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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
 Posted - 12/03/2015 : 16:46:18
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A "reconstruction" by soniclovenoize
Many tracks are quite different - especial Get Back with Paul's scat at the end and The Long And Winding Road without any orchestration...pretty cool. Dig It is 2 minutes instead of just a few seconds. Enjoy (d/l at the end).
And read the cool bit by Mal Evans in my second post - he notes the intended cover "is" (was) the one below and NOT the Let It Be jacket. The intention being that the Get Back cover photo harkened back to their first LP, Please Please Me, photographed at the same location and with the same poses.
The Beatles Ð Get Back
(soniclovenoize reconstruction)
January 2015 UPGRADE
Side A:
1. One After 909
2. Dig A Pony
3. IÕve Got A Feeling
4. I Me Mine
5. DonÕt Let Me Down
6. Get Back
Side B:
7. Dig It
8. Let It Be
9. Maggie Mae
10. Two of Us
11. For You Blue
12. The Long and Winding Road
13. Across The Universe
This is an upgrade to my own reconstruction of The BeatlesÕ doomed 1969 album Get Back, what eventually was cleaned up by Phil Spector as Let It Be. Originally intend as a throwback to the bandÕs early days of live in-studio recording in order to boost their diminishing morale and comradery, The Beatles set out to rehearse and record an albumÕs worth of material without overdubs, concluding with an actual live performance and a television special documenting the process. Unfortunately the end result, compiled twice by Glyn Jones, was simply too rough and sloppy to be release-worthy and was shelved. Phil Spector was later appointed to make an album out of the tapes in 1970 and even though better performances were selected, Spector infamously added his own orchestration, going against the live Òwarts and allÓ concept of the Get Back album. This reconstruction attempts to create a cohesive Get Back album that finds the balance between Glyn Johns underproduced Get Back and Phil SpectorÕs overproduced Let It Be, while offering the very best band performances of the sessions.
Upgrades to this January 2015 edition are:
Tracklist revised so that Side A features the Rooftop concert, while Side B collects the remaining tracks. Specifically, ÒI Me MineÓ and ÒFor You BlueÓ are swapped, being that the former is more ÒelectricÓ and the later more ÒacousticÓ.
Ambiance and dialog from the rooftop concert is used as an intro and outro to ÒI Me MineÓ, creating a faux live performance of the track to fit with the other rooftop songs on Side A.
A more energetic live rooftop version of ÒGet BackÓ (an edit of takes 1 and 3) replaces the common studio version, keeping in line with the all-rooftop theme of Side A.
Side B is re-edited to more-or-less sound as a continuous in-studio performance, with chatter linking each song.
ÒDig ItÓ, ÒAcross The UniverseÓ and the between-song chatter are taken from an alternate source of Glyn JohnsÕ second master of Get BackÑspecifically from The Barrett Tapes, an upgrade from Dr. Ebbetts' remaster previously used.
ÒDig ItÓ is edited down from 2:39 to 1:58, trimming the fat.
ÒRocker/Save The Last Dance For MeÓ is omitted because they were superfluous.
Remade higher-res cover art as well as reverse cover of the theoretical LP sleeve
1968 was the beginning of the end for The Beatles. Embarking on a trip to India to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote enough material for their own solo albums, not to mention George Harrison writing enough to nearly fill one. Reconvening that May to begin recording their follow-up to Sgt. PepperÕs Lonely Hearts Club Band, something was clearly different: rather than The Beatles functioning as a group, each were more interested in their own musical pursuits, using the rest of the band members as merely session musicians to suit their own desires. Paired with the new business responsibilities of running their own Apple record label, attitudes, resentment and conflict began to rise, creating a dismal work environment. The result of the strenuous sessions was The White Album, who many have claimed to sound like individual Beatle solo albums all wrapped into one double-LP.
