There’s definitely a bit of a rush on Beatle and Beatle-related documentaries and films at the moment.

First up is John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Power to the People – live in concert.

This will obviously be a brilliant companion piece to the recent documentary One To One: John & Yoko by Kevin Macdonald, a revelatory inside-look at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s.

The One To One doco featured music from the two benefit concerts the pair played at Madison Square Garden in August, 1972, all newly remixed and produced by Sean Ono Lennon. Now, we get to see the concert in full – with the best performances taken from the two shows – in multiscreen on the big screen. Power To The People will also form a great visual companion piece to the multi-disc box set, also called Power To The People, released last year.

Newly restored, re-edited and remixed by the Lennon Estate’s seven-times GRAMMY®-Award winning team, the film will premier exclusively in cinemas worldwide from April 29 for a limited time only. Tickets go on sale March 20. There’s no word of a physical release yet, but a Blu-Ray/DVD is expected later in the year.

You can sign up for more information at powertothepeoplefilm.com

Of course we’ve just had the release of the Morgan Neville-directed documentary Man On The Run, which follows Paul McCartney stepping out for the first time as a solo artist and forming his new band Wings during the 1970s:

But one of the other great stories in McCartney lore is the search for his legendary long-lost bass guitar – a 1961 Höfner 500/1 which was stolen in 1972. Now comes a behind-the-scenes documentary film about tracking it down and getting it back to it’s original owner, The Hunt For The Lost Bass:

From the official site:

“For over 50 years the disappearance of McCartney’s original Höfner bass has been one of rock ‘n’ roll’s enduring mysteries. McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass tells the extraordinary story of this iconic instrument, and the fan-powered quest to find it. This rock ‘n’ roll detective story features exclusive interviews with McCartney, his brother Mike, Klaus Voormann, Elvis Costello and the roadies, journalists and fans who embarked on a mission to track down and restore the bass to its proper place in music history and to Paul. It’s a story about fandom, creativity, love, loss, memory and the transformative power of music.”

Gotta admit, this looks like it’ll be great fun. It is in cinemas only in the UK to start, on April 2 & 4. It’s unclear if other countries will be rolled in, if the film will be streamed at some stage, or if there’s to be a physical release for fans to buy. I guess it is a case of “watch this space”.

Last but not least is the official release of an extraordinary biographical doco on Billy Preston, That’s The Way God Planned It. This film follows the life and six-decade career of the Grammy Award-winning keyboardist whose sound helped shape the work of a virtual Who’s Who of the music world: The Beatles, Ray Charles, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Barbara Streisand, Eric Clapton and many others. He had his own solo No.1 hits too including ‘Outa-Space’, ‘Will It Go Round In Circles’, ‘Nothing From Nothing’ and ‘You Are So Beautiful’. Billy’s first hit single, ‘That’s The Way God Planned It’ – recorded in 1969 for Apple Records – was produced by George Harrison.

Two variations of the film’s promo trailer are out there on YouTube, both with different cuts and content, so both are worth watching. Here’s the official trailer:

And this next one is great as it focuses specifically on Billy’s time with The Beatles:

Billy Preston, for a time, truly did deserve the title, “The Fifth Beatle”:

Not sure if this is coming to one of the streaming platforms after it’s cinema release (we certainly hope so) but for more info on That’s The Way God Planned It and where you can see it go to billyprestonfilm.com

Meanwhile, to tie in with the film’s release, Dark Horse Records has re-issued Billy’s two Apple Record LPs. Encouraging Words (produced by Billy and George Harrison) is now available to stream and to buy on gold vinyl:

That’s The Way God Planned It (produced by George) is available to steam and is also out on purple vinyl: