let It Be', the 1970 movie about the Beatles rehearsing and recording their follow-up to 'The Beatles' aka 'The White Album', would never get released. The reason is Paul McCartney, plain and simple. While the initial idea for the project was his, by the time editing came around, Allen Klein had entered the picture. That meant that McCartney wasn't around for any of the editorial decisions, since he split to Scotland with his pregnant bride.

Klein had a history not only in music accounting but also film production. As early as 1962, he was a producer on a film called 'Without Each Other'. He had a long association with Tony Anthony, a American working in Italy, mostly doing spaghetti westerns. He had also done a music film with Herman's Hermits. 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter', which is as horrible as you might expect. He continued to produce and distribute movies after his associate with the Beatles ended.

There has recently been a school of thought that thinks than Allen Klein's involvement with both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones was actually beneficial. By the time that management papers were attempted to be signed by all four Fabs in September 1969, Apple was a financial disaster, mainly due to the activities of some of the band. School friends had been brought in from Liverpool and given positions of importance despite having no experience. Theft was rampart.

It didn't take Klein long to tidy up some of Apple's business affairs. Firing Magic Alex and shutting down the Zapple label was low hanging fruit. Getting rid of various hangers on also increased efficiency, even if it killed the idealism on which Apple had been built. It was only when he tried to fire Neil Aspinall, the longest person working with the band who would eventually take over the company until near his death in 2008, that the purge was slowed.

The real problem with Allen Klein is that while taking over management of the group, he played favorites. He used John's infatuation with Yoko Ono to get Lennon to sign by promising her a major art exhibit. Only later was it learned that the Beatles paid for it. He got Ringo a spot in the movie 'Blindman',  a Tony Anthony western so misogynistic that it never even got a release in the States. George, who despite his spiritual leaning was the most money oriented of the band, was the first to turn against Klein over the delay of releasing funds to the Bangladesh relief efforts.

The most significant failing on Allen Klein's part was his negotiations with NEMS, Brian Epstein's old firm, over the control of the song copyrights tot he Lennon/McCartney catalog, worth untold millions. His blitzkrieg approach to the Epstein family so horrified Brian's brother and mother that they immediate sold the controlling shares to Dick James, the ultimate English music sharpie. In time, he sold them to Michael Jackson. That remains salt in Paul McCartney's wounds to this day.

Don't take my word for it; I'll this part of the story with a direct quote from Glyn Johns, who was there the entire time. Johns really didn't know the band at all; it was the first time he was exposed to their workings. More about the actual music that came from this mess, but here is his observation of the time period, and the resulting cinema product;

There was some amazing stuff – their humor got to me as much as the music, and I didn't stop laughing for six weeks. John Lennon only had to walk in a room, and I'd just crack up. Their whole mood was wonderful, and that was the thing, and there was all this nonsense going on at the time about the problems surrounding the group, and the press being at them, and in fact, there they were, just doing it, having a wonderful time and being incredibly funny, and none of that's in the film.


Glyn Johns