Recognizing a possible end to the band, Paul came up with a novel idea: write, rehearse and record an album as they first started in 1962, live in the studio without overdubs. Going Òback to basicsÓ and abandoning their now-commonplace methodology of extraneous overdubbing would theoretically allow The Beatles to once again operate as a cohesive unit. An album would be compiled from these sessions displaying, as John Lennon once quipped, ÒThe Beatles with their pants downÓ and the January 1969 rehearsals and recording sessions would be filmed for a television special. As the first week progressed, it was pitched to conclude the sessions with an actual live performance, although the band could not agree on where or even if it should be done at all (with George the most adamant against it). While a good idea in theory, the reality is that this projectÑeventually titled Get BackÑwas doomed from the start, as none of the bandÕs issues from the White Album sessions where solved and seemed to be exacerbated by the bandÕs new setting: the cold, uncomfortable Tickenham film studio, working regular 9-to-5 hours, with JohnÕs new bedridden girlfriend Yoko Ono constantly in the studio with them.
As these rehearsals progressed at Twickenham studiosÑwith cameras rolling and capturing the drama as it unfoldedÑThe Beatles became undone. Paul offered an endless amount of new original compositions, but became demanding and nearly dictated the songs' arrangements to the rest of the band; Lennon seemed distant, completely uninterested and often communicating only through Yoko Ono, himself head-deep into a writerÕs block and a heroin addiction; George was resentful over John and PaulÕs disinterest in his own compositions, of which there were now plenty of high quality to choose from; Ringo simply went along for the miserable ride, played solemnly and remained stoic and reserved. George eventually quit the band after an argument with John and refused to rejoin The Beatles until they had vacated Twickenham and nixed the notion for a televised concert.
With George temporarily subdued, The Beatles returned to the basement of their new Apple Studios with engineer Glyn Johns at the helm, intending to properly record the material rehearsed at Twickenham live without overdubs. The serious contenders for the Get Back album included ÒDonÕt Let Me DownÓ, ÒGet BackÓ ÒIÕve Got A FeelingÓ, ÒTwo of UsÓ, ÒDig A PonyÓ, ÒTeddy BoyÓ, ÒOne After 909Ó, ÒAll Things Must PassÓ, ÒDig ItÓ, ÒLet It BeÓ, The Long and Winding RoadÓ, ÒFor You BlueÓ, ÒMaxwellÕs Silver HammerÓ, ÒShe Came In Through The Bathroom WindowÓ, ÒI Me MineÓ and ÒAcross The UniverseÓ. Sessions were again fraught with tension, often interrupted for equally tense business meetings for Apple Records. Whatever brief momentum the sessions had at Twickenham was lost as the Apple Studios tapes seemed lifeless, full of half-hearted takes and partial renditions of 50s rock standards that generally went nowhere. Many of the aforementioned shortlist of 16 songs were just simply not tracked properly at all (regrettably full-band Beatles versions of ÒAll Things Must PassÓ and ÒAcross The UniverseÓ as they were rehearsed at Twickenham), although the band felt they captured release-worthy takes of both ÒGet Back" on the 27th and ÒDonÕt Let Me DownÓ on the 28th. As January ended and February obligations approached, it was decided to stage an impromptu live performance on the rooftop of their Apple headquarters and on the 30th, The Beatles performed for the last time ever as a live band, recording multiple takes of ÒGet BackÓ, ÒDonÕt Let Me DownÓ ÒDig A PonyÓ, ÒIÕve Got a FeelingÓ and ÒOne After 909Ó. The following dayÑthe final Get Back recording sessionÑwas devoted to the definitive versions of ÒLet It BeÓ, ÒThe Long and Winding RoadÓ and ÒTwo of UsÓ; it was simply hoped that useable takes of the remaining songs laid somewhere on tape from the previous week. The next day, The Beatles went their separate ways, leaving Glyn Johns to plow through the miles of tape and somehow make an album out of the mess.
