McCartney 3,2,1

Amazing how there is still things we can learn about The Beatles. Fun to watch Paul looking so genuinely happy to be listening back to the songs and telling the stories.

You don't have to be a Beatles fanatic to enjoy this documentary, but it helps. Paul McCartney joins legendary producer Rick Rubin in a large studio and goes through various Beatles songs, albums, memories, as well as moments from the Wings and his solo career, in non-chronological order. The format is simple - and filmed in black and white. Rubin asks McCartney a leading question or plays a bit of a classic song through a mixer (sometimes removing the instrumentation so you only hear McCartney's voice, or removing the voices so you only hear the instrumentation). And then he just lets Sir Paul talk. And we're talking the Beatles here so there are many fascinating stories to be told.

Rubin also has access to original tracks from Abbey Road so you hear previously unreleased versions of many classic tracks. For someone who is credited for bringing rap music and hip hop into the mainstream, Rubin is a certified music historian for all genres, and McCartney is totally at ease with him and even feels humbled by his role as the interviewer.

Some viewers who just want to hear music without all the "background" may get bored with the documentary. The documentary is 3 hours long, but is presented in 30-minute episodes. The recent Bee Gees documentary directed by Frank Marshall would have benefited from this approach.

As these legendary musicians are entering their twilight years (but McCartney amazingly is still putting out albums of good to great material), it is critical to get these documentaries made now. I would love to see a similar documentary on Bob Dylan. I tried to get into the various documentaries on Dylan and couldn't. This simple, stripped down approach in McCartney 3, 2, 1 should be a new template for other music documentarians.

Even if you know most the stories behind the iconic Beatles songs, there's still plenty new to learn here about how they were constructed or key mistakes/happy accidents that became epic moments in Beatles history.

(Just wait until you hear how "Come Together" was originally intended).

This certainly isn't a "Beatles documentary" that goes in chronological order and reminisces about their greatest hits. It jumps from era to era, song to song--even including McCartney solo stuff and Wings.

But boy, there's some really cool stuff in here--they have the original masters (!!!) from Abbey Road and Rubin is constantly pulling tracks in and out to illustrate what McCartney's talking about. It's like a better-produced, more free-form take on the show "Classic Albums".

But it also focuses on the musical ideas/techniques (and the mistakes) rather than simply the composition (as "Classic Albums" does).

It probably wouldn't be of much interest to non-musicians or non-music geeks, but for those who are, it's a must-watch.

It should be noted there's not much gossip here about the Beatles' personal lives or drama behind the scenes--it's very focused on the music.

To me, this is the equivalent of having Davinci or Einstein telling you what he (in this case,they) was thinking during their most creative period. It's completely fascinating and Rick Rubin does an excellent job of asking the right questions.

Everyone is aware of the Beatles music and probably believes that nothing new can be added to the legendary story. I have never seen a music production as well done as this Hulu TV series. Three hours is not enough, as Rick Rubin and Paul McCartney discuss the music making process in front of a mixing board. Rubin expertly breaks down some of the songs, using the board to isolate individual instruments. Even Paul is astounded by Rick's keen observations. Hearing his bass playing during Come Together is an eye opener. I had always understood McCartney's incredible genius as a songwriter but Rubin shows Paul's unmatched creativity on the bass. Please Hulu, I need another three hours of these two men.