Beatles collectors are quite familiar with the Beatles' Get Back  album and film project. The unreleased album culled from the very tense,  uncomfortable sessions in January, 1969 was assembled in the spring of 1969,  but was ultimately shelved in favor of the overblown Phil Spector-produced  version issued as Let It Be in May, 1970. The original Get Back album has  been an unauthorized perennial since 1969, and can be heard in its best quality  as part of Vigotone's CD The Beatles: As Nature Intended (VT-122). Also,  an otherwise undocumented-by-studio-paperwork assembly was played on several  U.S. radio stations in late 1969, which included a track, "The Walk", that  didn't appear in the earlier sequence. This lineup was featured, along with  contemporary commercials and DJ commentary from a WBCN-FM/Boston broadcast  in September, 1969, on Vigotone's Posters, Incense and Strobe Candles (VT-109).  What many collectors may not be familiar with, and certainly have not heard,  is the final version of Get Back, compiled (as was the original) in 1970  by noted British recording engineer Glyn Johns.

 By early January 1970, a full year after the initial recording sessions  for the project, no album had yet been issued from the chaotic mess of tapes  that had been laid down at the Beatles' new Apple studios. In fact, the Beatles  issued another album in the interim, Abbey Road, in September 1969 while  deciding the fate of the Get Back album. Earlier that year, in March, Glyn  Johns had been given the piles of eighttrack tapes from the January 1969  recording sessions at 3 Savile Row, and was told by John and Paul, "Remember  that idea you had about putting together an album? There are the tapes, go  and do it." A finishedmaster tape of Get Back was assembled and completed  by Johns in May of 1969.However, delays in the preparation of the packaging  for the LP (which was to include a book of pictures and text), and in the  completion of what now was to be a feature film instead of a television special  were cited as reasons for the lack of any forthcoming album. In truth, the  reasons were a little more involved and the album was still in limbo at the  end of 1969.

 At this stage of the much-delayed project, the Beatles couldn't quite  reach an agreement on what they wanted where Get Back was concerned, particularly  whether or not they liked Glyn Johns' album. Having at this point no real  love for the project or each other, yet finding themselves contractually  bound with film and album commitments, they instructed Glyn Johns to yet  again come up with an album. The stipulation, however, was that it must now  tie in musically with the as-yet unreleased film's tune lineup. Essentially  Johns kept the majority of the already assembled album, altering it only  in order to more accurately reflect the songs soon to be seen performed in  the Let It Be film. He dropped Paul's song "Teddy Boy" because it would not  he was going to re-record it for his first solo album. But he added the songs  "I Me Mine" and "Across The Universe" for the opposite reason: they WOULD  be seen in the film (in rough versions filmed at Twickenham Studios). However,  these additions to the LP were actually recorded during the Get Back sessions  (see accompanying track information for details).

 In the end, it was all for naught. After all the effort and work  put into the project, even this second version of the Get Back album would  not see official release, as the Beatles still couldn't decide if they liked  it. In the end, famed producer Phil Spector, who had just worked with John  on "Instant Karma" was given the ball to run with. Spector turned the once  raw, unadorned performances into the album Let It Be, which has been criticized  for his heavy treatment of many of the songs, particularly the lushly  orchestrated "The Long And Winding Road", which to this day causes Paul McCartney  an itchy bum.

 "THE ONE AFTER 909" (recorded 30 Jan 69): The only track from the  Get Back album which used a recording from the famed "rooftop concert", the  last live performance of the Beatles. This version is a different mix than  the one Phil Spector produced from the same recording for the Let It Be  album.

 "ROCKER" (recorded 22 Jan 69): A rock and roll jam instrumental,  this was used on both versions of Get Back in identical form. Paul McCartney  bestowed the title on this tune after plowing through a number of tapes in  order to catalog the large number of unlabeled tape boxes.

 "SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME" (recorded 22 Jan 69): A short rendition  ("because this wasn't meant to be on the new LP" according to Mal Evans)  of the old Drifters hit. It was left on the album to maintain the "fun atmosphere  of the whole session". A close comparison reveals some minor differences  in the patter between this and the next track on this version of Get  Back.

