Post by henryj on Aug 28, 2015 18:20:19 GMT
Twelve songs, none of which is sung by Ringo. However, Ringo does get ¼ writing credit on “Dig It.” He also gets ¼ credit for the adaptation of the old English song “Maggie Mae,” not the one by Rod Stewart. . Four songs on which John and Paul share the lead vocals. Three songs each sung by John and Paul, and two by George. No instrumentals. And, thankfully, no John Cage-like sound collages such as “Revolution 9.”
Let It Be was one of those abandoned albums like the Beach Boys' Smile or Buffalo Springfield’s Stampede, except the Beatles actually released their album within a little more than a year, instead of 40 or 50 years later like the Beach Boys did, or never like Buffalo Springfield (unless you count song appearances in their boxed set). And no one lost their mind and became mentally, emotionally, and creatively disabled in the process.
The original title of the album was Get Back, meaning that they were attempting to return to their old way of recording, without all the overdubs and orchestral arrangements. They even made an album cover photo that was posed identically to the cover of their Please Please Me debut album. The project wasn’t working for them so they abandoned it and came back a few months later to make Abbey Road. It is most ironic that the throwback Get Back/Let It Be was rescued by Phil Spector and his fat-sound arrangements.
A large part of the problem was the fact that it was also intended as a reality film, filmed mostly at Twickenham Studios rather than at the Abbey Road EMI studio. It was supposed to be a documentary about the Beatles making a record, but with the intrusion of cameras, a reality show about the band breaking up. The movie came out about the same time as the album. It has not been re-released and is very difficult if not impossible to find; both Paul and Yoko came off not looking too good in it, both rather bossy. There was a scene where Paul was telling George how to play the guitar; IIRC the next scene was a conversation between John and Paul where John is suggesting they replace the recently-quit George with Eric Clapton. George, obviously, came back to the band.
The songs--
Two of Us—sadly beautiful when you realize the group was in the beginnings of a breakup. Two-part John and Paul harmonies, harking back to their “British Everly Brothers” days. I find it interesting that on the final-released album by the above mentioned Buffalo Springfield, the opening cut was entitled “On the Way Home,” a phrase that does not appear in the song, but does several times on the Beatles’ song. Acoustic number.
Dig a Pony—John Lennon song in ¾ time. I like this one. I have no idea what this song is about.
Across the Universe—Beautiful song by John. It sounds like the put more effort in the writing of this song than he put into his other songs. I asked an East Indian friend of mine, a Beatle fan himself, what “Jai guru deva” meant. I think he said it meant “glory to God” or something like that, but he did explain it was in Sanskrit, not Hindu, his original language. Actually the phrase is “jai guru deva om” which means “glory to the spiritual master” or something like that.
I Me Mine—A really good George song. George was coming into his own, after having four of his songs appearing on the white album. The song changes mood from gentle and soft to hard, edgy, and rocking. Published by George’s own new publishing company, Harrisongs. A song supposedly about the greed of his bandmates.
Dig It—Less than one minute, this ditty is credited to all 4 Beatles as writers, with nonsense lyrics by John “The FBI…the BBC…B.B. King…and Doris Day.”
Let It Be—there are several versions of this song. The one in the album has the overdriven lead guitar; the single version has the lead guitar played through a Leslie organ speaker. These two are simply different mixes of the same recording. I haven’t heard the Let It Be…Naked album, but I assume it has the same song but without the Phil Spector overdubs.
Then there is a different version, which is a different performance altogether. “…There will be no sorrows, let it be…” which appeared in the film. I haven’t heard this version in 45 years.
I’ve always preferred the overdriven version, but I recently listened to the Leslie version and got into it. But then, I’ve always liked Phil Spector and that sound anyway (ducking from mrmustard, who HATES reverb). The backup vocals add to the emotion in the Leslie version.
And it's a great Beatle song.
Maggie Mae—old Liverpool folk song, long in the public domain, credited to all four Beatles. They do only a part of it before it fizzles out altogether.
