Paul McCartney's reaction
In April 1970, when Paul McCartney effectively announced The Beatles' split by issuing a self-interview in a press release, he was still referring to the Let It Be album as Get Back.
Q: The album was not known about until it was nearly completed. Was this deliberate?
A: Yes, because normally an album is old before it even comes out. (aside) Witness GET BACK.Q: Were any of the songs on the album originally written with the Beatles in mind?
A: The older ones were. JUNK was intended for ABBEY ROAD, but something happened. TEDDY BOY was for GET BACK, but something happened.
In particular, McCartney took exception to Phil Spector's additions to The Long And Winding Road, which turned a simple piano ballad into a soaring orchestral epic.
The album was finished a year ago, but a few months ago American record producer Phil Spector was called in by John Lennon to tidy up some of the tracks. But a few weeks ago, I was sent a re-mixed version of my song 'The Long And Winding Road', with harps, horns, an orchestra and women's choir added. No one had asked me what I thought. I couldn't believe it. I would never have female voices on a Beatles record. The record came with a note from Allen Klein saying he thought the changes were necessary. I don't blame Phil Spector for doing it but it just goes to show that it's no good me sitting here thinking I'm in control because obviously I'm not. Anyway I've sent Klein a letter asking for some of the things to be altered, but I haven't received an answer yet.
The Evening Standard
McCartney's requests were ignored by Klein, and Spector's version of Let It Be was released in May 1970. George Martin shared McCartney's dismay at the results.
It was always understood that the album would be like nothing the Beatles had done before. It would be honest, no overdubbing, no editing, truly live... almost amateurish. When John brought in Phil Spector he contradicted everything he had said before. When I heard the final sounds I was shaken. They were so uncharacteristic of the clean sounds the Beatles had always used. At the time Spector was John's buddy, mate and pal... I was astonished because I knew Paul would never have agreed to it. In fact I contacted him and he said nobody was more surprised than he was.
Rolling Stone
The back cover of Let It Be gave a word of thanks to George Martin, although it didn't list him as a producer. Martin later drily noted that the credits should have read: "Produced by George Martin, overproduced by Phil Spector."
For his part, Spector remained unrepentant in the face of the criticism:
Paul had no problem picking up the Academy Award for the Let It Be movie soundtrack, nor did he have any problem in using my arrangement of the string and horn and choir parts when he performed it during 25 years of touring on his own. If Paul wants to get into a pissing contest about it, he's got me mixed up with someone who gives a shit.
In November 2003 a new version of the recordings was issued as Let It Be... Naked. Remixed and remastered under McCartney's direction, it was intended to sound closer to the original vision for the project.
The release
In the US, Let It Be was preceded by a single, The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue. By the time it was issued on 11 May 1970, news of The Beatles' split had broken. The single was one result of Allen Klein's plan to rapidly increase The Beatles' income: 1.2m copies were sold in its first two days on sale, and it became The Beatles' 20th and final number one single in the US.
Let It Be had its US release on 18 May 1970. More than 3,700,000 advance orders had been placed, which at the time was the highest for any album in the history of the US recording industry.
In the UK, Let It Be was initially released on 8 May 1970 as a box set, with a 168-page book, titled Get Back, containing stills and dialogue from the Let It Be film. The package retailed at £2 19s 11d, one pound more than the normal selling price of an album, and on 6 November 1970 it was withdrawn and replaced by a conventional album release.
The Let It Be film had its world première in New York City on 13 May 1970. On 20 May UK premieres were held at Liverpool's Gaumont Cinema and the London Pavilion. Tellingly, none of The Beatles attended any of the events.
The film was taken over by Allen Klein, who actually got The Beatles much later, after Let It Be was all recorded, and that was when the rot set in. Klein saw a rough-cut of it and said he didn't want anyone else in the film but The Beatles, so everyone else who was in any shot at any time was taken out, the net result being that it got a bit difficult to watch after a while. Also, some of the stuff that I know was in there originally, and was extremely interesting, was conversations with other people, members of the film crew, people who were just around, people visiting, like Billy Preston - but Klein said that only The Beatles could be in the film and that was it.
