Let It Be Boxed Set Surround Sound Quality

I have always been a HUGE fan of the surround sound format when it brings a quality of sound not found on the original mix. I have been critical somewhat of "Sgt Pepper" but thought the other 2 releases added to the regular mix everyone knew. In my opinion this mix is the BEST THUS FAR. I am blown away at the channel separation and the things heard now that before the surround mix never knew they were there. Also the bass and drums really come alive. Wait till you here the difference. Its like a completely different album. Giles and company are really getting there Sh-- together with each release. I have not had a chance to check the new regular mix yet but will tomorrow and also the extra's but if your a surround sound person as I am this IS A MUST OWN BLU RAY.

 

I don't want to go O/T on the first post, but this is the first set where I am interested in the surround disc.
Without derailing the thread can someone point me to another thread for some equipment suggestions to play this back on.
Low or lower cost systems as mine was stolen years ago, and I never replaced it.

 

thanks so much for the review and info on the surround mix. maybe less instruments helps spread things out more and of course he has to be learning more about surround mixes as he goes. again, thanks.

 

Sony UBP-X800 plays all surround decoding such as DTS, in 5.1 and DOLBY ATMOS in 7.1 it also plays SACD and SACD Multichannel. You just need a decent receiver that allows you to play all the same. Hope this helps.

 

You should try out Apple Music. The Atmos mix of Pepper is a big improvement over the 5.1 mix IMO.

Also, Apple Music has had Atmos mixes of two Let It Be songs for some time now. They’re enjoyable for what they are IMO, but not as noteworthy as you find them. I think the new Atmos mix of Pepper is better than the two LIB songs I’ve heard (my Bluray is still shipping). But honestly that shouldn’t be surprising given the nature of the recordings.

And honestly, I think the Atmos mix of Abbey Road is better too (as well as the 5.1 mixes of AR and the White Album). Maybe I’ll change my view once I hear the whole thing.

 

Let It Be


Studio album by
the Beatles
Released 8 May 1970
Recorded February 1968 ("Across the Universe"),
January 1969,
January and April 1970
Venue Apple Corps rooftop, London
Studio Apple, EMI and Twickenham Film Studios, London
Genre Rock
Length 35:10
Label Apple
Producer Phil Spector


CD1: Let It Be (new stereo mix of original album)
1: Two Of Us
2: Dig A Pony
3: Across The Universe
4: I Me Mine
5: Dig It
6: Let It Be
7: Maggie Mae
8: I’ve Got A Feeling
9: One After 909
10: The Long And Winding Road
11: For You Blue
12: Get Back

CD2: Get Back – Apple Sessions
1: Morning Camera (Speech – mono) / Two Of Us (Take 4)
2: Maggie Mae / Fancy My Chances With You (Mono)
3: Can You Dig It?
4: I Don’t Know Why I’m Moaning (Speech – mono)
5: For You Blue (Take 4)
6: Let It Be / Please Please Me / Let It Be (Take 10)
7: I’ve Got A Feeling (Take 10)
8: Dig A Pony (Take 14)
9: Get Back (Take 19)
10: Like Making An Album? (Speech)
11: One After 909 (Take 3)
12: Don’t Let Me Down (First rooftop performance)
13: The Long And Winding Road (Take 19)
14: Wake Up Little Susie / I Me Mine (Take 11)

CD3: Get Back – Rehearsals and Apple Jams
1: On The Day Shift Now (Speech – mono) / All Things Must Pass (Rehearsals – mono)
2: Concentrate On The Sound (mono)
3: Gimme Some Truth (Rehearsal – mono)
4: I Me Mine (Rehearsal – mono)
5: She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Rehearsal)
6: Polythene Pam (Rehearsal – mono)
7: Octopus’s Garden (Rehearsal – mono)
8: Oh! Darling (Jam)
9: Get Back (Take 8)
10: The Walk (Jam)
11: Without A Song (Jam) – Billy Preston with John and Ringo
12: Something (Rehearsal – mono)
13: Let It Be (Take 28)

