Beatles' Let It Be (33 1/3) Read Online Free PDF

hurly-burly of central London and located in a rather rural area, the studios are actually only 20 minutes from the middle of town and only 15 minutes from Heathrow.
    Along with Pinewood, Shepperton, and Elstree, Twickenham was one of the most prestigious film studios in England at that time. In fact, partially because of
A Hard Day’s Night,
the British film scene was then at a commercial and creative peak.
A Hard Day’s Night,
along with the James Bond films and other high-profile exports, had helped British cinema to become internationallyrecognized and step out of the shadow of Hollywood.
    It was a time of intense activity for films being made at Twickenham. Such films, in various stages of production, included Tony Richardson’s remake of the 1936 film
Charge of the Light Brigade,
Richard Lester’s
Petulia,
Richard Attenborough’s
Oh What A Lovely War,
and
The Italian Job,
starring Michael Caine. Peter Sellers, who would join Ringo on February 3 to film
The Magic Christian,
was at Twickenham and dropped in on the Beatles on January 14, the group’s second-to-last day there.
    The footage of the rehearsals that would become part of the film
Let It Be
was not initially shot with the intention of becoming a feature film. Only a small part of the filmed rehearsals were to become part of the concert television show entitled “Get Back.” Those involved with the project never intended to use the filming of the rehearsals as sound recordings, and it appears that no multi-track recording equipment was present during the filming. However, recording engineer Glyn Johns did record the group, separate from the film sound, presumably in mono, on January 7, 8, 9, 10, and, some say, 13. Those recordings have either been recorded over or lost. There is, however, a possibility that Johns prepared acetates from them. The movie’s audio sound was recorded using two Nagra mono reel-to-reeltape recorders, each assigned to a camera, and each having the capability to record for 16 minutes at a time. To ensure that no audio would be lost, one roll of tape would begin before the previous roll would end. The audio reels were numbered and then assigned a letter, either A or B, to identify with which camera they were paired.
    Michael Lindsay-Hogg was to be the director of the film. Lindsay-Hogg had worked with the Beatles before, but he was probably chosen because of his work on the Rolling Stones’
Rock And Roll Circus,
which took place at Wembley Studios only a few weeks prior to the Beatles’ filming at Twickenham, and which also included the participation of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
    Lindsay-Hogg brought cinematographer Tony Richmond (now known as Anthony Richmond) from the Stones shoot along with him to Twickenham. The two cameramen were Les Parrott and Paul Bond, who filmed the proceedings using 16mm film. Ethan Russell took still photographs of the sessions and his striking photos adorned the finished album cover and lavish booklet that were included with the initial British edition of the album. He may also have done some camera work. The sound engineers were Glyn Johns (who, incidentally, had also been involved with the
Rock And Roll Circus)
and Mal Evans. Evans and Kevin Harringtonunloaded equipment and gear out of a white van with Apple insignias on it onto the sound stage as needed.
    Glyn Johns’s first time working with the Beatles occurred on April 19, 1964. Prior to the completion of
A Hard Day’s Night,
the Beatles were to star in a one-hour television special, produced and directed by Jack Good for Rediffusion Television. Although the group was scheduled to lip-synch to six songs and a medley of its five recent hits for the show, it instead ended up pre-taping new versions of the songs at independent London recording studio IBC. While no official producer was present at the session, Terry Johnson was the balance engineer and Glyn Johns was the second engineer and the tape operator.
    It is hard to say how Johns came to