Right I agree for sure about reasons behind an opinion. Shouldn't just throw out a random opinion w/o reasons-agreed. And you do make sure to indicate that your opinion is not fact which I respect. (And I have no reason to think you framed Lennon in 1970! LOL) If you said it was a fact, then you would be the one to have to prove it but you never said it that way. I gotcha.
Here's the sequence on the original Glyn LP: Dig It (longer version, from 26th), stutters to an end > George Martin (on the session, playing shaker) says 'Try Let It Be!' > 'Amen' type ending > Cuts to end of Can You Dig It (from 24th), followed by the 'Hark the angels come...' comment by John > Spoken intro of Let It Be (Take 27! 'Lost me bit of paper...etc') > Let It Be (as above, from 31st) On the final Glyn LP, 'Let It Be' is moved to the end of Side One to accommodate the new songs, so the 'Dig It' sequence goes instead into 'The Long And Winding Road'.
I agree. I don't understand it either. The original album was a tatty afterthought to a sublime catalogue. Naked at least gives LIB a bit of dignity and listenability now. It can hold its head high. Only small tweaks but to big effect.
Weighing in a little here: I've heard (and own) all three versions - Get Back (both of Glyn's versions), Let It Be and Let It Be.. Naked. Although Get Back is charming, I can't see how they would have ever released that. The singles they pulled and mixed properly - Get Back b/w Don't Let Me Down & Let It Be - seem to point at a way that George Martin, et al could have prepared a version of the sessions for release - but that didn't happen. (In fact - I'm not sure why they didn't release a single of Let It Be b/w I Me Mine instead of You Know My Name. Certainly the Anthology mix of I Me Mine is worthy, even without the extended edit.) To be honest - the Let It Be movie itself suggests the album that I would have liked to hear, and that the Beatles seemed to be suggesting. The rooftop concert + the Apple Studio run thru of The Two Of Us, Long & Winding Road, and Let It Be presented just before the concert. A pure soundtrack, in other words. You would have had the movie soundtrack album and the two singles - Get Back b/w Don't Let Me Down and Let It Be b/w I Me Mine. I'm not a Phil hater - I sincerely think he was trying to present this material the best he could. He's even said as much: "I worked with strangers in a hostile environment, hostile press, hostile people, all Beatle lovers who thought I was taking their Beatles away. It was not an enviable task. But I wanted Let It Be to be a great farewell album. I knew they were breaking up, I knew there wouldn’t be a reunion – the public didn’t. I was there to make a commercial album because I wanted to sell 12 million albums. And the public ended up buying it because I was Mr Commerciality. I wondered how I was going to put it together but I knew I could and I knew there was an album there. I don’t think McCartney is very secure that I went there in a few months and did what they couldn’t do in two years with those tapes. John was thrilled with what I did and George was thrilled with what I did, and Paul said he loved The Long and Winding Road when it was done.” (from Phil Spector rants about his relationship with The Beatles ahead of his murder retrial » ) Let It Be... Naked is an interesting side project - but seems to have nothing to do with what anyone originally intended, to be honest. Paul appears to have stayed out of the project, only coming in at the end for final approval. The people involved said they were trying to make an album out of the songs - hence the removal of all the chatter, film references, silly songs, etc., but that's not what it was. I find the final result too sterile and serious - sonically it's fine - I have no objections - but jeez - it is dour. So - tl;dr: Get Back too silly, Let It Be... Naked too dour, Let It Be - just right even with the overdone strings. Cheers, Paul
I too love Naked, I think the versions of Across the Universe and The Long and Winding Road sound WAY better. I prefer the original Get Back concept to either official releases, though. I like the laid back atmosphere, the banter, and especially the extended Dig It, which is the only thing wrong with Naked. I also really like Teddy Boy, I think it was a pretty strong song.
I have certainly posted before that Her Majesty neatly bursts the bubble of any pretentiousness of the ending of AR, however for the record it was not me that claimed Paul suggested it, and i have never heard that claim before. However I would interested in the source of the Tape story which has been repeated many times but i wonder if it is actually apocryphile. I find it hard to believe that such an event could make it's way onto the final album without the ultimate authorisation of the group. It is possible that the tape story is true but i am certain that it would have been spotted and ultimately either pre or post release corrected ( as was Tomorrow Never Knows remix 11 on Revolver ). It is therefore my opinion that if the tape story is true, in allowing it to got to press without correction or subsequent removal ( as in remix 11 Revolver ) and then allowing for the labels to be corrected to show it must have involved the agreement and embracement of the group. The only question to me is was it by design or was it a purely serendipitous error that the group then embraced. Thats why i'd like to know what the source story was about it being left on the tape.
this to me sounds very plausible, in other words a very serendipitous happenstance authorised and embraced.
No, Paul and the rest of the group heard the snippet and liked it enough to keep it appended at the album's end. They indeed approved it before the album went to production and were 100% aware of its inclusion. The lucky part was that one of the engineers kept the song and appended it to the end of the master reel. He could have thrown it away, but that was not EMI's policy, or he could have appended it to some other tape. So the lucky part was that "Her Majesty" got appended after "The End". But once they heard it, the Beatles decided to keep it in. (Just like that weird wine bottle vibration sound at the end of "Long Long Long". The Beatles kept that in too. They liked happy accidents, but were aware of them.)