CD4: Get Back LP – 1969 Glyn Johns Mix
1: One After 909
2: I’m Ready (aka Rocker) / Save The Last Dance For Me / Don’t Let Me Down
3: Don’t Let Me Down
4: Dig A Pony
5: I’ve Got A Feeling
6: Get Back
7: For You Blue
8: Teddy Boy
9: Two Of Us
10: Maggie Mae
11: Dig It
12: Let It Be
13: The Long And Winding Road
14: Get Back (Reprise)

CD5: Let It Be EP
1: Across The Universe (unreleased Glyn Johns 1970 mix)
2: I Me Mine (unreleased Glyn Johns 1970 mix)
3: Don’t Let Me Down (new mix of original single version)
4: Let It Be (new mix of original single version)

Blu-ray: Let It Be Special Edition audio mixes
Dolby Atmos
96kHz/24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
96kHz/24-bit High Res Stereo (2019 Stereo Mix)

So instalment number four in the Beatles surround catalog.
I only got this yesterday, so I haven't had a chance to check anything out yet, but on paper, this is actually a boxset where more than just the surround disc holds a little interest for me. Glyn Johns' original (as directed) mix of the album is interesting to me, because I have never heard it, and in light of the nonsense (original) Let It Be movie, I am interested in the session banter as well, and there are tracks I have never heard too. I'm sure the anthology sets were good, but they just aren't the type of thing that interest me much. Whereas here, in context with the album, when it takes my fancy, I can have a closer look at what happened during this session.

As you know, I have enjoyed The Beatles surround excursions so far, and although Giles seems to cop a lot of flak, I think he has done each project pretty well, and has gotten better with each passing release. so I am very interested to hear what he did here. I presume that really, we have the potential of an Abbey Road quality release here, as most of this material and Abbey Road are in pretty close proximity to each other.

Amazon has it for $117 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CRTQ9N5?tag=sdepcwus-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1
JPC has it for 138 Euros https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/the-beatles-let-it-be/hnum/10699479
Rough Trade has it for 99 pounds https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-b...e=CJ&cjevent=5fa104232e6611ec8125352d0a1c0e13
Import Cd's has it for $115 The Beatles Let It Be Special Edition [Super Deluxe 5 CD/ Blu-ray Audio Box Set] With Blu-ray, Boxed Set on ImportCDs

and prices seem to go up from there.

5.1 mix Giles Martin and Sam Okell
Mastering Emily Lazar

Certainly one could look at this release for what it isn't, and complain. they could have done a mix of the Spector variation, The Naked Variation, some new in between variation, The could have remixed Glyn Johns' variation, but at the end of the day they have remixed the album as released and included some other material that fleshes out the session a bit, and gives us the officially unreleased Johns' version in stereo as a comparative and historical thing. So I have no complaints from that perspective.
I believe that the 6 hour remake from the Let It Be movie footage will be coming out next year on the Disney Channel, and I am looking forward to that. The original movie was a cynical manipulation of the truth that has had people barking up the wrong tree for about fifty years of how awful the sessions for the Let It Be album were .... and they all hated each other OMG!!!!..... but of course most of those folks have never been in a recording studio with a band ... particularly not the biggest band on earth ... so a real overview of the footage is long passed due, and I look forward to that, and I will be getting that if it comes out on bluray, as I assume it will at some point, because I am not getting Disney Channel lol

Let It Be is an album that is maligned in many quarters, even by Beatles fans, and frankly I have never understood that. It is a fine album, and I rate it very highly as an album.
The album ended up being a sort of hybrid of what the band was initially going for, and a classic Beatles album.
Initially the band were going to go for a back to basics roots music album, and that is what Johns mixed for them, but on reviewing that they shelved it, and worked on the Abbey Road stuff. Then later came back and got Spector to do his thing with the tracks, and they also threw a few of the ideas for the raw album in here. I personally never had a problem with that. I don't hear Dig It and think, "Oh no, it isn't a full real song". I see it for what it is, a snippet of something unfinished that works as a nice little link track between two more complete, traditional Beatles tracks.
Maggie Mae I view much the same way, and it also shows the guys just sort of goofing off in the studio, which can often be fun on an album, and that is how I have always heard it here.
I guess to some One After 909 may seem a little retrograde or something, but I think that was the whole point, and it works as a nod to the early days of the Beatles, probably even before their lives became public property.... I could almost hear it in the Cavern Club.... or Hamburg?

