Drugs, divorce, and a slipping image

Here, for the first time, Beatles experts Sulpy and Schweighardt trace the group's breakdown through the fascinating prism of the Get Back recording sessions. January 2, 1969: The Beatles begin a month of intensive sessions, designed to capture the musicians "as nature intended." Playing raw, live, with no studio tricks or gimmicks, the Beatles were consciously rejecting the high-gloss production style of their recent albums in favor of a return to their earlier stripped-down rock and roll sound. But Beatles Unplugged soon became Beatles Undone, and the project turned into the thirty-day saga of a group in freefall. Bickering and sniping, trudging through sloppy versions of old hits, the Fab Four were coming apart. For twenty-five years, tapes from the ill-fated Get Back sessions - only a fraction of which were released as Let It Be - have circulated among collectors. Sulpy and Schweighardt, for the first time, have undertaken a Herculean task: Sifting through those countless hours on tape, they reconstruct in amazing detail the drama of those sessions - the songs, jokes, outbursts, and fights. Get Back puts the reader in the studio as John cedes power to Yoko, Paul scrambles to keep things afloat, and George quits the band. It traces each step in the band's unique creative process. And, finally, it relives the glorious coda - when, for an impromptu rooftop concert, all four left their differences downstairs and mustered the singular Beatles magic.