 "DON'T LET ME DOWN" (recorded 22 Jan 69): Once again using the same  version from his previous edition of Get Back, this version of the song comes  from the first day of recordings after the Get Back film project switched  from Twickenham Film Studios to Apple Studios.

 "DIG A PONY" (recorded 24 Jan 69)

 "I'VE GOT A FEELING" (recorded 24 Jan 69) Recorded one after the  other, Johns utilized the recordings from this date, but incorporated a spoken  intro from January 22 that he edited onto the beginning. This would become  standard practice for the album, extracting bits here and there from different  sessions and editing them in to create the appearance of spontaneity.

"GET BACK" (recorded 28 Jan 69): This song was the first material  from this project to see commercial release, having been issued as a single  in Britain on April 11, 1969, backed with a different version of "Don't Let  Me Down" from the one selected for Get Back. It was the last Beatles single  to be issued in mono in the UK, and this stereo single mix was done on April  7, 1969 for initial use in the US. Hence its inclusion on the album, for  by the time the Get Back album would have come out, the song and the single  version "LET IT BE" (recorded would have been too familiar to warrant was  the one exception any noticeable variations. However, this Get Back to the  original was something someone DIDN'T Phil Spector about when he was assembling  the Let It Be album. He took this recording, remixed it, chopped off the  extended coda, and edited spoken chatter at the beginning and end to give  the appearance that it was from the live rooftop performance seen in the  film, which it certainly wasn't.

 "FOR YOU BLUE" (recorded 25 Jan 69): Originally recorded under the  working title of "George's Blues", this was take six from the only time this  song was worked on by the group. On this version of Get Back Glyn Johns chopped  the first (lasting seven seconds) of two false starts this song has on the  earlier version of the album. A new vocal was taped for this song on January  8, 1970, after the Get Back album had seen its final compilation, so obviously  it wasn't used on this version. The new vocal is most likely the one used  by Phil Spector on Let It Be, although as with most recordings from these  sessions detailed take information is either lacking or very  incomplete.

 "TWO OF US" (recorded 24 Jan 69): Another take selected from the  January 24 session, "Two Of Us" was recorded under the working title "On  Our Way Home". It's also seen in the Let It Be film in the song's original  guise as an electrified rocking number, before being rendered in its final  acoustic form in both the film and on the album. This is an alternate take  from the Let It Be LP track.

 "MAGGIE MAE" (recorded 24 Jan 69): Recorded between takes of "Two  Of Us" on January 24, this spontaneous rendition of an old traditional Liverpool  ode to an infamous lass is curiously the only recording to see inclusion  on both Get Back and Let It Be in identical form. The lack of any discernable  differences in the mixes suggests that Phil Spector merely used the same  mix for his version, or at the very least made his identical to Johns' version  (which is what is suggested by Mark Lewisohn in Tbe Beatles Recording  Sessions).

 "DIG IT" (recorded 26 Jan 69): This is the second version of "Dig  It", the first being recorded two days earlier in a heavier, electrified  version which included slide guitar. The version included here is more keyboard  oriented featuring Paul on piano and Billy Preston on his prominent organ  (so to speak). Included on both Get Back and Let It Ee, here much longer  - the Get Back version being nearly four minutes long, and the Let It Be  version only forty seconds. The Get Back version is mixed quite differently  than the shorter excerpt, featuring audible Paul backing vocals. Interestingly,  though, both use John's childlike spoken message at the end of the song that  actually comes from the end of the first version mentioned earlier.