As for the songs that are full and complete.... to me there are a bunch of classics on this album.
Two Of Us is among my favourite Beatles songs and would get on any compile that I put together of the band.
Across The Universe, Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road are all beautiful and apt Beatles ballad type songs, and I don't but into the idea that any of them are sappy or whatever. They are all classic Beatles tracks that until I got to this forum had never heard a bad word said about them.
I Me Mine is a fine George song, and For You Blue is good too.
I've Got A Feeling is an earnest live sounding track, with a lot of heart and soul, and I have always love it.
Sure I would have liked Don't Let Me Down on the album, but I have the track anyway, so I am not going to get too perturbed about it.
Some folks get annoyed about Lennon's little quips that have been installed in the track sequence, but again, I have never been bothered by that.... it's Lennon being Lennon, what else would anyone expect.
Get Back is obviously a classic Beatles track, and I don't think I have ever heard anything particularly negative about that.

For the record, I like the way this is packaged. The word book and the disc book, present well. The discs are in sleeves in the slots, so no fear of scratching them up everytime you go to play them. It's different again to the previous three, but that's fine by me at this stage.
The previous three were 12x12 boxes. This is probably 12x9 or something, but to me it works.... there's no record, so 12x12 seems pretty redundant to me in that context.

Anyway, lets see where this surround mix takes us

Two Of Us
We open with John's " I Dig A Pygmy..."
The acoustic guitar comes in on the left.
We get acoustics either side in the rears, and it gives it a nice balance. With the sound it also gives it a bit of a round the campfire feel.
To me the sound and mix are very authentic sounding. I'm not one who goes in for the "number two crash is 2 degrees higher than the original acetate..."
The sound is clear and real.
I hear the acoustics, the bass, the vocals, the kick.... it is all clear and balanced.
The vocals come across beautifully here to me.
The cymbals in the right rear in the bridge are slightly odd, but not bad at all.
The whistling outro seems to move from the right rear to the front, and I think there is a slightly longer edit here. I like it.
A solid start to the album. Nice immersive campfire mix, for a campfire song... and one I love.

Dig A Pony
We open with the studio banter, and move into this live sounding track, and I like that it is. This fits with the original idea if the album. The Beatles are a rock band, and not just studio wizards.
A guitar left side.
A guitar right rear. With the lead fills.
A crash in the left rear.
Hats in the rear.
This track gives a live in the studio sound, and a mix to match.
The lead break is up front, just to the right.
Another nice mix. Slightly less discrete, but I think the feel of the band is improved over the surround field.

Across The Universe
The acoustic and Lennon's vocal up front.
Lennon's vocal has a send to the right rear.
We have the acoustics going to the rears.
The intimate opening starts up front, and we spread back at "jackaroo"
The initial choir backing us up front.
Some strings float across the middle, towards the front.
On the second jackaroo we get the choir towards the rears.
The way guitar us right rear, and another left front.
It's like the mix sort of swells with the build of the song.
I have always liked this song.
This is effective even if not stunning.
I think it has the desired feel given by the mix. We get a deeper immersion in the track, which is the whole point.

I Me Mine
Guitar front left
Lead right rear
Organ left rear, across back.
George vocal across the front.
Strings right rear, across back.
This has a more studio than live sound, and the mix reflects this.
In the rock chorus, the lead guitar is left rear. The organ is right, towards rear, but with a bit of mid room presence.
This is a dense mix, and extremely immersive. Probably the most immersive mix yet.

Dig It
We have this little jam insert here, and it is in all channels.
Fade up in front.
Organ right rear
Piano left side
This is effective.
Lennon's little spoken insert is just left of front.

Let It Be
A beautiful song from Paul, that I have always loved.
Piano and vocal up front.
Hats just left of front left.
Organ across the rears.
Horns in the rears.
Electric piano left rear.
I have always lived this lead break. Edgy cutting, raw, beautiful. Front.
This is a very good surround mix.
Ringo's toms front left.
I think does everything one would want for a balanced immersive surround mix.

Maggie Mae
I'm not sure how many tracks they had, but this has a very live sound, and it does fill the soundfield well.

