Photo shoot of the “Get Back” LP album

The “Get Back” LP, compiled by engineer and producer Glyn Johns, was originally scheduled for release in July 1969 under the title “Get Back with Don’t Let Me Down and 9 other songs.” However, the release was postponed to September 1969 to coincide with a planned theatrical film documenting the making of the album. By September, the release was delayed once again — this time to December — as The Beatles had since completed “Abbey Road” and chose to prioritise its release. By then, interest within the group in the “Get Back” project had significantly waned.

In early May 1969, photographer Angus McBean and The Beatles returned to the EMI House, in Manchester Square, London, to recreate the cover photo from the “Please Please Me” LP. The new photograph was intended for the cover of “Get Back“.

However, they soon discovered that EMI had built a new porch, which prevented McBean from capturing the shot from the exact same angle as the original.

On May 13, 1969, after the porch was temporarily dismantled, McBean and The Beatles returned once more to EMI House and successfully took the new photograph.

Although the “Get Back” LP was ultimately shelved, the recreated “Please Please Me” cover photo did not go unused. It later appeared on the compilation “1967-1970“, commonly known as the Blue Album, released in 1973.

In 2021, the original “Please Please Me” photo and its 1969 recreation were combined to create the poster for “The Beatles – Get Back“, the documentary film directed by Peter Jackson.

The most final we got was going back to EMI in Manchester Square and taking that photo. And we all felt spooky. This is full circle. We’ve started and ended.

Paul McCartney – Interview with Paul du Noyer

In 1963 I asked John Lennon how long they would stay as a group, and he said, “Oh, about six years, I suppose – whoever heard of a bald Beatle?” Well, it was just six years later that I was asked to repeat the shot with The Beatles as they now looked – very hairy indeed.

Angus McBean – From “And in the End: The Last Days of the Beatles” by Ken McNab, 2019

When I got there I couldn’t retake the shot; a new porch had been built and I couldn’t get into the same position. However, EMI asked if I could come back in a week. Meanwhile, the whole new porch was pulled down and we tried again. Ringo Starr was so late that the staff of EMI was streaming down the stairs. I got the camera fixed up and John, fascinated by photography, came and lay down beside me to look at my view-finder. I can still hear the screams of the EMI girls as the realized who they were stepping over to get out the door!

Angus McBean – Quoted in The Daily Beatle

Going further

The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years

With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.

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