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Hulu’s “McCartney 3, 2.1” is quite simply the most gripping documentary ever made about the songwriting exploits of popular music’s most famous composer. Directed by Zachary Heinzerling – the filmmaker behind Beyoncé’s “Self-Titled” webdoc – the six-part series finds Paul McCartney and producer Rick Rubin deconstructing one great Beatles track and one McCartney solo composition after another .
With Rubin acting as the old bearded Beatles guru, “McCartney 3, 2.1 ″ is served in half-hour episodes. Often standing in front of a mixer, which he puts to good use throughout, Rubin lures McCartney into a conversation about the inner workings of musical creation, the Beatles (and post-Beatles) style.
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The result is an insider’s look at the musical composition and art of recording behind the most vaunted catalog of pop music in history. “McCartney 3, 2.1” is full of warm spreads from the pre-famous Fab Four years, including Paul and John Lennon’s playful early arguments, when they scolded each other as “four eyes” (Lennon) and “chest pigeon “(McCartney). Thinking back to that time, McCartney wistfully observes that back then I was just working with this guy called John. Now I look back and I was working with John Lennon “ [emphasis added].
In its best moments, “McCartney 3, 2.1 ″ highlights the Herculean efforts of producer George Martin’s collaboration with the Beatles. In many ways, the group’s recordings from the 1960s are extended case studies of problem-solving at a time when the musical dreamscapes of Lennon and McCartney often exceeded the technical capabilities of the contemporary recording studio.
McCartney rightly attributes many of the Beatles’ deepest recordings to Martin’s workarounds, including the producer’s “wind-up” piano technique that made the spirited guitar-piano duo possible in “A Hard Day’s Night” . He also credits Martin with the rise of the Beatles and popular music with the producer’s innovative string arrangements for classic songs such as “Yesterday” and “Eleanor Rigby”.
With Rubin carefully nudging McCartney along the way, we’re treated to stories about the origins of the songwriter’s work, as well as the nuts and bolts that made it possible. Highlighting key aspects of the Beatles recordings, Rubin teases McCartney’s splendid bassline on “With a Little Help from My Friends”, pronouncing it as a “lead bass” part, if there is one. In other cases, McCartney shares his joy of playing “Lady Madonna” on the Abbey Road Studios upright piano, fancifully nicknamed “Mrs. Mills” in honor of the music hall performer who tickled him. the ivories on that same piano all those years ago.
While “McCartney 3, 2.1” can sometimes trip over the composer’s faulty memory – at one point he seems to confuse a session with horn player Alan Civil with one involving trumpeter David Mason. But such slippages are eminently forgivable as we look back into the dawn of time – and especially for McCartney, now 79, who has enjoyed worldwide fame for most of his adult life.
In some of the series’ most heartwarming moments, viewers will undoubtedly enjoy McCartney’s solo acoustic performances of pre-famous confections such as “I Lost My Little Girl,” written after the untimely loss of Paul’s mother, Mary in 1956, and “Thinking of Linking,” a cheesy, but truly adorable song about teenage romance. In such cases, “McCartney 3, 2.1 ″ offers a welcome glimpse into the magic that ultimately made The Beatles possible.
“McCartney 3, 2.1” is now streaming on Hulu.
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