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 But half a century on, a new
official book and documentary will offer a more
detailed look at the famed sessions, using hours
of previously unreleased footage and recordings
to show events in a happier light.
"The Beatles: Get Back" will be released next
August as a companion to a film by "Lord of the
Rings" director Peter Jackson documenting the
creation of the 1970 "Let It Be" album, the
publishers said on Wednesday.
The book features transcribed conversations
between John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George
Harrison and Ringo Starr from more than 120
hours of recordings during three weeks of
sessions at the Twickenham Film Studios and then
at The Beatles' own Abbey Studios in 1969.
It culminates in the band's famed final live
appearance on the rooftop of their offices in
central London.
The book contains hundreds of previously
unpublished images, including some by Linda
McCartney, who married Paul just after the
sessions. It also has an introduction by
novelist and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi.
"Let it Be", featuring songs such as "Get Back",
"The Long and Winding Road" as well as the title
song, was the final Beatles album to be released
and hit record stores after they split. "Abbey
Road" was recorded after "Let it Be" but issued
before it.
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 The sessions were orginally
documented in the 1970 movie "Let it Be"
directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, which showed
the band members squabbling amongst themselves
and sulking. But, Kureishi
writes: "In fact this was a productive time for
them, when they created some of their best work.
"And it is here that we have the privilege of
witnessing their early drafts, the mistakes, the
drift and digressions, the boredom, the
excitement, joyous jamming and sudden
breakthroughs that led to the work we now know
and admire".
Jackson's film - whose release has been delayed
by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic -
delves into 55 hours of unreleased footage and
120 hours of audio recordings to reexamine the
sessions.
Often it shows them laughing and joking, just as
they did at the height of Beatlemania.
 (Reporting by Angus MacSwan, Editing by Mike
Collett-White)
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