into a legal and verbal war that will blow the
band apart in 1970. Watching Lennon rhapsodize
over Klein, even as recording engineer Glyn Johns
warns him that he found Klein to be strange and
self-involved, is like watching a horror movie in
which the hero prepares to open a creaky door.
“Don’t do it, John!”
The presence of keyboardist Billy Preston, who
joins the Beatles on “Get Back” and other songs,
and a conversation in the Abbey Road studio
between John and George suggest another
path. George wonders if he shouldn’t release a
solo record, and John, who already has made an
album of experimental music with Yoko, sounds
supportive. Neither suggest that the Beatles
themselves should stop. For those who wanted
the Beatles to stay together forever — or on the
far side of ever — this may have been the way,
with the Beatles no longer an all-consuming
unit of four, but an open-ended community for
group and side projects, joined by wives and
friends and session players.