Beatles WI: Abbey Road Is the Last Album?

The "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions were originally designed as a back to basics album project where The Beatles would get back to their rock and roll roots from the more theatrical period they went through in the latter 1960's. These notoriously fell apart, and rather than get back to some classic rock core, the Beatles parted ways and fired cannon shot across each other's bows for the rest of the decade.

The sessions produced a number of takes of various songs, and random jam sessions, and was in the end abandoned and given to a few people to see if they could take the raw material and put it into some workable form that could be released as an album. Phil Specter eventually managed to do this (his theatrics in adding onto the songs went against the original intention, and is what heavily contributed to Paul McCartney finally leaving the group).

But what if no one managed to take the sessions and make them into a releasable album, and "Let It Be/Get Back" remained unreleased and Abbey Road took its place as the last album?
 

Thande

Donor
I would guess that most of the bigger songs on it would eventually be released as solos and be thought of as such - Let It Be as a McCartney song, Get Back as a Lennon one and so on. The rest of the raw material would presumably end up on the alt-Beatles Anthology years later.
 
I would guess that most of the bigger songs on it would eventually be released as solos and be thought of as such - Let It Be as a McCartney song, Get Back as a Lennon one and so on. The rest of the raw material would presumably end up on the alt-Beatles Anthology years later.

I can see Paul using more of his stuff from those sessions than John - basically because there were two very strong singles from that album that would've given his solo career a flying start.
'Let It Be' and 'Get Back'

When you look at John's stuff - 'Dig a pony' (Not really hit single stuff), 'Dig it' (really just a jam), and 'One after 909' (really just a throwback for some fun)... the only possible single is 'Don't let me down' at a pinch.
 
Every single time a group states it will, or has went back to its roots, it's the beginning of the end of originality and progression as individual musicians within the band structure. It's basically four grown-ups wishing they were 17 again. You may as well wish for a second childhood and try to reclaim the auditory excitement of hearing for the first time, a few Robert Johnson songs or an Elvis '45.
 
I can see Paul using more of his stuff from those sessions than John - basically because there were two very strong singles from that album that would've given his solo career a flying start.
'Let It Be' and 'Get Back'

When you look at John's stuff - 'Dig a pony' (Not really hit single stuff), 'Dig it' (really just a jam), and 'One after 909' (really just a throwback for some fun)... the only possible single is 'Don't let me down' at a pinch.
I agree Paul will get the better end of it. He wrote Get Back and Let It Be, so they were his to play with. However, Dig A Pony was really like a second "Come Together" in its creative random lyrics with a good beat. Dig It was a jam session, but its more than you may think; It went on for something like 8 minutes, before being given up with the rest of it and cut down to 50 second filler. So it actually could become something if worked upon. I like Don't Let Me Down, too.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2513277246851930174#

Every single time a group states it will, or has went back to its roots, it's the beginning of the end of originality and progression as individual musicians within the band structure. It's basically four grown-ups wishing they were 17 again. You may as well wish for a second childhood and try to reclaim the auditory excitement of hearing for the first time, a few Robert Johnson songs or an Elvis '45.
The Beatles weren't trying to get back to the original rock, necessarily, but something more rock and roll than the theatrical kinda sound they'd evolved into. And if you listen to the Beatles solo work throughout the decade, they really did get back to a sort of normal rock individually.
 
Well, under these circumstances, Get Back/Don't Let Me Down would probably still be Beatle rather than solo songs, since that single was released in 1969 and produced by George Martin. Presuming the POD is just Phil Spector can't get an album together, I think you still might see a "Let it Be" single in 1970, again, considering George Martin produced it, it's possible the single could have been released earlier under the circumstances of a completely scrapped album.

No "Let it Be" album would mean that there's no conflict between McCartney and a Beatles album, which might make the post 1969 breakup a tiny bit smoother

Of course perhaps I misunderstood the question and you mean that no song on the album is releasable at all, which would mean that things were worse during the sessions, which would mean that Abbey Road probably never even happens in the first place.

The rest of the songs would circulate as bootlegs for years, no real change there.

But let's see what's left once we get rid of Get Back/Don't Let Me Down and Let it Be

Two of Us -I love this song, and it'd probably end up on a McCartney release, probably RAM as it really only works with backing vocals, ITTL they come from McCartney's wife.

I Dig a Pony: From what I've read, Lennon did not like this song, so it might not see the light of day outside bootlegs or possibly the film if that's still released.

I Me Mine-goes on All things Must Pass, no question

Across the Universe: There's already a Beatles single version of the song-we lose Spector's version, which is a pity, because I like it better than the original single version

Dig it and Maggie May won't see the light of day outside bootlegs.

I've got a feeling would probably be split up. "Everybody had a hard year" would probably fit as a brief, quieter moment on "Plastic Ono Band. Not sure what would happen to the McCartney half, it might end up on either McCartney or RAM.

909 would probably remain in bootlegs, can't see Lennon covering it, not for awhile at least. It's probably too closely identified with the group for him to record, even if they never released it.

Long and Winding Road is almost certainly a McCartney single. And it probably goes with McCartney rather than RAM.

For You Blue might go with ATMP, but it doesn't seem to fit the general tone of that album the way I Me Mine does.
 
Every single time a group states it will, or has went back to its roots, it's the beginning of the end of originality and progression as individual musicians within the band structure. It's basically four grown-ups wishing they were 17 again. You may as well wish for a second childhood and try to reclaim the auditory excitement of hearing for the first time, a few Robert Johnson songs or an Elvis '45.

Not true. Remember, the Beatles were still in their mid-to late twenties at the time. The Rolling Stones did the same a year earlier, resulting in classics like "Jumping Jack Flash" and the "Beggar's Banquet" album and a return to touring, basically setting the formula for the 70's - indeed, some would say the rest of their career.
 
Not true. Remember, the Beatles were still in their mid-to late twenties at the time. The Rolling Stones did the same a year earlier, resulting in classics like "Jumping Jack Flash" and the "Beggar's Banquet" album and a return to touring, basically setting the formula for the 70's - indeed, some would say the rest of their career.

Rock in general is cyclical.. The prevalent trend swings between basic, gritty, stripped-down rock and layered production every few years.

The Beatles were lucky in that they were reasonably comfortable doing either, so when "back to basics" became a trend in 1969, they could carry it off with the Let It Be sessions, and still come out with a grand production (Abbey Road) in the same year.

Compare with the Rolling Stones, who got kinda lost when they attempted psychedelia. it was fortunate for them that tastes changed in 1968-9!
 
I could see I've Got a Feeling put together with something like 'Oh Woman Oh Why' or 'Ooh You'

But in my mind for some reason, I can imagine:

I've got a feeling, a feeling deep inside oh yeah
Every night I just wanna go out, get out of my head
I've got a feeling, a feeling I can't hide oh yeah
Every day I don't wanna get out, get out of my bed

As Glass Onion said, it's likely they'd have ended up on other albums, I, Me, Mine would've slotted into ATMP no problem.
 
I could see I've Got a Feeling put together with something like 'Oh Woman Oh Why' or 'Ooh You'

But in my mind for some reason, I can imagine:

I've got a feeling, a feeling deep inside oh yeah
Every night I just wanna go out, get out of my head
I've got a feeling, a feeling I can't hide oh yeah
Every day I don't wanna get out, get out of my bed

I tried to meld those two together. Seems too jarring a difference to me, though.
 
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