An official anniversary book about the Beatles' "Get Back/Let it Be" project will arrive a year late, just like director Peter Jackson's documentary film, "The Beatles' Get Back," and, we presume, an anniversary "Let it Be" box set.
The book, also titled "The Beatles Get Back," was originally set for Sept. 1 release this year but will now appear on Aug. 31, 2021, to tie in with the release of Jackson's film.
Publisher Nicholas Callaway told Bookseller that he's been a Beatles fan since seeing them live as an audience member for one of the band's "Ed Sullivan Show" appearances.
Callaway Arts and Entertainment put in a bid 20 years ago to publish "The Beatles Anthology" book, but missed out.
“Ever since then I’ve been knocking on their [Apple Corps] door, and we are very honored to be their publisher [for Let It Be]. They chose us over every other major publisher,” Callaway said.He said the book provides a “fly on the wall view” of the band working on their penultimate album and the "Let it Be" film and features an introduction by Peter Jackson.
According to Bookseller:
The 240-page book’s principal text is from transcripts edited by journalist, writer and critic John Harris, columnist for the Guardian. Included are 200 photos by Linda Eastman, who married Paul McCartney shortly thereafter, and a young photographer, Ethan Russell, who “lucked out", as Callaway says, by being in the right place at the right time. Also between these pages – printed on what Callaway calls “the most beautiful uncoated paper ever made", Mohawk Superfine, are stills of the restored film footage that, he says, exemplifies the press’ commitment to combining advanced technology and book craftsmanship.
...While the complete promotional campaign is still in the works, Callaway has confirmed that in the US the book will be made available to all publishing channels via distributor Ingram, with a window display contest held for US independent bookstores over the Labor Day weekend. In addition, the book will be available in the five authorized Beatles stores worldwide that sell only Beatles’ products.
Here's a promotional video for the book posted on the official Beatles website:
The most anticipated book in more than a decade by the legendary band, The Beatles: Get Back is the official account of the creation of their final album, Let It Be, told in The Beatles’ own words, illustrated with hundreds of previously unpublished images, including photos by Ethan A. Russell and Linda McCartney. Half a century after the 1970 Let It Be album and film, this milestone book coincides with the global release of Peter Jackson’s documentary feature film, The Beatles: Get Back.
The book opens in January 1969, the beginning of The Beatles’ last year as a band. The BEATLES (The White Album) is at number one in the charts and the foursome gather in London for a new project. Over 21 days, first at Twickenham Film Studios and then at their own brand-new Apple Studios, with cameras and tape recorders documenting every day’s work and conversations, the band rehearse a huge number of songs, culminating in their final concert, which famously takes place on the rooftop of their own office building, bringing central London to a halt.
The Beatles: Get Back tells the story of those sessions through transcripts of the band’s candid conversations. Drawing on over 120 hours of sound recordings, leading music writer John Harris edits the richly captivating text to give us a fly-on-the-wall experience of being there in the studios. These sessions come vividly to life through hundreds of unpublished, extraordinary images by two photographers who had special access to their sessions―Ethan A. Russell and Linda Eastman (who married Paul McCartney two months later). Also included are many unseen high-resolution film-frames, selected from the 55 hours of restored footage from which Peter Jackson’s documentary is also drawn.
Legend has it that these sessions were a grim time for a band falling apart. However, as acclaimed novelist Hanif Kureishi writes in his introduction, “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." Half a century after their final performance, this book completes the story of the creative genius, timeless music, and inspiring legacy of The Beatles.
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