I think all we can say is that their is no evidence of a hands on John involvement, we can speculate yes but ultimately without a shred of evidence it remains baseless speculation. All we do know is that John and George nicked the tapes and gave them to Spector, Paul was in hiding up at the farm with no phone and so returned to an effective fete'a complies. All John said was "He was given the ****tiest load of badly-recorded **** with a lousy feeling to it ever, and he made something of it." . He also at no point claimed any credit for sequencing or anything else that helped " salvage Let it Be which he might have been expected to do if he had. A timeline of John's whereabouts March 1970 might also be helpful as it might tell us if he had any possible direct interactions with Spector. I believe he was on holiday or out of the UK anyway at some point before the release of the Let it Be single but i am not sure how long he was away for...
Here's another question: Whose decision was it to include You Know My Name, Look Up the Number as the b-side to the Let it Be single? Yes, it was John who wanted to release this as a Plastic Ono Band single with Mary Jane back in December of 1969, having personally done an edit of it in November of that year. And apparently the others vetoed that release. We know that Paul, George and Ringo recorded on January 3 and 4, 1970. And George Martin adds orchestration to Let It Be on January 4 as well. In Feb. 18 and 19, George and Ringo get together to record It Don't Come Easy. And then the Let It Be single is released on March 6, 1970. So whose idea or decision was it to use that as the flip of Let It Be? The decision had to be made sometime between early January and late February. Paul certainly has expressed fondness for the song in the years that followed, but it still seems a strange B-side for them to include.
They may not have wanted to include another "Let It Be" song because it may have diluted interest in the future LP. You Know My Name was ready to go because it was edited/prepared for a possible POB release.
John's Timeline for the per The following information is woefully incomplete, but comes from Lewisohn's 25 years in the life and Complete Recording Sessions and from Schultheiss' A Day in the Life. Spector's work on Let It Be March 23: Spector starts work on tapes. Producer: Phil Spector; Engineer: Peter Bown; 2nd Engineer: Roger Ferris. `I've Got A Feeling'; `Dig a Pony; `The One After 909'; `I Me Mine'; `Across The Universe'. EMI Control Room 4. (Guess who's in Control Room 3 working on his Solo LP? Paul McCartney!) March 25: Spector continues working on tapes. For You Blue'; `Teddy Boy; `Two Of Us' . March 26: Spector continues. The Long And Winding Road; `Let It Be' ; `Get Back' ; `Maggie Mae' . March 27: Spector continues. 'Dig it.' March 30: Spector continues. "For You Blue' April 1: Producer: Phil Spector; Engineer: Peter Brown; 2nd Engineer: Richard Lush. Orchestral overdubs for Long and Winding Road, Across the Universe and I Me Mine. Ringo participates in the session. April 2: Spector's last involvement with Let It Be tapes. Stereo mixes of orchestration of songs done the previous day. Here are some dates during that period when the Beatles were doing other things, rather than working with Spector and mixing the tapes and sequencing the album. I'm sure Chip Madinger (he of Lennonology) has even more dates that can be documented when Lennon was not involved with Spector during this time. Beatles whereabouts around that time: March 5 - 9: Yoko in the London Clinic. John at her bedside throughout. March 14: George records two interviews for the BBC. The second interview (broadcast March 30) includes tracks from Get Back LP (pre-Spector). March 12: George in process of moving into Friar Park March 15: Ringo films Sentimental Journey promo clip March 17: George throws housewarming party at Friar Park. Ringo attends. March 20: Ringo records interview with David Wigg. March 31: Ringo appears live on BBC radio. April 23: John and Yoko leave Britain to meet with Janov, Primal Scream therapist in L.A. They are gone for an extended period of time. April 27-May 4 - George in New York City April 30: Paul and Linda leave for an extended vacation abroad.
Thanks Dewey. Some random thoughts: Amazing that Spector needed only a week and a half to make the Let It Be album. Regardless if you like what Phil did, he did manage to (shall we say) "produce" an album in 7 working days that all agreed to release, unlike the Glyn Johns versions of the album that were continually being rejected for the previous 15 months. Interesting that Paul on March 23 was next door in a different studio while Spector was doing his stuff. Also interesting that on March 14th, George gave a BBC interview and that pre-Spector tracks were allowed to be played. Thus, it is likely that Glyn Johns' Get Back album was still being considered to be released.
I've always suspected that it was either a) a compromise because John wanted to release the record as a Plastic Ono Band single, or b) a way to stop John releasing it as a POB single.
What I've always found baffling is that at no time did either McCartney himself or Spector think to overdub a new bass part onto Long and Winding Road. Equally interesting, as you note, that McCartney was in the building while Spector was at work. Presumably neither man knew of the other's presence. McCartney, of course, was there under a pseudonym so presumably those who were working on his session were under strict instructions not to tell anyone that McCartney was there.
