The Ideal Let It Be

Little Richard is my definition of wilde rnr.

 

So many like Naked, Brigitte Bardot ..I understand, but..nae laddie not the Beatles.

 

This is what bothers me. Why did Glyn choose so much from the 22nd? I really don't think that was one of the best days of the sessions, and all of his choices from this day were flawed in some major way. It was also the second day of tracking, when there was an additional eight days of material. Was he so uninterested in the project that he sort of 'checked out' after day 2? Even The Beatles themselves thought the 28.45 "Don't Let Me Down" was the master for the single version, why would Glyn even bother using the 22.60 for his compilation?

Likewise the 28.51 of "I've Got a Feeling" is far superior, a definitive "Dig a Pony" could be created from an edit of 28.29 and 28.37, and the 29.47 "One After 909" is pretty good as well. I hope that if there's ever a Let It Be/Get Back box, clean stereo mixes of these takes are on it.

 

Do you read minds? Come on, you said all the mixes I used!

I agree with you, don't see why Glyn used so much stuff from the 22nd, as it was a pretty sloppy day for them. In that version of it I only used Last Dance for Me from that day, and the rest was majoritarily from 27-28. For You Blue from the 25th, of course, and so forth.

Oh, and what do you suggest to be done about Teddy Boy? no matter how I edit it, it never sounds like more than a rehearsal. I mostly use the takes from the 24th, as a reference.

 

1
Get Back
Two Of Us
Dig It
Across The Universe
Don't Let Me Down
I Me Mine
The Long & Winding Road

2
Dig A Pony
Teddy Boy
I've Got A Feeling
Old Brown Shoe
One After 909
A Case Of The Blues
Let It Be

 

Yeah, like everything from Jan 1969, there is no concept that can be executed without flaws and compromises.

 

It will never sound like more than a rehearsal, because that's precisely what it was! It should never have been on the album, no matter how it's edited.

This is the best I could do, taking Glyn's mix and editing it to match the structure of the McCartney recording.

 

Glyn was probably following their (Paul's) directive to capture the "energy" of the early takes. If he had been recording the Beatles circa 1963 that would have been a great approach. But in January 1969 it took them well into the third week of rehearsing/recording for any of the new songs to sound ready for prime time.

 

Wow. Great stuff! I'll probably use that as a blueprint for my take, ahahahah

 

I'll play. I think Spector basically did a good job with sequencing and choosing takes.

Two Of Us
Dig a Pony (with "All I want is..." intro)
Across the Universe (Anthology 2 version)
I Me Mine (Naked)
Dig It
Let It Be (single version with album guitar solo edited in)
Maggie Mae

I've Got a Feeling
One After 909
Don't Let Me Down (Single version)
Long and Winding Road (Naked version)
For You Blue
Get Back (Anthology 3 rooftop version)

 

I agree completely. Some of the takes/choices Glyn made are baffling. There are much better takes of most of the songs. I wonder if that helped sour the Beatles on the project when Johns presented them with that lacklustre acetate? Perhaps they were like, "if THESE are the best takes...?" But the Beatles were absolutely correct to reject it. What was Johns thinking?

 

1 Two of Us
2 Dig a Pony
3 Across the universe naked version
4 I me mine nake version
5 Dig it 3 minute edit
6 Let it be
7 Mailman bring me no more blues anthology
1 I've got a feeling
2 One After 909
3 The long and winding road anthology
4 For you blue anthology
5 All things must pass anthology
6 Don't let me down mono single
7 Get back mono single

 

Yeah, I think this is one I’ve got. Does it have “save the last dance for me” into “don’t let me down”?

 

That's the one!

One After 909
Rocker/Save The Last Dance For Me (aka Ready, Willing, Able)
Don't Let Me Down
Dig A Pony (All I Want Is You)
I've Got A Feeling
Get Back
For You Blue
Teddy Boy
Two Of Us
Dig It (4:12 version)
Let It Be
The Long And Winding Road
Get Back (reprise)

This version was played on a local radio station in my hometown in the Fall of '69 either just before or just after Abbey Road was released. I taped it and listened to it dozens of times before the Let It Be album was released months later. The LIB album seemed too different (and not as good) as what I had been listening to.

 

I downloaded it a few years ago from some Russia site. it has become one of my favorite Beatles albums. The guitars sound so good on it. Very sloppy and raw.