I’ve Got a Feeling—This one sounds co-authored by both John and Paul, since both have lead vocals and sounds like two songs stitched together. Except the fit together very well. In the movie, they were playing this song when Paul scolded George for unbending his string too quickly, causing George to quit the band for a week or two.
One After 909—An engaging Rocker featuring two-part harmony from John and Paul.
The Long and Winding Road—Does Paul consider Phil Spector’s 19-to-life sentence for murder to be instead for what Spector did to this song? I actually like the orchestra and chorus Spector put on the song. Another song that is apparently about the Beatles breaking up. But a good song with or without Spector production.
For You Blue—the second George song on the album. A shuffle featuring John on acoustic slide guitar. In the movie he plays it lap-steel style rather than like Duane Allman or Bonnie Raitt. Sounds just a teency bit like the title song from Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited album.
Get Back—I’ve often wondered of Jo-Jo wasn’t George, and Paul wasn’t begging him to Get Back into the Beatles, and the song wasn’t an apology to George for trying to tell him how to play the guitar. But who was the transsexual Loretta Martin? Anyone related to their producer? And was this song worked up before George rejoined the band, hence John’s lead guitar instead of George’s?
The first time I heard this song I did not recognize Paul’s voice. It was a bit throatier or something. Of course, it was on my clock radio that it was playing.
Two guitar solos by John and a Rhodes electric piano solo by guest Billy Preston. The boys always behaved themselves better in the presence of company.
Okay, what many people don’t know—the version you hear on the radio is not the rooftop version. I consider the single record version to be definitive. The album version was truncated to match the film version, which was shortened when the police were called to the rooftop in response to disturbing the peace complaints; it was in the movie that John said to the “I’d like to thank you on behawlph of the group and I hope we passed the audition.”
Another thing—the guitar solo on the definitive version is heavily compressed and sounds almost like an electric resonator guitar. The version from the Love album sounds more edgy and stinging, even though it’s the same performance.
Non-Let It Be song: Don’t Let Me Down, performed on the rooftop and the B-side of Get Back, absent from the album.
Despite having been abandoned, it turned out to be a really good album. Arguably not as good as Abbey Road or Pepper, but better than most other artists' work.
Let It Be was one of those abandoned albums like the Beach Boys' Smile or Buffalo Springfield’s Stampede, except the Beatles actually released their album within a little more than a year, instead of 40 or 50 years later like the Beach Boys did, or never like Buffalo Springfield (unless you count song appearances in their boxed set). And no one lost their mind and became mentally, emotionally, and creatively disabled in the process.
The original title of the album was Get Back, meaning that they were attempting to return to their old way of recording, without all the overdubs and orchestral arrangements. They even made an album cover photo that was posed identically to the cover of their Please Please Me debut album. The project wasn’t working for them so they abandoned it and came back a few months later to make Abbey Road. It is most ironic that the throwback Get Back/Let It Be was rescued by Phil Spector and his fat-sound arrangements.
A large part of the problem was the fact that it was also intended as a reality film, filmed mostly at Twickenham Studios rather than at the Abbey Road EMI studio. It was supposed to be a documentary about the Beatles making a record, but with the intrusion of cameras, a reality show about the band breaking up. The movie came out about the same time as the album. It has not been re-released and is very difficult if not impossible to find; both Paul and Yoko came off not looking too good in it, both rather bossy. There was a scene where Paul was telling George how to play the guitar; IIRC the next scene was a conversation between John and Paul where John is suggesting they replace the recently-quit George with Eric Clapton. George, obviously, came back to the band.
The songs--
Two of Us—sadly beautiful when you realize the group was in the beginnings of a breakup. Two-part John and Paul harmonies, harking back to their “British Everly Brothers” days. I find it interesting that on the final-released album by the above mentioned Buffalo Springfield, the opening cut was entitled “On the Way Home,” a phrase that does not appear in the song, but does several times on the Beatles’ song. Acoustic number.
