...and it makes perfect sense to me why The Beatles shelved this thing. I'm sure part of it has to do with some of the tension that the sessions for this album created, don't get me wrong, but also I can see why they would consider this final project sub-par. Now that's not to say that Glyn Johns is either an incompetent producer, nor that he was clueless when he was making this; Johns is a capable man behind a console and has engineered and produced many great albums, and this isn't necessarily an exception. Get Back sounds great throughout, and I'd argue that it's also sequenced really well - the first half containing heavier rock numbers is balanced out by a softer second half, and that's a creative kind of sequencing that I really enjoy. Hell, the end result even captures Paul's original vision of a stripped-down, back-to-basics album with almost no overdubbing and a laid-back attitude; in fact, it captures this too well. While I admire the idea of a chill atmosphere and not taking it too seriously, you can certainly go too far in that direction, and at points Johns does. Some of the more damning examples are including deliberately worse takes of songs like "Teddy Boy" to capture a more "real" feel, and I truly don't see the point. This is without mentioning that "Teddy Boy" is close to one of the worst Beatles songs there is - Paul's solo version is light years ahead of any other version you can get your mitts on. "Dig a Pony" is a killer song, but why did he choose such a sleepy take of the song over the superior rooftop recording? I also get that some great cuts were not finished yet, but I'm still faulting the inclusion of a 4-minute "Dig It" as nothing but padding for time. While the mood is accomplished well here, these poor choices do ultimately subtract from the album's quality.
This is the part where I must preface that it isn't exactly all for nothing - for all its faults, there are some genuine upsides to Get Back over other releases of these recordings. The first of these I already mentioned, and that's in the sequencing - again, it's done tastefully and really well here. Everything has a great flow from one moment to the next. Even if the album is a little front-heavy, it's also hard to deny that this is some of The Beatles' best straight rock to date. "One After 909" may be a simple blues number from back in the group's primitive days, but their reinvention of it here is a lot of fun - shoutouts to the album's real MVP in Billy Preston, whose organ fills and licks give plenty of life to these numbers. "I've Got a Feeling" will always be amongst my favorite Paul McCartney rockers, and his screaming performance on this album's take of the song will always be one of my favorites. "Don't Let Me Down" kid of suffers from the sleepy-sounding take issue, but it's "Don't Let Me Down" and still has all the heart in the world from John. Of course, "Get Back" is a great single and a fun song as well, and I also dig the brief reprise of the song at the album's end. Side 2 also has its moments, although even if it is lacking in John material (unless you're counting "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae", John doesn't really have anything on the album's second side). George's "For You Blue" is a fun blues song that's even more fun to play, "Two of Us" is a heartfelt ballad, "Let It Be" is an earnest encouragement of hope, and "The Long and Winding Road" may very well be one of Paul's triumphs. While some of these songs ("Two of Us") sound much better elsewhere, you're not exactly shafting yourself with any of these aforementioned tracks.
This all leads me to the conclusion, however, that Glyn Johns' 1969 mix of Get Back is probably the worst way to hear these recordings. It is an admirable production of the album with its roughness and atmosphere, but it's that complete dedication to the concept of back-to-basics and a die-hard commitment to that "authenticity" that leads to a lot of the drowsy takes and sometimes downright poor material on this album. It's for that reason that it remains no surprise to me that this was put on the shelf, only to be dug out of its grave by Phil Spector (a man who was probably more familiar with making graves rather than digging them up, but I digress). Admittedly, every mix of Let It Be/Get Back has its own special issues that holds them all back just a little - somewhere in between all three of these albums is a 9/10 release - but Johns' original mix is easily the most flawed, and leaves little outside of its historical value to keep revisiting. Still, it's nice to have this piece of history officially released, even if the results show an undercooked album.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Get Back.
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