Johns mixed ÒGet BackÓ and ÒDonÕt Let Me DownÓ as a rush-release single in April and set out mixing the entire album in March. His version of the Get Back album featured more than The Beatles with their pants downÑtheir knickers were dropped as well! Johns focused primarily on recordings culled from January 22nd, a sloppy day in Get Back recording history which included an ÒIÕve Got A FeelingÓ with a disastrous breakdown ending. He also included: the scatterbrained ÒTeddy BoyÓ which was little more than a rehearsal; a nearly four-minute version if ÒDig ItÓ, an uninspired and aimless jam; and a short, useless jam called "Rocker" paired with a sloppy and rather embarrassing rendition of "Save The Last Dance For Me". Even though a cover photograph was taken to mimic the cover pose of 1963Õs Please Please Me, the album was continually delayed as The Beatles regrouped and began work on their final and more superior work, Abbey Road; meanwhile, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg prepared a rough cut of the footage filmed during the rehearsals and recording sessions for a film.
JohnsÕ initial master of Get Back was eventually rejected by December 1969 as being too rough and he was tasked to clean it up a bit. Not only was ÒTeddy BoyÓ swiftly dropped from the album, he was also asked to include two songs that were never actually properly recorded during the Get Back sessionsÑÒAcross The UniverseÓ and ÒI Me MineÓ. Both made the cut into Lindsay-HoggÕs film as rehearsal footage from Twickenham and thus needed to be included in the filmÕs soundtrack album despite never being tracked at Apple Studios! Luckily Johns pulled the original ÒunfinishedÓ version of ÒAcross The UniverseÓ from the February 1968 ÒLady MadonnaÓ/ÓThe Inner LightÓ single sessions for inclusion, and the remaining Threetles (as John was on holiday, most likely already done with the band anyways) regrouped in January 1970 to record ÒI Me MineÓ properly. Ultimately, this slightly-more concise Get Back would also be scrapped as well, itÕs inherent weakness inescapable.
With both John and George developing a working relationship with Phil Spector for their own eventual solo projects, in March the pair invited the legendary American producer to finish what Glyn Johns could not. Spector abandoned the notion of Òlive onlyÓ performances and had free reign to alter the mastertapes as he saw fit. Although Spector ultimately chose better takes of the material than Johns, specifically focusing on the Jan 30th rooftop performance and the Jan 31st basement session, he made a number of unforeseen alterations to the material that The Beatles had simply stopped caring about: extra vamps were edited out of ÒDig A PonyÓ; ÒDig ItÓ was edited down from 4 minutes to under 1 minute; GeorgeÕs acoustic guitar was mixed out of ÒFor You BlueÓ, save for the intro; ÒLet It BeÓ, ÒI Me MineÓ, ÒAcross The UniverseÓ and ÒThe Long and Winding RoadÓ were all treated with orchestral and choral overdubs, turning the songs into overproduced schlock. Spector did attempt to retain the Òpants downÓ ethos by including some studio dialog and chatterÑmost notably ÒGet BackÓ, simply to distinguish it from its otherwise identical studio version. And perhaps the biggest crime in the eyes of Beatles fans, ÒDonÕt Let Me DownÓ was excluded from the album entirely as Spector did not want to include a song that was already a b-side. And with that Get Back was now Let It Be.
While George seemed ambivalent to the project and John seemed to think SpectorÕs work was an improvement, Paul hated the result and felt Spector had ruined his material, notably ÒThe Long and Winding RoadÓ, and attempted to halt Let It BeÕs release. By then it was too late and the album was eventually released in May as the final album from The Beatles, months after the band had already broke up anyways. But the legacy of the BeatlesÕ Album That Never Was has haunted fans for yearsÑas well as McCartney himself! In 2003, he commissioned a remix of the album entitled Let It Be Naked, which attempted to strip away Phil SpectorÕs overproduction (who was involved in a second-degree murder case at the timeÉ coincidence?) and present the album as The Beatles originally conceived it. Eleven of the key tracks all received modern centralized stereophonic remixes and the material benefited from the clever ProTools production available in the 21st Century. Despite a bit overly compressed master, the mixes never sounded better and the producers chose superior versions of ÒThe Long and Winding RoadÓ and ÒDonÕt Let Me DownÓ, previously unavailable. Unfortunately, both ÒMaggie MaeÓ and ÒDig ItÓ were excluded and all tracks featured irrationally quick and obviously unnatural fade-outs to avoid any studio chatter, destroying album coherence. Can this be fixed? Is there a middle ground to be found between Get Back and Let It Be? Well everything has got to be just like you wanted toÉ