The Record Producers
Related articles:
- Mixing, editing: Get Back LP
- Mixing, master compilation: Let It Be, Get Back LP
- Mixing: The Long And Winding Road, Let It Be
- Mixing: Get Back, Teddy Boy, Two Of Us, Dig A Pony, I've Got A Feeling, The Long And Winding Road, Let It Be, Rocker, Save The Last Dance For Me, Don't Let Me Down, For You Blue, The Walk
- Glyn Johns compiles the second Get Back LP
Let It Be, Naked or Not has two of Paul's most long winded and nail scrapes aganst the blacboard. After seeing Anthology this past week, i forgot how he was the most annoying of the Beatles. Let It Be and Long and Winding Road could have ended a lot soone, but no, the camera's were rolling. Let It Be was a recording of the breakup of a band and these two songs were the blueprint.
If you don't like Paul McCartney then you don't like the Beatles. Let it Be and Long and Winding Road are too of Paul's masterpieces -as well as being two of the best songs on the Album. Really silly post..
Being brand spanking new to this particular Beatles site, I was just fixing a whole wear the rain gets in, when I suddenly found meself wonderin', In 2003 there was mention that the Let It Be film was about to be released. This film was last screened on British BBC2, Television in about 1982. A Saturday, If I recall... But is it any closer to being released. Any ideas???
Engineers started remastering the film a while back but decided the film was too "controversial". Paul and Ringo do not want it released either. I doubt it will be released any time soon, especially during Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison's lifetimes.
The whole album and sessions and film and all is so polemic!
Here's why LIB doesn't work for me - and this may be picky but here goes: because it is supposed to be the soundtrack to a movie and was intended to replicate the feel of live performances, the problem I have is this - listen through head phones and notice how many times John's voice is on one side and his guitar is on the other side.
This completely wrecks the feel of a live performance. At least for me.
Sorry I can't help but notice it.
Does anyone know if Paul fixed this on LIBN - I don't have that CD.
It shouldn't really make a difference. With multitrack recording, a live performance can be taped with simultaneously-played instruments routed to different tracks, which can then be mixed to different parts of the stereo spectrum. Of course, that's not to say that all of the LIB performances were live - there were a number of overdubs added once they'd thrown the 'live' concept out of the window.
"marked a move away from The Beatles' elaborate studio experimentation of 1966 and 1967, with a return to more straightforward rock and roll, and the White Album and much of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack had followed in a similar vein."
I wouldn't say much of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack was back to basics. There were 13 songs: 2 were repeats from previous albums/singles, 7 were George Martin's orchestra songs, 2 were George Harrison's songs neither of which sound back to basics, so that leaves 2 new Lennon-McCartney songs which could be called back to basics.
And certainly not all the White Albums was back to basics – Revolution 9, Wild Honey Pie.
I was referring to the 'new' songs on the YS soundtrack, though it probably needs clarifying. Certainly Hey Bulldog and All Together Now were a step away from their sound of 1967, though the George Harrison songs clearly aren't.
As for the White Album, you're right that there were some complex recordings on there, but nothing like to the same degree of Sgt Pepper or Strawberry Fields Forever. Much of it is fairly straightforward, thought with liberal doses of Beatles magic.
"And, let us not forget, even if the collection wasn't The Beatles' best, for many lesser bands these songs would have constituted a career peak."
Couldn't agree more. When fans always talk about this isn't good or whatever, what we really mean is compared to The Beatles' other stuff it isn't as good, but it is still amazing.
Sorry Joe, but it does matter whether lennon's voalcs and guitar are on the same stereo pan.
of course multitracking makes it possible to put an instrument and/or vocal anywhere in the spectrum, but that doesn't make it "work".
Even though the beatles abandoned the actual "live" recording technique, they still marketed and presented the album as a live experience - to go with the movie.
The intended feel of the record is to experience a live beatles performance (even if it wasn't). So it's an anomaly to have a musician's voice separated from his instrument.
Of course perhaps I'm just too sensitive.
With electric instruments and microphones and amplifiers, modern live music often features "a musician's voice separated from his instrument"; it is not anomalous.
Even though this LP features my least favorite Beatles song, I still enjoy the heck out of it - Spectorized or not. In fact, I wish all of the songs on it were recorded "live" on the roof top. It would have been very refreshing to hear a live Beatles recording without the screaming.
As an aside, I get a kick out of the Spector quote on page 5 of this article. I'm by no means a fan of his, but it's the first time I've seen his defense in print. It's actually pretty funny.
Yes, I love that quote. I used it on the Phil Spector profile as well.
Dear all,
We would like to inform you about the following event :
LET IT BE live / The Beatles
by Yael Naim, Mathias Malzieu, Cocoon, Loney Dear, David Donatien, Camille O’Sullivan, Sense of Sound Singers,…
Paris (France), July 4th, Salle Pleyel
For the 40th anniversary of the release of the album Let It Be, David Coulter, who has collaborated with artists like Damon Albarn, Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull, unites a young generation of European musicians to reinterpret the Beatles' last album.
http://www.citedelamusique.fr/minisites/1007_daysoff/concert/en_let_it_be_live.aspx
I believe Paul made a mistake. He did allow female voices in their records. Yoko sang in The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill, and Yoko again along with Patti Harrison in Birthday. His wife Linda provided background vocals for Let It Be.
Yeah, and there was also the female choir in "Walrus" - and howbout those two Apple scruffs that Paul himself invited to sing on "Across The Universe"! He was either being wilfully obtuse, or exaggerating, or he had a terrible memory. (And the amount of dope he smoked would suggest the latter.)
Pretty sure Paul meant a female singing lead
and wasn't there an entire choir on Good Night?
Ooh right, good catch!
LIB is both fantastic and disappointing. Eventhough substandard by usual Beatle standards, the songs are worthy and hold up against anything other artists put out at the same time (hell, for the next 40 years for that matter!). It was a disappointment in that it actually could have been far, far better. The Beatles are openly apathetic on LIB. Also, George's growth as a songwriter could have (had he been allowed to contribute more songs)partly made-up for John's growing indifference, dwindling song contributions and a seeming drop in the quality of his contributions. All Things Must Pass absolutely deserved to have been properly recorded and included on LIB (and NOT in place of, but in addition to, For You Blue and I Me Mine). It is no wonder why George walked out during these sessions and became hesitant to work as a Beatle ever again. What a pity (which reminds us that Harrison's brilliant song Isn't It A Pity was another in a list of George composed tunes rejected for Beatle records by John, Paul and/or George Martin). Thankfully, George recorded these on his own after the group's dissoluion.
It is funny that people think of John towards end as not writing much but he was actually very creative and writing a ton. He just did not want to write for the beatles. Look at his first two solo albums Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, they are full fledged releases. Paul's first solo albums while they are charming and having their bits (and the masterpiece 'Maybe Im Amazed) are bit rough and incomplete.
This is not a Beatle album, is just a Spector work... A Spector album, soloist, taking the tapes and the band's name...
Adding orchestra to a quarter of an album, while not doing anything else of his typical way isn't bad. It's called doing what you're asked.
I think Phil Spector is treated unfairly when it comes to LIB. He had the unenviable task of wading through hours of recordings and make something of it--all with virtually no input for the band. The only sin Spector committed was not being George Martin. Martin is tasteful and understated; Spector (on all his works) is melodramatic and over-the-top. Spector simply delivered a Spector production. Lennon was reportedly happy with it. I have little patience for McCartney's complaints. A bit like crying over spilt milk.
Actually I don't think Spector did wade through that many hours of tapes. Most of the selection and filtering was done by Glyn Johns prior to Spector arriving.
When Spector began work he hit the ground running, completing his work in a matter of days (he needed just seven recording and mixing sessions in March and April 1970), with George Harrison and Allen Klein apparently present for most of the sessions. Ringo Starr even played on one.