Dig a Pony—John Lennon song in ¾ time. I like this one. I have no idea what this song is about.
Across the Universe—Beautiful song by John. It sounds like the put more effort in the writing of this song than he put into his other songs. I asked an East Indian friend of mine, a Beatle fan himself, what “Jai guru deva” meant. I think he said it meant “glory to God” or something like that, but he did explain it was in Sanskrit, not Hindu, his original language. Actually the phrase is “jai guru deva om” which means “glory to the spiritual master” or something like that.
I Me Mine—A really good George song. George was coming into his own, after having four of his songs appearing on the white album. The song changes mood from gentle and soft to hard, edgy, and rocking. Published by George’s own new publishing company, Harrisongs. A song supposedly about the greed of his bandmates.
Dig It—Less than one minute, this ditty is credited to all 4 Beatles as writers, with nonsense lyrics by John “The FBI…the BBC…B.B. King…and Doris Day.”
Let It Be—there are several versions of this song. The one in the album has the overdriven lead guitar; the single version has the lead guitar played through a Leslie organ speaker. These two are simply different mixes of the same recording. I haven’t heard the Let It Be…Naked album, but I assume it has the same song but without the Phil Spector overdubs.
Then there is a different version, which is a different performance altogether. “…There will be no sorrows, let it be…” which appeared in the film. I haven’t heard this version in 45 years.
I’ve always preferred the overdriven version, but I recently listened to the Leslie version and got into it. But then, I’ve always liked Phil Spector and that sound anyway (ducking from mrmustard, who HATES reverb). The backup vocals add to the emotion in the Leslie version.
And it's a great Beatle song.
Maggie Mae—old Liverpool folk song, long in the public domain, credited to all four Beatles. They do only a part of it before it fizzles out altogether.
I’ve Got a Feeling—This one sounds co-authored by both John and Paul, since both have lead vocals and sounds like two songs stitched together. Except the fit together very well. In the movie, they were playing this song when Paul scolded George for unbending his string too quickly, causing George to quit the band for a week or two.
One After 909—An engaging Rocker featuring two-part harmony from John and Paul.
The Long and Winding Road—Does Paul consider Phil Spector’s 19-to-life sentence for murder to be instead for what Spector did to this song? I actually like the orchestra and chorus Spector put on the song. Another song that is apparently about the Beatles breaking up. But a good song with or without Spector production.
For You Blue—the second George song on the album. A shuffle featuring John on acoustic slide guitar. In the movie he plays it lap-steel style rather than like Duane Allman or Bonnie Raitt. Sounds just a teency bit like the title song from Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited album.
Get Back—I’ve often wondered of Jo-Jo wasn’t George, and Paul wasn’t begging him to Get Back into the Beatles, and the song wasn’t an apology to George for trying to tell him how to play the guitar. But who was the transsexual Loretta Martin? Anyone related to their producer? And was this song worked up before George rejoined the band, hence John’s lead guitar instead of George’s?
The first time I heard this song I did not recognize Paul’s voice. It was a bit throatier or something. Of course, it was on my clock radio that it was playing.
Two guitar solos by John and a Rhodes electric piano solo by guest Billy Preston. The boys always behaved themselves better in the presence of company.
Okay, what many people don’t know—the version you hear on the radio is not the rooftop version. I consider the single record version to be definitive. The album version was truncated to match the film version, which was shortened when the police were called to the rooftop in response to disturbing the peace complaints; it was in the movie that John said to the “I’d like to thank you on behawlph of the group and I hope we passed the audition.”
Another thing—the guitar solo on the definitive version is heavily compressed and sounds almost like an electric resonator guitar. The version from the Love album sounds more edgy and stinging, even though it’s the same performance.
Non-Let It Be song: Don’t Let Me Down, performed on the rooftop and the B-side of Get Back, absent from the album.
Despite having been abandoned, it turned out to be a really good album. Arguably not as good as Abbey Road or Pepper, but better than most other artists' work.