MP3mania

I recently got an mp3 recording program, and I've been having fun making music files. My latest project has been to create my own version of the Beatles' Let It Be/Get Back mess. For those of you who aren't Beatle fanatics, the fab four's Let It Be album has long been considered their worst, though some of the individual tracks--culled from their abortive Get Back "live" album project in 1969--are among their best. The commercially available album was produced by Phil Spector, who imposed his "wall of sound" production style on some of the songs, with distasteful results (many feel). Anyway, using various sources, including mp3s I downloaded from the web and some of my own Beatle CDs, I put together what I think is the ultimate Get Back, which I call Get Back--Expanded. Here's the track list, with some explanatory notes:

[Tracks without explanatory notes are the Let It Be versions.]

Get Back (the single version, from the "1" album)

One After 909

Save The Last Dance For Me (a bootleg mp3, found on the web. It make's a good intro to "Don't Let Me Down," because it includes a bit of that song at the end.)

Don't Let Me Down (one of Lennon's best songs. Why this one was left off the official Let It Be album, I can't fathom.)

Dig A Pony (from the Beatles' Anthology 3 album. Better than the official version, I think.)

I've Got A Feeling (ditto)

Medley: Rip It Up/Shake, Rattle and Roll/Blue Suede Shoes (from Anthology 3)

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (ditto. Although this song eventually showed up on Abbey Road, this longer, slower version was recorded during the Get Back sessions.)

Mean Mr. Mustard (from Anthology 3. This is actually Lennon's demo version from the "White Album" period, but it fits right in, I think, because it has that "unplugged" sound. And the Beatles's actually did work on it during the Get Back sessions.)

Polythene Pam (ditto)

Dig It

Let It Be (the non-Spectorized single version, from "1")

For You Blue

Two Of Us

Maggie Mae

Across The Universe (from Anthology 2. I like this simple version better than the Spectorized track.)

I Me Mine (from Anthology 3)

The Long And Winding Road (ditto. Again, I like it much better without Spector's strings-and-choir glop.)

Get Back (reprise)

Teddy Boy (from Anthology 3. This makes a nice "bonus track" coda, I think, sort of like "Her Majesty" on Abbey Road).

Now I just need to burn this onto a CD . . . . Maybe I'll start my own Rotten Apple label (just kidding, lawyers).