‘In the studio with he Beatles’. This is the title of a book that was released in the autumn of 2009, written by Beatles fanclub employee Dennis Dekker. For over three years Dennis almost literally spent his time in the studio with The Beatles during the Let it Be-training sessions. Every month he wrote -under the pseudonym Arend G. Cornelissen- a report for the site www.beatlesfanclub.nl. These texts was been joined together in a unique volume: ‘Nagra Tapes’which can be ordered through the Beatles Fanclub Netherlands.
Dekker was -of course- not literally with the Beatles in the studio. But he got a bit of a 'fly on the wall' feeling. It all happened in the month January of 1969. A month in which the fab four were full in practice and recording sessions. These sessions were ment to be for a live album, which at the end never appeared. The famous film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg filmed this process with so called ‘Nagra Tapes’ and an accompanying filmcamera. Parts of these takes became at the end the famous documentary Let it Be. Dekker listened to all these Nagra tapes (almost 80 hours of material) as audiofiles. In the past years Dekker published every month over about 2 hours of this material. This almost verbatim transcript was published every month on www.beatlesfanclub.nl.
Quarrels, discussions on current events and of course much music…
What did Dekker hear the past few years? The famous quarrel between Paul McCartney and George Harrison and the departure of Harrison, followed by a rehearsel period without Harrisson. A strongly present, and occasionally very irritating, Yoko Ono. The return of Harrison and the arrival of keyboardplayer Billy Preston in the practice and recording space. The changing of the cavern-like Twickenham Film Studios into the Apple Studio. Paul McCartney who seems to be the bandleader several times during the sessions. George Harrison, the First Beatle who officially admits that he wants to release a solo album. The tuning of instruments and matching of sounds. But also conversations about various TV programs of the evening before. Different views on albums made by artists that the Beatles appreciate. And of course music. Lots of Music and numerous covers. And of course many different versions of their own songs such as Do not Let Me Down, Two Of Us, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, All Things Must Pass, Teddy Boy, Old Brown Shoe, The Long And Winding Road, Drive My Car, Oh! Darling, One After 909, I Want You (She's So Heavy), She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Dig It, Please Please Me, Martha My Dear, Is not It A Pity, Octopus's Garden, Dig a Pony, I ' ve Got a Feeling, For You Blue, Get Back and of course Let it Be. Parts of the recordings in January 1969 were ultimately one and a half years later merged by the famous Phil Spector as the popular album Let it Be.