I’ve Got A Feeling
Guitar just left of front left.
Lead guitar right front.
Keys left rear.
Keys also in right rear.
A very live sound.
It's the rawness of this track that I always liked.
Probably slightly less in terms of surround, but certainly not disappointing.

One After 909
Another one of the live type tracks.
Guitars in rears.
Mandolin? Left side.
Lead guitar sort of middle if the room to the right.
Keys left side.
This fills the room nicely, and I think it works. More immersive than I expected, but it's a while since I listened to this album.

The Long And Winding Road
The beginning sounds ever so slightly clipped....
Vocals and piano front.
Strings left rear, and right.
This works well. I sort of expected more, but I guess there was less to work with than memory suggested.
Certainly immersive, and it does expand the song into the soundfield nicely.

For You Blue
Talking, then acoustic up front.
Slide left rear.
Piano stabs right rear. but the more held notes are full right side.
Very good, not amazing.

Get Back
Keys left rear.
Guitar right side.
Left guitar left side.
Chunk guitar right rear.
Some nice fills from ringo.
The electric piano left rear is really cool.

It's a long time since I listened to this album, and I don't know why. Back in the day it got a lot of listens, but as I spread my musical listening across more genres and styles and artists, this ended up being one of those albums that I listened to less, because if I was in a Beatles mood Revolver and Abbey Road were much more likely to get in the player.
For the most part I think this is well done, and for the most part I think that most people will enjoy this mix.....
It seems important to point out that with the live type tracks there is somewhat less continuity that we generally get with the classic Beatles studio albums, and that may well be what causes people to say this is a lesser album. I don't really see it like that. To me it is just a different Beatles album. I think the songs are excellent, but the sonic flow is slightly less consistent than most of the latter day Beatles albums, and I think that tends to make it a different listen that some will relish and others will find slightly uneven.
In many ways I think the recording of this album wasn't as professional as most of the latter day Beatles albums, and I think that is reflected somewhat in these mixes.... the mixes are good, to very good, and I really think that people that like the album are going to enjoy it a lot, but this isn't Abbey Road, and I get the impression that Abbey Road came about after the guys had listened to the Johns' mix (as per their directive) and may have felt that although they were going for the live sound, it didn't quite come off, and the offshoot of that was probably the best recorded Beatles album in Abbey Road.
The start of Long And Winding Road was slightly disconcerting ... I am not sure if it is slightly clipped, or if it just comes in with no air, and so seems like it is. I'll let our more distinguished audio heads fill us in on that detail. For me that ever so slightly soured my listen, because up til then I felt pretty happy with it all, and then the doubts crept in..... Overall though I think this works well.

I still think this is sometimes an album that is a little unfairly treated, but I think that is dues to a series of very well produced and recorded albums under the supervision of George Martin, and then we get this left of centre ... almost rebellion against what the Beatles albums, post Rubber Soul, were supposed to sound like.
I think if Long And Winding Road hadn't set me back at the start, my thoughts would be more completely positive, but that did almost startle me... and then it left me questioning myself.... I suppose I should have just listened to the original album, to see how it came in there, but I have stuff to do... and whether the same as that or not, isn't totally relevant, because even if it is the same, it is ever so slightly jarring.

Let me know if anyone noticed that, because now I have those, did I get a dodgy disc things going through my head... but I just think the edit is too tight....

Anyway, good mix overall, with a couple of minor reservations.

 

If you're interested in 5.1 mixes, we have been through hundreds here Surrounded On Sundays - 5.1/quad reviews and summaries PART 2

 

It depends on what you are wanting.

Unfortunately there are several types of discs used for surround music. Bluray, Dvd-audio and sacd being the main ones used.
With any modern bluray player you will be able to decode pretty much any of the audio encoding, variations on Dolby and DTS, and/or pcm.
The discs though are another story, and if you are looking for a player, you will be looking at something like this Sony machine that will decode all of them. This one is also advertised as multizone. https://www.amazon.com/SONY-X800-Re...&smid=A13VFW6C5NVJ7K&pd_rd_i=B075VDQD4Q&psc=1

There is also this panasonic player DP-UB150EB Blu-ray & DVD Players - Panasonic UK & Ireland

There are others and the prices vary.

Essentially any receiver that has hdmi connections will link comfortably with these kinds of players, and of course speakers are merely preference, or budget decisions