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Here's a quick listing of the tracks on the albums (10 LP set):
The story behind the conception and recording of Get Back is long and complex, starting in November 1968 and ending in May 1970 when the album was finally released.
In November, 1968, The Beatles had decided to perform before a live audience, the show to be filmed, and subsequently, screened worldwide on television. The original idea was to do three shows, which would be recorded on colour video tape, with the television show being made up of the best parts from each of the three shows, which the group decided would mainly comprise songs from the just released double album, The Beatles, plus a few oldies. During December, 1968, camera and technical crews were booked for the week January 17 to 24, 1969, but Paul's return from Portugal held up any decision on the venue, which at one time was to be The Roundhouse in North London.
Rehearsals for the shows started on January 2, at Twickenham Film Studios, with January 18, or thereabouts as a tentative show date. At this point, The Beatles' idea for the show ran along similar lines to that used for the Hey Jude film clip, where they would perform live in front of an audience, letting the fans join in to get a party mood going, and thus making an hour-ling TV film of Beatles numbers, although later, the length of the show was increased to ninety minutes.
At the same time it was agreed that all rehearsal work should be filmed to make a documentary production separate from the TV show. During their time at Twickenham, The Beatles had written and rehearsed eight new songs for the show (thus changing their original plan of performing material from the double album). While the rehearsal work was in progress, possible venues for the shows were being sought without success. Many suggestions were put forward - Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the show's director, favoured Africa, as at one point the idea had been to perform outside, which had necessitated a warm climate. Lindsay-Hogg and producer Dennis O'Dell know of an old Roman amphitheatre on the coast of Tripoli, which sounded the ideal site, and Mal Evans was due to fly to Africa to inspect it on Monday, January 13, but on Sunday, January 12, The Beatles, finally abandoned the idea of a TV Show.
The reason for the sudden change in plans was that although Paul, John and Ringo were in favour of the idea, George was not, and on January 10 at Twickenham, George announced his disagreement, and told the others he was going home, as he could not continue to rehearse for something he did not believe in. With George's departure, the original project could not progress, so it was mutually agreed by all four that they should continue with rehearsals and finish writing the new material, but use it for an album instead. They agreed that the filming at Twickenham should continue, and that a film crew should also capture the recording of the new numbers at Apple Studios.
On Thursday, January 16, rehearsals ended at Twickenham, and operations moved to Apple Studios, in Savile Row, on Monday, January 20. The installation of recording equipment at Apple had not been completed, so EMI brought in an eight track tape machine and console as temporary equipment. The initial recording and filming at Apple continued from January 20 to May 28, 1969, and on January 30, the group recorded five numbers on the roof of the Apple building, giving a free lunchtime show to passers-by and other office workers who positioned themselves on surrounding buildings.
At the end of June, 1969, Apple Records reported that a new Beatles album should be out in late August. Neil Aspinall, Apple's managing director, confirmed that the album had been given a tentative title of The Beatles Get Back, but added that it could be changed before the official release date. The Beatles had the idea of using similar working to that used on their first album Please Please Me something like The Beatles Get Back, Don't Let Me Down And Nine Others.
The Beatles Get Back album consisted of the following tracks: One After 909 (the only roof top recording used), Save the Last Dance for Me, Don't Let Me Down (a different version to that on the "B" side of the Get Back single), Dig A Pony, I've Got A Feeling and Get Back, constituting side one, plus For You Blue, Teddy Boy (later recorded by Paul as a solo number on his McCartney album), Two of Us On Our Way Home, Maggie Mae, Dig It (the full length version), Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road on side two.
The original idea for the Get Back album was to record The Beatles in as live a situation as possible, without the technical studio effects and techniques used on their previous three albums, and to try to recreate their original sound as it had appeared on the first two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles, using the three guitars and drums line-up. The album would include studio floor conversation, with The Beatles chatting to each other, preparing for the next number and shouting comments up to the control room. The album sleeve was also to be similar to that of Please Please Me - the photograph that was to be used on the Get Back cover was taken in exactly the same place and by the same photographer, Angus McBean, as the photograph on the Please Please Me album, and the group positioned themselves over the staircase at the offices of EMI Records in Manchester Square, London, as they had done six years earlier for the Please Please Me cover photo session. (As can be seen later, with the change of album title, the original idea for the cover was also changed, and eventually stills from the film were used as cover photographs. The photograph taken for the Get Back album was not wasted, as it was later used on the two double albums, The Beatles 1962 - 1966 and The Beatles 1967 - 1979, released in 1973. It appears on the back cover of the 62 - 66 album, and on the front cover of the 67 - 70 album, with a similar shot, taken at the original Please Please Me session, but not identical to the Please Please Me cover picture, on the remaining surfaces.)
The Get Back album was scheduled for release by Apple Records at that end of August, 1969, but a last minute decision by The Beatles led to its postponement, because they felt the album should not be released until the documentary firm of them recording it was ready for general viewing on television (at this point the film was still intended for television, and it wasn't until later that it was decided to make it a film for cinema release). As they wanted to get an album ready for the rush release, the group returned to the studios for a concentrated series of recording sessions in July, to complete some tracks that they had already started, and to record some new ones. The results appeared on Abbey Road, which was released in September, 1969.
