PAUL MCCARTNEY'S GET BACK (1991)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 89 Minutes
Rating: G
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Richard Lester
I was an adolescent in the eighties, so I grew up with a knowledge of The Beatles, I mean it would be pretty hard to be a kid in the 20th century and not at least know of the band, but I was a true fan at that age. In fact I was decidedly more a fan of The Rolling Stones and The Kinks and sort of dismissed The Beatles as overrated music our parents listened to, it was the 80's and I was an 80's kid, and they just seemed so passe to me, sacrilege I know. That sort of changed in my teens in the early 90's when I was a metal fan but was discovering "grunge" rock and the music of Nirvana in particular attracted me, like so many others, and Cobain would name-check The Beatles fairly often in a reverent way. I then found myself listening to The Beatles more play on my home stereo, not so much their early teeny-bopper pop stuff, but certainly Robber Soul, The White Album, and Revolver, and I quickly became a more serious convert to the band. What can I say, they just made killer music, and that I was a bit older and more (dare I say it?) nuanced and cultured in my own musical tastes having heard a wider breadth of music since I was an adolescent. It was pretty fucking obvious there was a reason The Beatles were the biggest rock n' roll band in the world. Even still at that point I did not seek out the solo albums by ex-Beatles McCartney, Lennon, Starr and Harrison for another decade or so, and even then I only really listened to Lennon's solo stuff, which to me felt more deep, meaningful and impactful (and I just referred his vocals more) and the remaining Beatles solo efforts, including McCartney's Wings, were only listened to when something came across the FM dial. They were fine, but I wasn't really into it. At least not till my mid-30's, and then I finally I got more into Wings and Harrison's solo albums - particularly Harrison whose music is so rich, wonderful and textured. However, to this day I have never bought a Paul McCartney or Ringo star solo album.
That brings us to Paul McCartney's Get Back (1990) a theatrical concert film directed by Richard Lester (Help!, Hard Day’s Night, Superman II & III). McCartney hadn't been on a proper tour for at least a decade prior to undertaking this over 100 date massive stadium tour from 1989-1990, and this film documents 20 tracks reordered in England, Holland, UK, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Italy, Holland in Spain. The songs range from the early days of The Beatles on through to Wings and his solo stuff, supported by a backing band that included McCartney's now late wife Linda McCartney (Wings) and longtime McCartney alum Paul "Wix" Wickenson on keyboards, Hamish Stuart (Average White Band) and Robbie McIntosh (The Robbie McIntosh Band) on guitars, and Chris Whitten ( Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Julian Cope) on drums.
It's directed by Richard Lester, who made the early Beatles films Help! and A Hard Day’s Night, who came out of retirement to document the tour, proving to be his last feature film. The anthology concert film features not only the performances footage and cutaways to the international audiences, who are clearly having the time of their life, as well as clips from Help! and Hard Day’s Night, plus others clips, not all of which seemed to fit the theme of the songs they accompanies in my estimation.
Anyway, what did I think for the concert film? It was a pretty good time, what we are getting here is any sort of zesty new take on classics, there are no real deep cuts, and what we get are faithful spot-on run-throughs of McCartney's back catalog as well as "Rough Ride" and "Put It There" which were on his current album at the time of the tour. They open the show with a solid version of Wings "Band on the Run", with my favorites being a rocking version of "Back in the U.S.S.R", "Live and Let Die", and "Get Back". A solid set of standard McCartney tunes, I would have preferred a few deep cuts but a solid performance throughout that i am sure will appeal to more McCartney-centric fans.
Audio/Video: Paul McCartney's Get Back (1990) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Via Vision Entertainment in 1080p HD widescreen (1.66:1). It's a pretty raw and grainy looking affair, shot at least partially on 16mm films, so that's the way it should appear. Colors look accurate, and depth and clarity fall in line with what I would expect from 16mm. Audio comes b way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo without subtitles, so you'll have to figure those lyrics out on your own I guess. Thankfully the vocals are delivered with some gusto with some decent (but not overly impressive) low-end and mid-ranges that put forth a rocking good time.
The single disc release arrives in an oversized keepcase with a two-sided sleeve of artwork, the reverse side is just advertising for other VVE releases. The artwork on the wrap is the original movie poster for the concert film, which is replicated on the side-loading slipcase.
Screenshots from the Via Vision Entertainment Blu-ray:
