Let It Be/Get Back 50th Anniversary Releases! (Content and Sound Quality Discussion Only)!

Repetition or not, you would think that an RSD Vinyl/CD release would have been something they thought of for this year???

Either that or a stand alone release of the original "Get Back" album???

Whether it happens is another story?

 

Indeed. I’m continuing to write all parties I think would be involved in such a release.

 

Very interesting!

Personally, I think instead of trying to "remix" Spector's mess, they should have worked on making GET BACK! It was the opportunity to finally make an ultimate, final version of what was originally intended. Something to surpass Naked's horrible 2003 digital futzing of sound.

Perhaps they did not have the full elements to do it, but I feel that more effort could have been put into Get Back seeing as that is what they called the new series. I of course say this having not heard it yet and only going by the comments in this thread. Most things I am reading say that Naked is superior. Does the Get Back record still have horrible "noise reduction" on the songs or did they leave it natural? Get Back should have been AAA, at least ONE special thing should have been done for the damned box. Idiot "Abbey Road" still have their analogue set up, right? One would never know from their output! Like the half speed masters from digital files... *smh*

 

Naked isn't superior to either the original LIB album or either of the albums in the box set. At best, it's' remixes improve certain aspects of certain tracks. But atmospherically it's a very cold collection of individual songs.

 

So really, although "the best" is subjective to the individual, it takes a Frankensteined version of all three to get "the best". Well as much as the Get Back sessions can have a "the best", heh.

Seeing those lists in the thread, it just seemed that not many of the "new" Get Back songs were chosen. Still a crime that Don't Let Me Down was left off the Let It Be album. I don't care about the "Hey Jude" excuse, officially, that did not affect most of the world. It was one of the best songs from those sessions.

Curiously, is there a difference between the Get Back, Blue Album and Hey Jude? Also, I assume the answer is yes because it was on Past Masters but was DLMD and Get Back proper mono mixes? It seems like it was such a "that seems kind of good enough, release it as a single" decission for Get Back/DLMD. Seemed like it was mixed in an afternoon?

 

I can’t speak for DLMD but Get Back is a dedicated mono mix (longer fade out is the main giveaway…other than that it could pass for s fold down to my ears).

 

To be fair, the Hey Jude album was released pretty much everywhere except the UK.

(On a visit to (er, West) Germany in August 1970, I was astonished to see Hey Jude, a new Beatles LP I’d never even heard of, just sitting there in the racks. Along with the single of The Long And Winding Road. Discovering the US albums a few years later really blew my mind, culminating in my becoming a member of this forum. )

 

The version of DLMD on the Get Back LP is an entirely different take to the one on Hey Jude/Blue.

 

You mean Disc 4 in the Let It Be Super Deluxe? That disc, labeled as Glyn John 1969 mixes, does not have noise reduction.

It's also not the true 1969 mix - but rather a re-creation of them by Glyn using a 1969 reel as a base, and splicing in cleaner versions from a 1970 mix tape.

That is, unless you have the Japanese Let It Be Super Deluxe Edition Disc 4 — that seems to be the 1969 base tape. There's no noise reduction on that disc either.

The two tracks on Disc 5 labeled Glyn John 1970 mixes - I Me Mine and Across The Universe - do have some weird digital artifacts. Current forum theory is that they're from an attempt to clean them up from a bootleg source. (I can provide references upon request.)

Cheers,
Paul

 

Ahhh! I had forgotten about that mess with the SDE Get Back not being the true 1969 tape if it is not the Jp SDE. How on Earth?! Makes no sense. It is labeled "John Glyns 1969 mix", right? Seems to me that Universal should be doing some exchanging.

I did see the comments about the 12" E.P as well. I Me Mine is supposed to sound attrocious. Defeats the point of a 12" single in the first place.

 

I found the only thing superfluous in Get Back was the history of the Beatles recap, that began the thing. I’m quite sure, I’d have felt the same about a recap of the end of the Beatles. What could have been said that we don’t know already, especially in some kind of graphic overlay.
The story of the end deserves to be told with accuracy and a balance that handles the triumph of Abbey Road with the bittersweet end of it all. To tell that story I think does need the benefit of hindsight. If for no there reason for the revelation over the last couple of years of their meeting to discuss the Abbey Road follow up LP.
But, I think Peter Jackson was spot on with Get Back ending when in the timeline, the footage ran out.
As far as how unnecessary you found the Abbey Road remix to be, I found it to be incredible. My favorite of the remixes, from the very first note I heard the difference and immediately cranked it up. Knowing of them all, it was already was recorded better than the rest, it didn’t seem to need much. So, I was surprised to hear it get better.
Now, I have only listened to the blu-ray, so I can’t respond to the sound of the vinyl or the CD remix.
As for the Glyn John’s “Get Back” album. I love it! I recorded it from a first playing from whichever LA fm station was sent an advance acetate. So this was the album I got used to. I loved the “warts and all” idea. So when, sometime later “Let It Be” was released, I was really disappointed. It seemed lifeless. The concept of Get Back was as ambitious as anything they had ever done. A tremendously difficult task and maybe too big. It was certainly unlike any album they ever recorded. Live in the studio, no overdubs was big enough, especially within such a short period of time. How can we make it more difficult? Let’s film every moment!
Too easy. Let’s end it with a live show!!

A live show all by itself might have been enough.
Should they have done it like they had in the past, I don’t think so. They’d always up’d their game, had it all worked flawlessly there’d be no discussion.
As far as analog start to finish stereo LPs? Apple is not opposed to making money, so there must be a reason this hasn’t happened.
As far as you being opposed to the remixes, finding them unnecessary. Well, apparently many don’t share that opinion. Any who don’t, can simply not buy them. As far as an insult to John and George, because they are not there to approve them, I think their individual estates are more concerned about their legacies than either you or me. But, a bit of past history might tell us they’d be cool with it. George was highly supportive of the “Love” show in Vegas and those remixes are way more drastic than anything done on the 50th Anniversary sets. We have John’s discussion with George Martin and John’s mention of wishing they could re-record stuff. Even though John was maybe a bit facetious about that. But, not clearly facetious enough for Mr. Martin to just laugh it off.
Had there been a discussion that because all the members are not here to approve things, nothing Beatlewise after 1980, would exist.
I think the Beatles legacy is pretty well protected by those currently in charge.
But, what do I know, I’m just an aging first generation fanboy.

 

Could a lengthy bit of Twickingham being missing be in a similar situation as to why so little of the rooftop is in the box? I also wonder if there were/are restrictions on what Peter Jackson could use, that the holder of the rights on the “Let It Be” wanted an exclusive on. Such as the full length studio footage shot a day or two after the rooftop performance.
I am imagining that “Let It Be” box, the “Get Back” film and the original “Let It Be” each have certain exclusives that make each entity more commercially viable.

 

Superb post. One of those where there's nothing to add.

 

A nicely piled-up observation.

 

I was quite shocked at how bad the Glyn Johns mix was personally, the band were totally right to reject it out of hand.

 

Can i ask what you’ve been thinking about the mix of the single Get Back, before you heard the full album?

 

I tried to combine the best aspects of Glyn Johns’ Get Back album, Phil’s original Let It Be, and the Giles remix into one coherent album. Here’s the running order I came up with:

1. Two of Us -2021 mix
2. Dig A Pony - “1969” Glyn Johns mix
3. One After 909 - 2009 Remaster
4. Across The Universe - 2021 mix
5. I Me Mine - 2009 Remaster
6. Let It Be - 2021 Remix
7. I’ve Got A Feeling - 2021 Remix
8. Medley - I’m Ready / Save The Last Dance
9. Don't Let Me Down - 1969 Glyn Johns mix
10. Get Back - 1969 Glyn Johns mix
11. The Long and Winding Road - 2021 mix
12. For You Blue - 2021 mix
13. Get Back (reprise) - 1969 Glyn Johns
14. You Know My Name (Let It Be b-side)

Heard here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14WushlXawLEBR222lUkym

- I had trouble finding where to put “For You Blue”. The flow is almost better w/o it, but settled on just after TLAWR just like on Let It Be.
- You might think I’m crazy use the Glyn Johns take of Dig A Pony. It’s a bit ramshackle and could have used a touch of studio-sweetening, but it’s always been my favorite take of the song overall. The feel of it, overall, has a bit of that “The Band” feel they were kinda going for during the project. Note the the rooftop version is not without its flaws (tepid for the first 1.5 minutes, and the vocal crack, etc). Overall, the earnestness of the Get Back album’s take wins it for me. There’s also some nice touches from Ringo and Paul that are absent on the Spector/rooftop take, and George’s solo has a special swagger too. Dig A Pony is a song for which they arguably never quite captured that iconic, singular, great take they were probably capable of.

 

I had a similar experience. I was visiting France from the UK in March 1970 and found a copy of the Hey Jude album which I'd never heard of at that point. I took it back to the UK and put it in a safe (well, not really, but I would have if I'd had one). Two years later I found this 45 in a French record store, another non-UK release. I thought WTF, that's it, I'm moving to France!

 

Oddly enough (or maybe not so oddly), I bought the same single on a visit to France in 1972, just like you!

 

CD only at Casa Buchanana (common mis-spelling of my surname).
Apple have already done 2 stereo issues that were remastered - in 1987/1988 and in 2009 - these are easy to pick up, and the original issues are available on Discogs on either CD or vinyl. Apple decided they want to sell something different to the fans this time and I for one am glad they did. Yes, they released it ADA. At least they released it and took care doing so. I'll keep the 2009 remasters box set as well.
PS Abbey Road and Let It Be were stereo only releases. That's why they weren't included in the Mono Box of original mono mixes.

 

I like it!

The bold move for me is the inclusion of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). Yeah - it's the Let It Be b-side - but it was recorded over such a long period of time - it almost feels independent of anything else.

I agree though - it most likely belongs with Let It Be. I went through an exercise where the Beatles put bonus cuts on albums, instead of Past Masters, and it was on my Let It Be: The Beatles – Let It Be (Complete)

This is an interesting exercise, btw. I'm glad Past Masters exist, but I've always found the contents jarring - they just don't flow as albums very well. They're missing the scope of a compilation like the Red & Blue albums - or even something like The Beatles Singles boxsets.

Cheers,
Paul

 

Side question for the experts....

is the Phil Spector mix of Teddy Boy available to listen to anywhere?

 

Technically yes. I can't tell you how or where, though.

Cheers,
Paul

 

I would look on youtube.