In the September, 1969, issue of Beatles Monthly, the News page reported that the Get Back album was scheduled for December release, and that a book had been prepared by John Kosh, with photographs by Ethan Russell and Mal Evans. The album did not appear in December, but music papers reported that the new Beatles' single, Let It Be, from the film Get Back (which was the working title), would be released on February 20, 1970, with the Get Back album following immediately.
While the Get Back film was being completed, things were happening, both at Apple, courtesy of Allen Klein) and with The Beatles themselves, which caused plans for the Get Back album to be totally altered. By this time, the Get Back recordings, produced by George Martin, and engineered by Glyn Johns, had been lying around for a year, and when The Beatles listened to the tapes they decided that the whole project was worthless and had to be abandoned immediately, but as Apple had a large amount of capital tied up in the venture, the group reportedly gave the tapes to Glyn Johns for re-mixing.
In January, 1970, the NME reported that The Beatles, minus John Lennon, who was in Scotland, had recorded I Me Mine, a George Harrison number, as the last track of their new Get Back album. It also reported that the title of the album might be changed to Let It Be, also the name of their new single, and that they had decided to change their original plans for the album, and to change the order of the tracks.
During the problems at Apple, John and George had become friendly with Phil Spector, the well-known record producer and songwriter. In Paul's absence (he was busy recording his first solo album, McCartney), John and George decided to give the Get Back tapes to Phil Spector to re-produce and re-mix. In doing so, the original idea of the Get Back album, to record the Beatles as near to playing live as was possible, was ruined, as Spector altered the whole concept by adding an orchestra and female choir to several tracks: Across The Universe, I Me Mine, Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road. The playing order of the tracks was altered, and three numbers from the original recording were scrapped altogether: Save The Last Dance For Me, Don't Let Me Down and Teddy Boy. The Dig It track was cut by at least 4 minutes to run for only 48 seconds. When Paul heard the remixed tapes, he was not pleased with the Spectorisation, especially the treatment given to his The Long And Winding Road, which he thought had been overly orchestrated.
So sixteen months after the initial recording session for the album, the Let It Be LP finally appeared in May, 1970. After Phil Spector's treatment, the music on the album does not live up to the sleeve note on the back of the cover:
"This is a new phase BEATLES album... essential to the content of the film, LET IT BE was theat they performed live for many of the tracks; in comes the warmth and the freshness of a live performance; as reproduced for disc by Phil Spector." (sic)
This could have been said of the original Get Back recordings, albeit in superior grammatical form.
The Let It Be package was designed by John Kosh, and many record reviewers saw his black sombre design as a fitting choice for the last Beatles' album.
With the Spectorisation of the Let It Be album, it no longer became the soundtrack of the film, as the songs on the actual film soundtrack escaped the Spector treatment. The album contained only twelve of the twenty three songs featured in the film.
In the July, 1969 issue of Beatles Monthly, in an early review of the Get Back album, Mal Evans reported that, "Although this LP has only eleven main numbers on it, far more tracks have been recorded. The Beatles didn't want to repeat the double disc' idea and make everybody buy a pair of LP records together. Instead all the other tracks are held in the can so that they can be used later.
"Amongst the stuff that stays on file so to speak is enough material for a special rock'n'roll LP - including famous American rock hits like Shake Rattle And Roll and Blue Suede Shoes".
DURING THE RECORDING OF THE GET BACK SESSIONS, A PAIR OF PORTABLE NAGRA 2-TRACK RECORDERS WERE UTILIZED FOR RECORDING A RUNNING JOURNAL OF THAT DAY'S EVENTS (NEW SONGS, OLDIES, REHEARSALS, TUNING, DISCUSSIONS, ARGUMENTS, EVEN EATING LUNCH). THE RECORDINGS TAKEN FROM THE 2 BOOM MIKES WERE CALLED "SYNC-TRACKS" AND WERE USED MAINLY BY THE FILM CREW IN MAKING WORK PRINTS AND IN CATALOGING THE DIFFERENT SONGS THAT WERE RECORDED EACH DAY AND AT APPROXIMATELY WHAT TIME. AT SEVERAL TIMES DURING RECORDING, THE ENGINEER WOULD REWIND THE NAGRA TO REFER BACK TO A PARTICULAR PASSAGE ON THE SYNC-TRACK. AFTER REVIEWING THAT PASSAGE, THE ENGINEER WOULD OFTEN RESUME RECORDING AT THAT POINT (AS HE ALREADY HAD A SAFETY COPY) WHICH EXPLAINS THE MANY SUDDEN STARTS AND STOPS CHARACTERIZED ON THESE TAPES. IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT IN ORDER TO STORE UP TO 6 HOURS ON A SINGLE NAB REEL, THE ENGINEER WOULD RUN THE NAGRA AT THE EXTREMELY SLOW SPEED OF 1 7/8 IPS (THE SAME SPEED AS CASSETTE TAPE) WHICH ALONG WITH GENERATION LOSS, IS THE REASON FOR THE BACKGROUND HISS YOU WILL HEAR FROM TIME TO TIME.
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