As rehearsal for The Beatles next project at Twickenham Film Studios dragged on, the barren atmosphere of the studio space reflected the distant bandmates who occupied it. The distance was cut by growing agitation with the ever-pushy Paul who tried his hardest to rally the weary John, George and Ringo, but who by doing so only wound up driving a further wedge into their friendship. George was especially aggravated by Paul’s “coaching”, as well as Yoko Ono’s ever-growing influence over John, which sparked heated arguments both on and off camera and culminated in George walking out of the sessions. With no one in the cast or crew of the documentary sure what to do without one of the four Beatles, the fate of the project (let alone the band) looked to be in serious jeopardy - despite John glibly stating that if George left permanently the band would simply bring in Eric Clapton to replace him. Through the haze of Twickenham can also be heard dozens of songs and song fragments that would eventually populate the four Beatles’ solo output for years to come. A small burst of color came to fans in the form of The Beatles long-delayed Yellow Submarine soundtrack LP’s release, featuring the new or unreleased tracks the band contributed to the feature film the year prior. But even the cartoon smiles of the animated Beatles weren’t enough to see the band through the Twickenham sessions, and by mid-January the biggest band in the world lay in shattered pieces over the long, cold, lonely winter...

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