Side A of my Get Back reconstruction attempts to present the rooftop concert from January 30th 1969 in its entirety as a singular performance. This will theoretically offer the listener the final taste of the Beatles as a live band, fulfilling the bandÕs intention of a live performance to conclude the Get Back sessions. Beginning is the Let It Be Naked mix of ÒOne After 909Ó with the opening live ambiance taken from Glyn Jones 2nd Get Back mix (sourced from The Barrett Tapes bootleg) and closing live ambiance taken from the 2009 remaster of Let It Be. Next is ÒDig A PonyÓ taken from Let It Be Naked, again with opening and closing ambiance taken from Let It Be. Following is ÒIÕve Got a FeelingÓ taken from Let It Be Naked (which is actually an edit of both takes from the rooftop concert) with closing ambiance from Let It Be. The fantastic Let It Be Naked ÒDonÕt Let Me Down (which is, again, an edit of both rooftop takes) is surrounded by live ambiance from the rooftop show taken from The Last Licks Live bootleg. The side concludes not with the common studio version of ÒGet BackÓ, but with a composite edit of the superior and more energetic takes 1 and 3 of the rooftop performance of ÒGet BackÓ (sourced from the A/B Road bootleg, who in turn sourced from Anthology 3 and a rip of the Anthology DVD).
But if you do the math, you can see we are one song short of an LP side, since we only have five unique songs performed on the rooftop. To fill the gap, I have chosen the one Harrisong sounding the most ÒliveÓÑÒI Me MineÓ from Let It Be Naked, surrounded by live rooftop ambiance taken from The Last Licks Live bootleg and overlayed with the count-in introduction taken from Glyn Johns 2nd Get Back. The effect is a faux live-performance of ÒI Me MineÓ, theoretically performed on the rooftop! How realistic is this? How did they drop their electric guitars and pick up acoustics in 15 seconds? Did Billy Preston really have a pipe organ installed on the roof of Apple Studios? While you could be asking me this, you should really be asking yourself: is this something that any 60s band would have tried to pull on us listeners? Yes of course!
Since Side A featured the entire rooftop concert (even ÒI Me MineÓ was miraculously performed!), Side B represents the remaining tracks recorded live in-studio (thus making my Get Back reconstruction having electric and acoustic sides of the LP). Much like The White Album, the songs are all crossfaded and feature linking studio chatter. Beginning with ÒDig ItÓ from Glyn JohnÕs 2nd Get Back edited to fade-in as Phil Spector had done, but allowed to continue to under 2 minutes, it goes directly into the superior Let It be Naked version of ÒLet It BeÓ (which corrects PaulÕs stray piano chord in verse three). Concluding, John thinks that was rather grand and wants to take one away with him (from Anthology 3), going right into someone who was taken away as well: ÒMaggie MaeÓ from the 2009 remaster of Let It Be. It is edited into the intro of ÒTwo of UsÓ, taken from Let It be Naked but with closing dialog from JohnsÕ 2nd Get Back. That is in turn crossfaded into the proper mix of ÒFor You BlueÓ and the serene ÒThe Long and Winding RoadÓ, both from Let It Be Naked, with dialog from Anthology 3 connecting the two. The album concludes with the fuller Glyn Johns mix of ÒAcross The UniverseÓ which features Lizzie Bravo & Gayleen PeaseÕs creepy backing vocals otherwise mixed out of the Let It Be Naked version, something I felt was somehow needed to make the song just a bit less sparse. And with this answer, we can finally let it be.
Part 1
http://www11.zippyshare.com/v/kweI0RR1/file.html
Part2
http://www11.zippyshare.com/v/fPptBBLm/file.html
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 13/03/2015 12:52:14 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2015 : 16:55:31
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From the cool write up in 1970 by Mal Evans about the back-to-basics. live-in-studio "New" LP from The Beatles!