 

Suzy Parker (aka Susie's Parlour) is a must on ANY Get Back comp I make. It's a joy. I have dozens of versions, from the edited mono film mix, to unedited Nagras... even a nifty "stereo" mix that, I think, combines the A and B camera rolls. I just mess about with the eq to make it sound close to the other tracks. I've also made several mixes of true nagra tapes of Across The Universe. With some judicious editing a serviceable mix can be had. Of course for a nicer listening experience just use either the Anthology mix or the "hmms wild" mix that features George on wah wah guitar which makes it sound akin to the Get Back sessions. Ron

 

Just as a curiosity - what takes would you use for the rest of the songs? That being Two of Us, Winding Road, Let it Be and so forth?

 

In addition to Paul's "raw feel" idea, it was John saying that it's going to be "Beatles with their trousers down", and I remember reading somewhere he even said to George Martin that "we don't want any of that production sh#t".

He probably operated in "we want raw feel" mode of the initial idea for the sessions. I wonder if they just rejected his mixes and choices just saying "we don't like 'em, do it over" or actually gave him directions and pointers. Is there any info on that around? And after the "live feel, warts and all" approach was abandoned, even Spector did not choose superior takes for a couple of tracks, then again, it turns out existance of 31st Jan take of Long and Winding Road was unknown to him.

 

Glyn talks about some of the background here (38' 04'' to 45' 20''):

 

A Very Interesting and Enjoyable Thread,So This is my 80min, (Essentially a Double Album in old Speak) CD that's been evolving over the last couple of years
as new bits and pieces appear,Most resent inclusion has been the Wonderful Funky Drummer mash-up of All Things Must Pass,Inc.Official and Unofficial Sources.

Speak to Me Jam - Bootleg
The Walk - Bootleg
Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues - Anthology
Old Brown Shoe - Bootleg
One After 909 - Let it Be
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Anthology
Let it Down - Bootleg
Oh! Darling - Anthology
All Things Must Pass - Funky Drummer mashup
Medley: Rip It Up/Shake, Rattle and Roll - Anthology
Rocker - Bootleg
Save The Last Dance For Me - Bootleg
Don't Let Me Down - Single Version
Dig a Pony - Anthology
Gimme Some Truth - Bootleg
I've Got A Feeling - Rockband Mix
Get Back - Single Version
Dig it - G.Johns 4 min excerpt
Let It Be - Anthology
Isn't it a Pity - Demo
Child Of Nature - Bootleg
Maggie Mae - Let It Be
For You Blue - Anthology
Teddy Boy - Anthology
Two of Us - Anthology
The Long And Winding Road - Anthology
Across the Universe - G.Johns Mix
I Me Mine - Anthology .

 

Thanks for that link!

He basically says what I thought, that they just shoved it off on him to compile and were not interested much in it.
But he did make several attempts at it, I wonder if they guided him or not. My bet is on "no"

 

I agree. And this perfectly reflects the whole situation in the band at this period - lack of direction and synergy.

I like the sound and clarity of 1+ version, but I'm still puzzled as to why, for the Christ sake, out of few George's solos they selected the weakest one (of course, IMO) for the single? Album version (and the anthology film version) is just so much better. The original album version has also really cool sounding bass tones and more punchy orchestration, but I think they went over the board with hi hats and tom toms. Also, I think less loud backing vocals was a good idea.

 

Paul walked into one of the sessions ranting and raving about the acetate of some of the works in progress Glyn had lashed together for him- Johns likely took that as a direction even if it went against his better instincts as a producer.

Indeed, Johns was undoubtedly thinking, "They've really thrown me to the wolves with this one". Imagine: The Beatles literally shove a bunch of tapes at you and say, "Here are the tapes, make an album out of it, you've got carte blanche". That would be slightly intimidating for anybody, I'd reckon- "Okay, they want me to keep the raw, live feel but how do I chose the best versions and still be able to do that?" An impossible task, really. And such is the difference between Glyn's approach to the record and Spector's, Glyn tried to appease The Beatles by keeping things loose (the way he thought they wanted the record to sound only to discover he left things too loose sounding not once but twice!) whereas Spector just focused on making the best record he could, using the best versions of the song he could find, and The Beatles' personal artistic considerations be damned. With all respect to Glyn Johns, one listen to either of his Get Back album versions will tell you right off why The Beatles rejected them, and one can only imagine the critical reaction The Beatles would have faced had either of those versions been officially released in 1969/70. As much as Lennon claimed he dug the idea of letting a Beatles record out "with our trousers off" it could have done their career a lot of damage, and I don't think any of them would have wanted that.

 

These in no such thing as an ideal Let It Be. However, you can try to make it better - add Don't Let Me Down, All Things Must Pass (from Harrison solo album) and Gimme Some Truth (from Lennon solo album) to the offical release.

 

One After 909, Dig a Pony, I've Got a Feeling, Don't Let Me Down, Get Back - 30th
Two Of Us, Let It Be and L&WR - 31st