 "I ME MINE" (recorded 3 Jan 70): Following his brief to tie the Get  Back album to the yet-to-be released film (still thought at this point to  be called Get Back), Johns introduced the song "I Me Mine" to the LP line-up.  However, even though this song is seen being performed in the film at Twickenham,  it never resurfaced for proper studio recording once the project moved to  Apple's recording studios. Therefore, on January 3, 1970, the Threetles (Paul,  George and Ringo) assembled at Abbey Road Studios to record a version for  inclusion on the LP (John was then on vacation in Denmark). This was actually  somehow appropriate for even in the Twickenham film version John did not  participate; instead he is seen dancing with Yoko as The Other Three seemingly  serenade the two of them. The finished take is included on Get Back in its  true length of l:34, whereas the Phil Spector version on Let It Be, including  overdubs and edits, was extended another 51 seconds to (2:25). There is also  a bit of dialogue left in between George and Ringo prior to the track to  continue the illusion of the "informal" nature of the record.

 "ACROSS THE UNIVERSE" (recorded 4/8 Feb 68): As with "I Me Mine",  "Across The Universe" was seen in the forthcoming film, and therefore was  required to appear on the album. Once again, although the Beatles are seen  plowing through a fairly horrible rendition of the song in the film, it was  not attempted later at Apple. Instead, it was decided to use the recording  of the track from the original Abbey Road studio session from February 1968,  nearly a full year before the start of the Get Back project. The problem  was the song had just seen release in December 1969 on the World Wildlife  Fund charity album No One's Gonna Change Our World. Any inclusion on the  current album would require using the same recording but somehow making it  seem different from the World Wildlife release and more like a Get Back  recording. To do this, Johns mixed out the Beatles' own backing vocals, and  all but mixed out the Gayleen Pease and Lizzie Bravo backing vocals (these  were the two fans who had been recruited for the original recording sessions).  These vocals are audible, but are kept in the background. By tacking on several  seconds of chatter from John at the beginning and crossfading into the reprise  of "Get Back", Johns was able to create the illusion that this was a different  recording. (It should be noted that Phil Spector had to do the same thing  sort of thing with the song for Let It Be, but his efforts took a different  direction).

 "GET BACK" (reprise): Heard over the closing credits of the Let It  Be film and here at the end of the Get Back album, this brief reprise comes  from the extended coda of the recording that produced the "Get Back" single.  A very close listen to the mono single mix of "Get Back" will reveal the  first notes of this reprise section as the single fades out.

 While it can't be argued that this version of the Get Back album  is a lost treasure, this final Glyn Johns assembly does have some importance  in the annals of Fabs history. It exclusively features a couple of tracks  in forms that would soon be altered considerably ("I Me Mine" and "Across  The Universe"). Also, this was the last time the Get Back compila concept  of Get Back was adhered to, which in the end was (ironically) perhaps its  downfall in the eyes of the Beatles. It has never seen circulation amongst  the vast regions of Beatles' fandom, and we at Vigotone are pleased to have  had the opportunity of presenting this last version of Get Back. Now you  have to decide for yourself which Get Back album is the one for you. (But  you really have to have them all, don't you?)

 Malcolm Neil

 June 1999

 BONUS TRACKS:

 "TEDDY BOY" (recorded 24 Jan 69) "Remix from eight-track by Johns/Martin  Jan 69", according to annotations on reference tape notations which were  made during later archival cataloging. The reference to Jan '69 is probably  related to the recording date, not mixing, as this song was not given its  first mix until March 1969 during Glyn Johns' first studio sessions after  being given his assignment by John and Paul. This is a mix of the song in  its full length. For his first Get Back compilation, Sohns edited down this  track from over five minutes down to just over three minutes.

 "TEDDY BOY" (recorded 24 Jan 69) "Remix Stereo 1 from eight-track  by Brown/Spector 25 Mar 70", again according to the annotation on reference  tape notations. Producer Phil Spector working with engineer Peter Brown,  remixed "Teddy Boy" for possible inclusion on the Let It Be album (that would  really have pissed Paul off!), even though in the end it was not included.  Spector did two mixes of the song, one full length and the other an edit.  It is the first, full-length version which is included here. It differs  noticeably from Johns' with Spector placing the vocal and electric guitars  more prominently in the mix and giving the track additional separation.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 , 2003
no content of this page should be used without permission.
If you want to reproduce some contents of these pages on other source on the Net be
so kind and ask for permission. And if you do it without permission I won`t tell it APPLE