them both on this portable thing, and that was sort of when the final decision was made.”
The single of “Get Back,” with “Don’t Let Me Down” on the flip side, was released on April 11, 1969, in the U.K. and nearly a full month later, on May 5, in the U.S. It marked the first single released by the Beatles since August of 1968, as well as the first official release of material from the “Get Back” project. The label copy of the single also marked some firsts. There was no label credit for a producer and the names of the musicians read “The Beatles with Billy Preston.”
On April 25, mono mixing on “Two of Us,” at that stage entitled “On Our Way Home,” was done at Abbey Road. Peter Mew served as engineer and was assisted by Chris Blair. The mixing was done for the purpose of cutting acetates for a New York-based group called Mortimer, which had been signed to Apple by Peter Asher and which was scheduled to record the song. The song was unfortunately never issued. John Henry Smith, an engineer who has worked at both Abbey Road and Apple, said the track was fantastic and had a Simon and Garfunkel-type sound.
On April 30, for the first time in three months, new recording related to the “Get Back” project was to be done by only two members of the Beatles: John and Paul. In addition to mixing, further work was done on “Let It Be” (guitar overdub) and “You Know My Name (Look up the Number)” (additional vocals and overdubs). As had been the case throughout most of the project, George Martin was not involved. Chris Thomas was credited as producer of the session.
Back at Olympic on May 7, it seemed once more that the “Get Back” project might actually become an album, and this time George Martin was indeed there, along with Glyn Johns and assistant engineer Steve Vaughn. An unknown number of Beatles were at the session. The day was used to find suitable inserts, whether dialogue or music, to be part of a finishedalbum. The “inserts” were mixed in stereo and were obviously intended to illustrate the
audio-vérité
nature of the project. The process continued on May 9, when playbacks occurred as well. Also on May 9, Allen Klein showed up at Olympic and an argument over the ongoing business machinations broke out. Apparently, as part of venting his anger over the argument, McCartney stayed behind in the evening and joined Johns, who was producing Steve Miller’s album
Brave New World.
McCartney added his distinctive bass sound and backing vocals, and unleashed his closet drummer-fantasy by also playing drums, on the recording of Miller’s “My Dark Hour.” His contribution was credited to Paul Ramon, a name he had used back in 1960 on a tour supporting Johnny Gentle.
May 13 was another date that seemed to indicate that a release of the “Get Back” material as an album was imminent. All four Beatles gathered in the stairwell at EMI House, at Manchester Square, for a photo shoot for the cover of an album that was still going to be called
Get Back.
The photo was taken by Angus McBean, who in February of 1963 had photographed the Beatles in the exact same pose and location for the cover of
Please Please Me,
which, of course, was only released in the U.K. As it turned out, the shot was not used for the released
Let It Be
album. Instead, it appeared on the cover of
The Beatles 1967-1970,
a double album releasedin the U.S. in 1973. The concept for the photo shoot obviously represented the mindset of the group at the time: it had come full circle and this album would be its last.
Once again at Olympic, on May 28, work continued on moving the “Get Back” project closer to becoming a finished album. The same team of Martin, Johns, and Vaughn worked on stereo mixes of the songs, master tape banding, and the compilation of the tracks.
July 1 marked the official beginning of the recording of the
Abbey Road
album. A detailed account of that album will not be given here. A couple of points,
The single of “Get Back,” with “Don’t Let Me Down” on the flip side, was released on April 11, 1969, in the U.K. and nearly a full month later, on May 5, in the U.S. It marked the first single released by the Beatles since August of 1968, as well as the first official release of material from the “Get Back” project. The label copy of the single also marked some firsts. There was no label credit for a producer and the names of the musicians read “The Beatles with Billy Preston.”
On April 25, mono mixing on “Two of Us,” at that stage entitled “On Our Way Home,” was done at Abbey Road. Peter Mew served as engineer and was assisted by Chris Blair. The mixing was done for the purpose of cutting acetates for a New York-based group called Mortimer, which had been signed to Apple by Peter Asher and which was scheduled to record the song. The song was unfortunately never issued. John Henry Smith, an engineer who has worked at both Abbey Road and Apple, said the track was fantastic and had a Simon and Garfunkel-type sound.
On April 30, for the first time in three months, new recording related to the “Get Back” project was to be done by only two members of the Beatles: John and Paul. In addition to mixing, further work was done on “Let It Be” (guitar overdub) and “You Know My Name (Look up the Number)” (additional vocals and overdubs). As had been the case throughout most of the project, George Martin was not involved. Chris Thomas was credited as producer of the session.
Back at Olympic on May 7, it seemed once more that the “Get Back” project might actually become an album, and this time George Martin was indeed there, along with Glyn Johns and assistant engineer Steve Vaughn. An unknown number of Beatles were at the session. The day was used to find suitable inserts, whether dialogue or music, to be part of a finishedalbum. The “inserts” were mixed in stereo and were obviously intended to illustrate the
audio-vérité
nature of the project. The process continued on May 9, when playbacks occurred as well. Also on May 9, Allen Klein showed up at Olympic and an argument over the ongoing business machinations broke out. Apparently, as part of venting his anger over the argument, McCartney stayed behind in the evening and joined Johns, who was producing Steve Miller’s album
Brave New World.
McCartney added his distinctive bass sound and backing vocals, and unleashed his closet drummer-fantasy by also playing drums, on the recording of Miller’s “My Dark Hour.” His contribution was credited to Paul Ramon, a name he had used back in 1960 on a tour supporting Johnny Gentle.
May 13 was another date that seemed to indicate that a release of the “Get Back” material as an album was imminent. All four Beatles gathered in the stairwell at EMI House, at Manchester Square, for a photo shoot for the cover of an album that was still going to be called
Get Back.
The photo was taken by Angus McBean, who in February of 1963 had photographed the Beatles in the exact same pose and location for the cover of
Please Please Me,
which, of course, was only released in the U.K. As it turned out, the shot was not used for the released
Let It Be
album. Instead, it appeared on the cover of
The Beatles 1967-1970,
a double album releasedin the U.S. in 1973. The concept for the photo shoot obviously represented the mindset of the group at the time: it had come full circle and this album would be its last.
Once again at Olympic, on May 28, work continued on moving the “Get Back” project closer to becoming a finished album. The same team of Martin, Johns, and Vaughn worked on stereo mixes of the songs, master tape banding, and the compilation of the tracks.
July 1 marked the official beginning of the recording of the
Abbey Road
album. A detailed account of that album will not be given here. A couple of points,
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