Posted by David St. Hubbins at 172.westvalleycity-03rh15rt-ut.dial-access.att.net on January 14, 2003 at 01:12:24:
In Reply to: The Beatles. (from CNN.com) posted by Le Grande Illusion on January 13, 2003 at 23:29:29:
Being a person who has listened to all or parts of many, many Beatle bootlegs (honestly, I don't own any!), I have probably heard some of these "Get Back" tapes before, but I am pleased that these tapes may have now finally gotten back into the proper hands (i.e. The Beatles, Apple, George Martin, etc.).
Those "Get Back" sessions in January 1969 cover a SHITLOAD of material. They spent hours upon hours every day just jamming out all the old rock 'n roll classics that they could possibly remember from all those years of gigging in Liverpool and Hamburg, while the tape machine was rolling. Finally they did that "concert" on the Apple roof, but only played five or six songs, some of them two or three times (like the song "Get Back"). They shelved the entire project and all the tapes, as they felt it wasn't the productive experience they had hoped for, and simply released a single from those sessions ("Get Back/Don't Let Me Down") until eventually recording the "Abbey Road" LP in the summer of '69 (please, no Bryan Adams jokes!).
Then, by the end of 1969, when Lennon had told the band he'd had enough of them, John gave the tapes to Phil Spector and told him to do something with them (against Paul's wishes), thus resulting in the "Let It Be" LP in the spring of 1970.
But from what I understand a few hundred hours of tape was recorded of them during January 1969, and somewhere along the way, somebody got hold of those tapes (considering the lack of security and petty thieves disguised as hippies working at Apple, that's not too surprising). I would personally like to see Paul and Ringo authorize an "official" issue of these bootlegs, just to steal the thunder of the theives who make money off their good name. Not that the Beatles need money, but philosophically, it's the only true justice.