Still more than 50 years after the publication of "Let it be", The Beatles’ latest album, the climax of the greatest pop band, arouses such fascination that, while waiting for the documentary produced by Peter Jackson of those days, a book and a reissue with unpublished material have just been added.
Much of all this wealth of content is due to the film shot by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who in an attempt to record the process of recording the album, also immortalized the internal tensions between the members of the group.
While Paul McCartney was gathering energy to pull the cart, George Harrison had embarked on a wave of mysticism alien to his companions, on the other hand Ringo Starr’s resentment for his irrelevance in comparison with the others grew and, to top it off, John Lennon longed to start a new life with Yoko Ono.
In this regard, an interview by McCartney for BBC Radio 4 once again shook what had been recorded in the annals of music for half a century: it was not he who instigated the dissolution of the group, but Lennon.
"John walked into a room one day and said, ‘I’m leaving the Beatles … It’s exciting, like a divorce. ‘ And then we are left picking up the pieces", stated in a talk for the program "This Cultural Life" to be broadcast on October 23.
Be that as it may, from those last throes of joint work another applauded album emerged, an album that was going to be titled "Get back" originally, but when it was finally published in May 1970, after many rounds, it was renamed as "Let it be" for the memorable single of the same name.
Hence the name of the book that has just been released around the world, "The Beatles: Get Back", the first official in more than 20 years, with texts that reproduce transcribed conversations of the band members from the recording sessions.
"We are privileged to witness your early drafts, the mistakes, the deviations and digressions, the boredom, the excitement, the joy, and the sudden breakthroughs that led to the work we now know and admire."writes British author Hanif Kureishi in the introduction.
Another outstanding signature is that of the director Peter Jackson, who is in charge of the prologue of the work and is also the creator of a homonymous documentary series that will be released at the end of November after viewing more than 55 hours of unpublished original footage that he left recorded. Lindsay-Hogg.
The purpose was to carry out a "tv show" and a live album with new songs. They were 21 days of recording under the orders of producer George Martin, first in Twickenham and later on the rooftop of The Beatles’ Apple Studio where Billy Preston joined the band playing the keyboard.
Together they rehearsed new original songs and improvised with old songs, all captured live and without filters, a mission to which Ethan A. Russell, hired to take exclusive photographs without any restrictions, contributed.
On this material, the engineer Glys Johns made several mixes: a first in March 1969 with new compositions by McCartney that were not entirely to the liking of the group; the second, between April and May.
The final one, however, will be the one that starts in December under the slogan of producing an album with the songs that coincide with those of the imminent film, omitting pieces such as "Teddy boy", and adding others like "Across The Universe" and "I mine".
Those recordings ended up being shelved as the group got involved in releasing "Abbey Road" (1969) until Lennon asked Phil Spector to take it up again, a decision with which McCartney did not agree, as he lost the rock vibe that had been originally pursued.
Much of all this can be recovered from today in a series of special reissues of the original album, again remixed by Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell using stereo technology, 5.1 Surround DTS and Dolby Atmos.
Especially interesting for fans of the "Fab Four" will be the so-called version "Super deluxe", featuring 57 tracks, including 27 previously discarded takes and studio improvisations, as well as 14 tracks from the never-released mix that Glyn Johns did for the LP. "Get back" in 1969.
To all this are also added the four songs that he had included for the EP "Let it be": the aforementioned "Across The Universe" and "I mine" and the new stereo mixes by Johns and Sam Okell from "Don’t let me down" and "Let it be".
A book accompanies both this edition and the vinyl collection, with never-released images and handwritten lettering among other attractions, as well as a foreword by McCartney explaining the reasons for this entire revision.
"I had always thought that the original ‘Let It Be’ film was a bit sad because it was about the separation of our band, but the new film teaches the love and camaraderie we had with each other. (…) It shows the wonderful moments we shared together and combined with the newly remastered album is a powerful reminder of that time. It’s how I want to remember The Beatles", concludes.
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