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In late May 1969, producer Glyn Johns turned in a draft album, culled from hours of tape recorded in January 1969 during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. His work reflected the original concept: catching The Beatles as they really were in the studio, with off-the-cuff performances of oldies, warm-ups, false starts and blown takes. It would have made for a fine tie-in with the original cut of the Let It Be film, but ultimately, the group rejected the idea, instead moving back to their established productions values, with Abbey Road being the result.
The tapes, handed off to Phil Spector, emerged in May 1970 with a new tie-in: the group’s break-up. Let It Be, the album, drew the worst reviews of their career, being a neither fish-nor-fowl collection of tunes bearing Spector’s worst impulses (choirs and lush orchestration) alongside vestiges of the original concept (studio chat and tossed off improvisations).
In this episode, Robert and Olympiad partner Gary Wenstrup re-imagine the group’s history – what if Get Back HAD been accepted and released in spring 1969, the missing link between the “White Album” and Abbey Road?
You can read Glyn’s account of things here and hear the actual work here. The artwork is here and the track listing here.
I love the concept of this show. What if this was the album released and there was no Let It Be LP. I also really like your suggestion that a double album, one with rehearsals and the other with the final versions would have really nailed the concept they were going for. I’d suggest a triple album (after the double white album, why not) the first being oldies played during the rehearsals, the second rehearsals of the new originals, the third the final live and studio recorded versions.
But what really resonated with me was when Robert said he always loved the “there will be no sorrow” line in Let It Be. Thank you! I’ve felt the same since the first time I heard that line in the movie. In fact I’ve always liked that version better than the one they chose for the LP. As for the followup comment that Paul should have stayed with that lyric, as you well know the Beatles never stayed with anything. Every take of every song is different. They were always changing. Therein lies the brilliance.