Let It Be 50th Anniversary -Twickenham Rehearsals: What and how?

They are! Mine was the Revolution one, so it was the stripped to natural color with the thin laquer type coating. Epiphone really went way above and beyond with those.

 

I have a regular Casino, it is a fantastic guitar. Sounds amazing for anything!

 

Those were two of the salvageable songs from the project. Billy was a friend, he had a career they were trying to help, and he was an Apple artist after all, might as well promote him and try to get his Apple records sold.

As a session player. Not as the 5th Beatle playing live with the band, big difference. They could have brought in any session organist they wanted on Something and I Want You She's So Heavy, Preston's contributions are buried in the mix. Sounds like George Harrison wanted to throw him a bone, that's fine, but he wasn't essential on Abbey Road and nothing Preston did on organ stood out as some signature moment or couldn't have been replicated by Paul or George Martin in a pinch.

 

The Beatles shelved the Get Back project in January and moved on to Abbey Road in April. It was like a light switch. Done with that, didn't work, onto the next one, let's do it as a studio production, let's make something good.

They desperately needed a single in early 1969 as their last single was in August 1968. So Get Back was chosen, good song, would have been better with a George Harrison solo in place of the Billy Preston tinkle-tinkle piano, but it worked nonetheless.

The band was essentially over by the time the Let It Be album came to be, Spector was brought in to do what he liked, it wasn't a Beatles project, it was an Allen Klein cash-out released almost concurrently with the announcement that it was the Beatles swan song. The movie too; Klein had a contractual obligation to deliver another film, so what never should have been heard or seen was heard and seen. Worked too. Let It Be was one of the most profitable dogs in the band's history, their renegotiated contract paid them handsomely as they were on their way out the door to solo careers.

See my prior post. He was a session player. They could have brought in any organist or just had Paul or George Martin do it themselves.

Yes, that's what I mean primarily- Preston's playing did not compliment the Beatles canon, and that's why Let It Be sounds so awkward and un-Beatles.

And, yes, I take that further and say Preston's playing is a big reason why they decided to shelve the Get Back project. There were some well-written songs on there, but there was something that didn't sound right. Put Harrison or Lennon guitar where all the tinkle-tinkle electric piano stuff is and it sounds more like the Beatles. But George (distancing) and John (drugs) were too busy for that, so might as well bring in an outsider to do some of the heavy lifting, right?

 

I think Don't Let Me Down is perfect as it is.

Bern

 

Do you have a cite for this? I'm certain it isn't accurate. Maybe 3 hours to band the existing mixes but not 3 hours to mix 12 songs

 

Pretty please, just one source for this. Just one. Source.

 

The Beatles hadn't abandoned the Get Back project at all. In fact, there are accounts of that while recording Abbey Road, to try and get a satisfactory album from those sessions. Those tapes were with Glyn Johns while they were doing Abbey Road.

And in your other post, Preston was not an Apple artist at that time. He recorded with The Beatles before doing his own work for the label.

 

Billy Preston saved the sessions.

This is true even if you completely discount his playing.

John wouldn't want to be comatose, disengaged in front of a guest. Paul wouldn't want to be overly bossy.

The ensemble playing on the roof is spectacular which gave them momentum into the Abbey Road album.

 

It was like what George was saying during Anthology, where when you bring a guest over, everyone in the family is on their best behavior. I agree in that they got focused and more into things at that point, as opposed to everyone drifting. Before that, John was on heroin and on this kick about thinking he could communicate via some mental frequency, George was hanging out with other bands and people, getting more inspired by them, Ringo was disheartened that his brothers were losing interest in things, and Paul was going over the top to the point of pushing everyone else away with his wanting to keep everyone together.

 

Yep, it was actually 3 and 1/2 hour session. From Lewisohn's Complete Chronicle:

Monday 5 January
Olympic Sound Studios, London

By the end of this 7.00—11.30 pm Olympic session, Glyn Johns had compiled a new 44-minute Get Back LP master tape. It lacked `Teddy Boy' — because it would not be seen in the film and, presumably, because Paul had told him that he was presently re-recording the song for his first solo album ( see 21 February 1970) — but it added the newly taped 'I Me Mine' and, for the same reason — that it would be seen in the film — it added `Across The Universe'. (Both songs were mixed into stereo during this session.) The culmination of 12 months' work, Get Back now looked like this — recording dates, 1969 unless stated, in parentheses. Side A: `The One After 909' (30 January); `Rocker' (22 January); 'Save The Last Dance For Me' (22 January); 'Don't Let Me Down' (22 January); 'Dig A Pony' (24 January); 'I've Got A Feeling' (24 January); 'Get Back' (28 January, the "single" version); 'Let It Be' (31 January and 30 April overdub, Glyn chose to ignore the 4 January upgrading). Side B: 'For You Blue' (25 January); 'Two Of Us' (24 January); 'Maggie Mae' (24 January); 'Dig It' (26 January); 'The Long And Winding Road' (31 January); 'I Me Mine' (3 January 1970); 'Across The Universe' (4—8 February 1968); 'Get Back (reprise)' (28 January). This Get Back, like its predecessor, remains unreleased. The Beatles still couldn't agree on whether or not they liked it, and — additionally — John couldn't see why Glyn Johns wanted to be credited as producer, even without expecting a royalty. In March, Phil Spector was brought in to see what he could do.

Most of the songs were simply taken from his already-vetoed summer 1969 compilation. I have no idea why he didn't remix them when he had the chance. As indicated, he mixed I Me Mine and Across The Universe to stereo at this session What's not indicated by Lewisohn is the newly edited mix of Dig It. It's also unclear why Glyn didn't just wait a few days to undertake this project. The overdubs on Let It Be were disregarded and he did this a few days before George added his final vocal for For You Blue. Why?

 

the rooftop performance of Don't Let Me Down is an absolute killer

 

Don't waste time with that poster, it's all a game to him, the source he gets all his bullsh1t from is the place he pulls it out of. Best ignore.

 

This view that having Billy Preston play as a session musician was a bad thing doesn't fly when they had already used Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. So it was hardly a new thing using an outside musician, was it? For the record, I think that Billy Preston's contributions to Let It Be are excellent.

Also - does The White Album sound like Pepper - occasionally, does Abbey Road sound like The White Album? Not at all. So how does Let It Be not sound like a Beatles album?

 

Hear hear! Of course, one can literally "ignore" too (just click on their Profile picture, to get their Profile thumbnail up, hit "ignore" and voila! Peace & quiet )

 

Imagine a strong Harrison or McCartney guitar solo where the electric piano solo is. It would have been that much better.

 

I even once put myself on "ignore" by accident. But I was wondering where all the jokes went...

 

Indeed, there have been outside musicians on Beatles sessions since 1965 or so, even with George having whole ensembles of Indian musicians in for songs.

The Beatles were quite good at subtly making changes to their writing and sound as time went on, to the point of maturity in Rubber Soul, the giant leap to Revolver to the light year jump to Pepper. Like I once told someone, if you played someone "Eight Days A Week" or "Help!" to someone, followed by "She Said, She Said" and "Tomorrow Never Knows", it would at first be hard to believe how short a time period separates those songs. Their ability to change and grow is why a lot of other early British Invasion bands faded by 1965 or 1966.

 

Ugh....when checking in on a good thread, only to find out it now revolves around one person....

 

I'd just ignore that guy. He seems to be here just to stir the pot. Get Back and Don't Let Me Down are perfect as is, and Preston is a vital part of that.

 

You stated Glyn's fourth Get Back comp was *mixed* in a single 3.5 hour session. It wasn't, per the Lewisohn entry you cited 2 songs were mixed at this session - the other tracks were mixed at prior sessions.

 

I'm the source. It's my opinion. If you look at the two changes that isolate the Get Back project from the albums that preceded it and followed it. 1. Lack of George Martin's studio production. 2. Addition of a 5th Beatle playing a tinkle-tinkle electric jazz piano.

From all written accounts by published Beatles experts, Billy Preston was brought onboard because George felt it would change the dynamic in the room. His musical contributions were an afterthought. No one said "Hey George, let's drop guitar solos and replace them with an electric jazz piano. Go find your own replacement."

As the jazz piano and Billy Preston never made a Get Back-like reappearance, I conclude that they both were part of the problem, part of the reason the songs didn't work, part of the reason the project was scuttled.

 

And it's not Yoko...

 

Math correction: 7 to 11:30 PM is 4 and 1/2 hours.

Resume the discussion...

 

It's about the Fender Rhodes having a sound that doesn't belong as a featured instrument, the double-whammy being that it is almost always in place of a Harrison guitar solo. Clapton played guitar, obviously a proper fit no matter who was playing it.

Let It Be lacks George Martin's polish. Let It Be includes Phil Spector's bad production. Let It Be has Billy Preston's jazzy Fender Rhodes where guitars should be. That's why Let It Be doesn't sound like a Beatles album. Pick whichever of the three factors you like, to me its a terrible soup made from all three, that's what's wrong with it.