For the people who have the Beatles deluxe hard back book from the vinyl edition, can someone scan this photo from the february 1969 mystery session: There are few photos from this session and that one in the book looks great! By the way, I don't have the book, I took the first two photos from Youtube.
That looks like a great picture! From the mics in front of the guitar amp, I'd say that this must have been an actual recording session, not just some kind of rehearsal as some have speculated. Would love any clues as to what was being worked on. Is the book you are referring to from the 2012 remastered vinyl box? That picture is not in the 1970 book. Someone scan it pronto please!
No, it's definitely at Apple, you can tell by the detail in some of the other pictures. But as Paul is beardless, it must be from after January 1969. Some of the pictures were in the 1970 'Get Back' book that came with the 'Let It Be' album.
Maybe Ringo's sheet on the left is a clue. Can someone zoom in and see if you can make something out?
I think that's already been tried, to no avail. From what I can make out, it doesn't really look like song lyrics.
Yes, the pictures are from Apple and are from after January 1969. John is growing a beard and looks almost like what he did when he recorded 'Cambridge 1969' with his darling wife on March 2, 1969. Furthermore, as Ringo was filming 'The Magic Christian' during most of February my guess is that the pictures are from late-February as The Beatles were back in action on February 22 when they recorded the basic track of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" at Trident Studios. So what were they doing at Apple? Perhaps rehearsing and/or perhaps recording additional vocals for "Don't Let Me Down" which are believed to have been added in February. I guess we'll never know ...
Yes, the DLMD vocal overdub is a possibility (whenever it was done seems to be undocumented). However, I'm not sure why they would be playing their instruments for that. Another possibility is a test session following Apple's technical makeover following Magic Alex's initial 'design'. The mics in front of the amps make me think that something was being recorded here.
Really disappointed here. I thought you guys had every minute of the Beatles career cataloged right down to bathroom breaks.
We do! In fact, the day those pictures were taken John wore his green underwear but we won't share that sort of important information with just anybody. In that way we can stay feeling important....
There's a webpage devoted to these pictures : http://www.beatlesource.com/bs/scans/pix/mystery pix/mystery.html
And a couple more 'mystery' Apple sessions can be accessed from this page of the above website: http://www.beatlesource.com/bs/mains/gallery.html
It could easily be a "test" session for the basement studio upgrades. Perhaps things went well enough that they decided to add vocal overdubs to Don't Let Me Down or even to record the rehearsals for I Want You, knowing that they would be returning to EMI to properly record the song in a few days. The reason it's not well documented is that the session was done at Apple, not EMI. We have the same dearth of information when songs were recorded at Olympic, De Lane Lea Music, Chappell Studios, Trident, etc... EMI were sticklers for proper paperwork, other studios, perhaps not so much. Ron
The mystery Feb 1969 session will undoubtedly be mentioned in Drop Out: Volume 3 of Lewisohn's Beatles biography series---due out in 4-5 years (??). Patience is needed. Arnie
Yes, even the other Apple sessions that I linked to above suffer from a lack of accurate documentation. I think one of the photos of Paul on the lap steel guitar made it into the 'Get Back' book too.
Yes, and the first photo in post #2 has little Heather right in the middle (in between the cymbals). Linda and Heather were not "regulars"' until the Get Back sessions in 1969. And by the way: After everyone is dead and gone, it will probably be Heather who will have the honor of being the last person alive to ever attend any Beatles sessions. There's a trivia question for you all. Arnie
One strange thing about that particular photo is that there are 2 versions, one where you can see the neck and headstock of George's guitar and one where you can't. Here's the one with the headstock:
At this session they recorded "Peace of Mind", which they then deposited into the Apple trash can. Needless to say the mystery session pictures drove us crazy when we were writing "DDSI". My inclination is to place them on a weekend in early February (a "Magic Christian" day off), and I'd have to think that John's excitement over "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was the motivation. Heather's other appearance was on a Sunday (1/26/69). Since she was 6 I would assume she was attending school regularly, so it's logical to figure the session was on a weekend.
This picture looks photoshopped. Look at Ringos hair and the cymbals. Looks like cut-outs. There are many weird cuts all over the picture EDIT: here's the explanation from the website posted here:
That would be my guess too with regard to "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". And when John was buzzed about doing something quick, the others usually fell into line. Arnie
Yes, it seems that Ringo and his kit have been moved slightly to the left. Which meant George's guitar neck (taken from where?) was now visible.