Get Back: The Beatles

★首度公開！傳奇樂團披頭四1970年最後一張專輯《Let It Be》幕後創作紀實
★收錄數百張從未曝光照片
★獨家披露四人會議逐字稿

　　本書從披頭四解散前一年1969年的一月揭開序幕，當時他們第九張錄音室專輯The BEATLES（The White Album）登上排行榜冠軍，四人齊聚倫敦著手新企畫。在接下來超過二十一天日子裡的場景首先出現在特威肯曼電影製片所（Twickenham Studios），接著在全新的地下錄音室Apple Studio，他們用攝影機和錄音機記錄每天的工作和對話。期間他們排練了大量歌曲，並在自己的蘋果唱片總部頂樓舉辦舉辦了一場即興演唱會，震驚了倫敦市中心直到警察前來才結束。

　　這本《The Beatles: Get Back》以文字記錄樂團坦誠的對話，講述樂團解散前這段時間發生的故事。英國著名音樂類型作家John Harris彙整超過120小時的錄音，帶讀者重返錄音室身歷其境。當時拍攝搖滾樂團聞名的攝影大師Ethan A. Russell，以及為名人和流行音樂家拍照的專業攝影師Linda McCartney（兩個月後與保羅•麥卡尼結婚）特別獲准為他們紀錄影像，數百張當時拍攝的照片將在本書首次發表。

　　書中還特別收錄選自魔戒名導Peter Jackson紀錄片《披頭四：GET BACK》55小時修復鏡頭的獨家高解析度畫面。今年本書將與該紀錄片同步紀念《Let It Be》50周年里程碑。

　　本書回顧披頭四面臨分崩離析的嚴峻時期。 但如著名小說家Hanif Kureishi在序中所言：「他們當時正處於巔峰期，創作出最好的作品。我們有幸目睹形塑他們巨作的初期草稿、錯誤、轉變、離題、無聊、興奮、干擾和突破。本書在他們最後一場表演經過半個世紀之後，完成了披頭四創意奇才、永恆音樂和振奮人心的傳奇故事。」


　　“本書可見Ethan A. Russell和Linda McCartney的照片，Peter Jackson和Hanif Kureishi的文字。但最棒的是，書中會議的逐字稿就像諾貝爾文學獎作家Samuel Beckett寫下的對白。” ——美國權威音樂雜誌《滾石雜誌》

　　“平心而論，Let It Be至今仍象徵披頭四的解散。真相其實略有出入。Let It Be的真實故事在蘋果唱片總部封印了50年。” ——Peter Jackson

　　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the creation of their final album, Let It Be, told in The Beatles’ own words, illustrated with hundreds of previously unpublished images, including photos by Ethan A. Russell and Linda McCartney.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 These sessions come vividly to life through hundreds of unpublished, extraordinary images by two photographers who had special access to their sessions―Ethan A. Russell and Linda Eastman (who married Paul McCartney two months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.

THE BEATLES are the bestselling music act of all time. Between 1962 and 1970 John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released thirteen albums as a band, made five films together, and topped the charts all over the world. Until 1966 they toured the world to unprecedented mass acclaim, inspiring the phenomenon of Beatlemania. Their creativity stretched the possibilities of popular music and -- working with their producer George Martin -- they revolutionized studio recording processes. They had an unrivalled impact on the music industry, fashion, popular culture and society in the 1960s and beyond, and their influence persists today.

PETER JACKSON is an Academy Award winning director, producer and screenwriter. His films include The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies as well as the BAFTA nominated World War One documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. In 2018 he began work on a new documentary about The Beatles’ 1969 Let It Be sessions, making use of the 55 hours of footage that have never been seen.

HANIF KUREISHI is the author of The Buddha of Suburbia, which won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, The Black Album, Intimacy, The Last Word, The Nothing, and What Happened? His screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Kureishi has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the PEN Pinter Prize, and is a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. His work has been translated into thirty-six languages.

JOHN HARRIS writes for The Guardian and Mojo magazine. His books include The Last Party, about the culture of the 1990s, and the definitive account of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon. In 2018, he contributed an essay to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles’ White Album.

ETHAN A. RUSSELL is a multiple Grammy(R)-nominated photographer, director and author of four books. He is the only photographer to have shot covers for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who. He was invited by The Beatles to photograph the band’s recording sessions in January 1969 and his images adorn the sleeve of the Let It Be album.

LINDA McCARTNEY was a prolific photographer and began her four decade career chronicling the musical revolution of the 1960s. In 1967 she was voted US Female Photographer of the Year and in 1968 she became the first female photographer to shoot the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Her photographic work went on to focus predominantly on the themes of social commentary, domesticity, nature and the experimentation of printing techniques. Linda’s exhibitions have been exhibited in over 70 cities and feature in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Between 1967 and 1969 Linda frequently photographed The Beatles, including the Get Back sessions, and she married Paul McCartney in March 1969. As well as her photographic career, Linda was a cookbook author, vegetarian pioneer, musician and mother of four.