Beatles: Let it Be (album)

Colour ( especially PAL 625 ) VT was incredibly expensive until the mid 70's in the UK, that is why so much colour VT in the UK from the late sixties early 70's no longer exists, well it does exist but it was re-used, the BBC for example would keep an episode for one repeat then re-use the tape. Sometimes the stuff survives on B/W film stock which were made for export to non colour countries and in the future this stuff could have its colour restored ( which has already been done successfully already on a few examples ) but very little survives on the original BBC colour VT 67-70ish. So yes in answer to your question film was a lot cheaper. However the Beatles clearly had an interest in colour television, in the UK MMT was specifically marketed as a colour film for television and was designed to show as a colour repeat on BBC2 in early January 1968 as from June 67 to Nov 69 this was the only UK channel operating in colour ( and full colour from Dec 67 ) They also clearly were interested in specifically recording Hey Jude / Revolution promos on colour VT for the Frost programme ( which ironically was not on the BBC so would not be transmitted in colour in the UK although all the ITV companies were making a lot of colour test recordings for their colour launch in 1969 - George can be seen & heard ( in colour ) asking Frosty " are we in colour now ? " " No we are in black and white " )) and I think the Get Back/Let it Be project was initially a TV one along the lines of the Elvis 68 comeback special so most likely colour VT would have been the original medium envisaged but as we know the project evolved rapidly for various reasons and I suspect if they wanted to document the rehearsals for the live show which never materialised the amount of hours required it would make more sense to use film - not least, as you suspected - because of the cost.

 

I'm afraid i disagree, Naked was a great idea, the execution was flawed imho but it was a nice try. Spector did indeed save Let it Be ( the Johns versions are way too rough to have been released at the time) but in doing so Spector strayed way too far from the whole point of the project, we need to have a version which could make LIB the great album it could have been and we do have Spector to thank as he has left us the raw material to complete this. Naked was a good effort but it falls short imho hence my original post.

 

But it has the capacity to be in the higher order if it were re-done, just look at the songs on it, Get Back, Let it Be, Long and Winding Road, Across the Universe, Dont let me down ( which should be there were it not for abko's HJ ) Got a Feeling ( an often overlooked standout track ), how many bands/artists have released an album with as many songs as good as that on them eh ??? Thriller maybe ?

 

Interesting info!!

 

I prefer the original album, but the glaring omission is "Don't Let Me Down". So what if it had already been released as a "B" side? The "A" side "Get Back" is included on LET IT BE (with a different take). The same should have been done for "Don't Let Me Down".
NAKED loses out by cutting "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It". I miss those. At the very least they could have been included on the "Fly On The Wall" bonus CD (which was quite a disappointment itself). In fact, there is a longer version of "Dig It" on bootleg that I would have enjoyed having added to this CD>
I would love to see a two CD set with the original album (with "Don't Let Me Down") as one disk and then a bonus disc of other various songs that were recorded.
Some examples of the "bonus disc":
Get Back (John on vocal)
Commonwealth
No Pakistanis
Suzy Parker
Dig It (long version)
Rocker
All Things Must Pass
Let It Down
Suicide
Watching RAinbows
And then some cover material

 

Agreed on all points — except the harmonies on Because are actually 3-part harmonies overdubbed 3 times. I think true 9-part harmonies would have made my head explode!

 

AR is not safe but it is slick, it is everything the White Album is not imho.....aside from side one

 

It's my least favorite Beatles album. I dislike it in all of it's versions.
I believe the Decca tapes are better.
I believe everything else is better.
I don't even like bootlegs made from these sessions.
I wish Abbey Road had ended their original releases and this stuff stayed locked in a vault forever.
Those are my feelings.

 

Yeah, I get that part, but how do you really feel about Let It Be?

Seriously, as it is--a kinda-sorta Beatles album frozen in incompletion because of a flawed premise (warts and all and no dubbin', mister)--it is an unending source of frustration to me. There's about half of an Abbey Road type album trapped in those sessions...and the only thing I would love to see is someone collate all the material to get the best individual tracks from all takes of all songs from all sessions and use Modern Frankensteinin' Magic to turn them into the cheatin' studio overdubbing opuses they were always Meant to Be.

 

And for the 50th time, I'll use my joke... "Edit Be". But it is probably true. IMO, the sonics on Naked are superior to the original release. Modern digital technology can also change tempo without altering keys, so yes different takes can be merged. I just don't see it being done again.

 

no it wont happen again sadly but we can dream imho there is a really good album in there somewhere as i suggested in another thread

 

A classic a monumental album a beautiful piece of art made ingenuity

 

Do people who listen in "release order" realize that they have to listen to the "Yellow Submarine" album after "The White Album"?

 

From Sallymae_Hogsby...

'Lennon was prone to eventually claim a dislike of anything he had ever been involved in.'

 

this is a tricky one with regard to Let it Be as it was finished after Abbey Road but much of it recorded before as we all know. With regard to YS, i discount that in relation to other Beatles albums as it is only the Beatles on one side and of that side contains only four new songs, one recorded in 1967 the others mostly during the Lady Madonna sessions.....hey maybe there is a hidden album in there somewhere for release during 1968, but i can only find 7 tracks for it....9 if you hang onto August for HJ Revolution

Lady Madonna
Across the Universe ( WWF version )
Only a Northern Song
Hey Bulldog
It's all to much
All together now

side two
The inner light
Revolution
Hey Jude

we need 2-3 more tracks for side 2 guys

possible selections could be Not Guilty and Whats the New Mary Jane but Not guilty i think was only dropped from the White Album late on and Mary Jane is pretty dreadful imho as You know my name...could be time for another thread

 

You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) and I dunno, Rain or Paperback Writer at a push?

 

You know is sub standard imho, and the others too early, although i considered Rain for a bit, did they do anything else in 67 that I missed thats maybe on Anthology and was anything else dropped from the White Album ?

 

I think it was supposed to be released in the summer of '69 as it was mixed first around April that year. But that got nixed when they listened to it and saw the rough cut of the movie.

 

If this version had been released in June 1969 it would be considered another classic Beatles album.
Side 1
Get Back (single version)
Dig a Pony
Old Brown Shoe
Don't Let Me Down (single version)
One after 909
I've Got A Feeling

Side 2
The Ballad of John & Yoko
Two of Us
For You Blue
The Long & Winding Road
Across the Universe
Let it Be.

Not a bad album.

 

I love Let It Be and everything The Beatles did, but if I had to find any faults with this album, for me it would have to be the omission of Don't Let Me Down and the inclusion of The One After 909 which seems completely out of place to me. I like the 1963 version but am very indifferent to this one.

 

Besides all that, all of which is true, editing video was incredibly difficult in those days. It was done by physically splicing the tape, and in order to do that correctly, you had to apply a special solution to the tape (suspended iron filings in fluid) and use a microscope-like device to see where the pulse between frames was. Machine-to-machine editing was just starting up in the early 70s.

 

In reality, 3 of the 4 new songs on the Yellow Submarine album date back to 1967. Only a Northern Song, It's All Too Much, and All Together Now were recorded at various times during 1967. Only "Hey Bulldog" was from the February 1968 sessions that resulted in the "Lady Madonna" single.

Arnie

 

They should have done a Byrds Untitled and do half studio cuts on one side and half Rooftop on the other (even duplicating studio Get Back and rooftop Get Back with "Like to say thank you on behalf of group and ourselves"

That would have been a killer album

 

Yep. And what's shocking is that "Only a Northern Song" was actually mooted for inclusion on Sgt. Pepper at one point. Can you even imagine if it had made the cut?

 

Thanks for the correction Arnie !