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 12/03/2015 16:58:57 |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2015 : 22:55:20
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| It is great to see this again, LK - I think that I am right in saying that early in 1969, some advance copies were sent to radio stations in America and Canada. I once had an enterprising bootleg edition whose front cover was as you have shown it - though the rear cover was that from Let It Be! Of course the band eventually got to use the 'Please Please Me Revisited' photo shot on the two 1973 compilations (1962-66 and 66-70). The original Get Back album omitted Across The Universe but included Teddy Boy - which Paul later withdrew amid all the wrangling over just what was going to happen to the Beatles' final album. |
Edited by - John9 on 12/03/2015 23:04:14 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 13/03/2015 : 12:56:00
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quote:
Originally posted by John9
It is great to see this again, LK - I think that I am right in saying that early in 1969, some advance copies were sent to radio stations in America and Canada. I once had an enterprising bootleg edition whose front cover was as you have shown it - though the rear cover was that from Let It Be! Of course the band eventually got to use the 'Please Please Me Revisited' photo shot on the two 1973 compilations (1962-66 and 66-70). The original Get Back album omitted Across The Universe but included Teddy Boy - which Paul later withdrew amid all the wrangling over just what was going to happen to the Beatles' final album.
Did the Mal Evans write up appear on the UK LP, Let It Be? We never saw it over here. All the stuff about chatter between songs and the live feel... sadly, Apple never was to let it be. Now that would be something [ ]!
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley
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Edited by - lemonade kid on 13/03/2015 12:58:24 |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 14/03/2015 : 21:15:59
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As far as I know LK, the release was the same on both sides of the Atlantic. A friend of mine bought the album on the day of release in 1970. The cost was £3 rather than the usual £2 because of the box and book that came with it. I can remember reading the book - but unfortunately, I cannot recall what was written by Mal Evans. By the time I made the purchase a year later, the book option had gone and the LP had reverted to standard price. In terms of the Fabster's UK albums I have always felt that Let It Be was the first that did not provide their fans with value for money. All the others (apart from Yellow Submarine) of course had at least 13-14 tracks - and the double had 30. I like to think of Abbey Road being their glorious swansong.
Reading the Evans piece again, I think that it must have been written before all the unseemly haggling over the tracklisting - and perhaps before the controversial decision to hire Phil Spector. The final release of Let It Be was of course very much later than Evans seems to be envisaging. |
Edited by - John9 on 14/03/2015 21:26:00 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 15/03/2015 : 13:31:06
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quote:
Originally posted by John9
As far as I know LK, the release was the same on both sides of the Atlantic. A friend of mine bought the album on the day of release in 1970. The cost was £3 rather than the usual £2 because of the box and book that came with it. I can remember reading the book - but unfortunately, I cannot recall what was written by Mal Evans. By the time I made the purchase a year later, the book option had gone and the LP had reverted to standard price. In terms of the Fabster's UK albums I have always felt that Let It Be was the first that did not provide their fans with value for money. All the others (apart from Yellow Submarine) of course had at least 13-14 tracks - and the double had 30. I like to think of Abbey Road being their glorious swansong.
Reading the Evans piece again, I think that it must have been written before all the unseemly haggling over the tracklisting - and perhaps before the controversial decision to hire Phil Spector. The final release of Let It Be was of course very much later than Evans seems to be envisaging.
We didn't get the box and book over here, just the gatefold and record. We were used to getting very short 10-12 track LP's in the USA. Many of the early Beatles LPs from Capitol were under 15 minutes long per side. We didn't know what we were missing nor how Capitol was fleecing us. We were just very happy to get each new Beatles song on every LP. Not until Peppers did the albums match on both sides of the pond...well excepting Mystery Tour.
I thought the posthumous Hey Jude LP was wonderful, assembling al the tracks that never appeared on LP over here.
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 19/03/2015 : 20:07:56
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| Yes LK - the Hey Jude album does have a certain mystique to it - and I've always loved the Abbey Road era cover shot. I've actually just played the 2009 Let It Be remaster - and I think it's fantastic. When I've time I'll go on to play the Anthology 3 alternative takes. And then of course there's the original One After 909 on Anthology 1....there's a whole Get Back/Let It Be universe out there! |
Edited by - John9 on 19/03/2015 20:08:24 |
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BEATLES "Get BacK" 1970 LP (NOT "Let It Be") 2015
