Was "Let It Be," the last released original album in the Beatles canon, a proper ending for the group? Was it a "cardboard tombstone" or a classic? And could "Let It Be" have been a continuation of "The Beatles (White Album")? That's some of the discussion heard in the latest Fab Fourum podcast online as of Tuesday.
Co-hosts Tony Traguardo, Rob Leonard, Mitch Axelrod and Ken Michaels discuss the story around the release of the album, their opinions of the songs and the "Let It Be" film and the album's ultimate place in the catalog and in Beatles history. (Imagine this: The now departed Tower Records sold the UK "Let It Be" box with the book for $2.99.)
The podcast is available for download at the Fab Fourum website at www.fabfourum.com, http://www.podarama.com/fab_fourum and through iTunes.
Comments
"Let it Be" was the first alternative Rock album.
See how long it took the world to catch up?
Now people love "Across the Universe" as much as
"Penny Lane". See?
I don't know about "alternative" rock album, but I think people have more favorable opinions about it now than they did when it was released.
Let it Be Naked is better than Let it Be. The Naked versions of both Across the Universe and Long and Winding Road are better. The order of the songs on the Naked version is better. And Naked drops two of the John's exceedingly weak songs (Dig it and Maggie Mae) for a far better song (Don"t Let Me Down).
And Abbey Road was the Beatles' swan song. "The End" is the perfect ending. We all know that.
I have to admit I have a more favorable opinion of LIBN now than I did when it was released. But they should have put out one of the versions of "Get Back," not LIBN.
I found the book in a record store (across from the Hotel Lenox) on Boylston Street in Boston, summer of 1972, for 97 cents. Wish I bought more than one !
Where's that time machine now that we need it?
Let It Be always stood out in my mind as a good bye song. There will be an answer, Let It Be.
Yeah, it has that religious quality to it, thanks to the Mother Mary line.
I think every album they made was perfect :)
no other group has that .
Boo boos weren't in the Beatles' lexicon. That said, there are some Beatles songs not in the original canon that make me cringe. "If You've Got Troubles" is one.
I remember John saying in some interview that Beatles had reached the point where John just wanted them to be seen as they were with their pants down, so to speak. And that's exactly what Let It Be is! That is not to say that there aren't some bright spots on Let It Be. Let It Be, Two of Us, One After 909, I've Got a Feeling all reveal that Beatles' artistry but the rest is a bit of a hodgepodge. I prefer to think of Abbey Road as the true Beatles' swansong - great tunes, beautiful harmonies, impeccable production.
I really hope we get to see the cleaned up "Let It Be" film that Ron Furmanek discusses in the interview I did with him. It would bring a new perspective to the whole project.
Hopefully it won't take an act of God to finally have the cleaned up LIB DVD released. Paul, Ringo, Yoko, Olivia?....who is really responsible for the holdup and why? Let's finally see it released in ALL of our lifetimes! Let It Be indeed!
Beatles releases have to be agreed on by the brain trust -- the four people you mentioned. The question is what's the holdup? We'd all like to know.
"But they should have put out one of the versions of "Get Back," not LIBN"
100% agree with that Steve! I wish they put out the May 1969 Get Back V2...but again I think LIBN was a McCartney gig...and he wanted the stuff sounding his way...not Geo. Martin's or the band's way.
I have always had a better view of LIB than most. The stuff is not too bad. Not as good as the White Album or Abbey Road which it it compared to as it is sandwiched in between them. It is much better than Beatles for Sale however. Also, I am a moron and have listened to the 2,397 hours of raw A/B reels audio from the Get Back sessions. Yea, there was tension, but the common perceptions of the level of tensions is far greater than what I hear on the audio. I think the big issue was that they were not motivated to play. When they did...they sounded fine.
All of the versions of the "Get Back" album had more cohesiveness than LIBN. LIBN sounded like a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces not entirely done. The remastered sound is great, but that's not everything.
Well...I prefer Phil Spector's production (especially on the 2009 remasters) of "Let it Be" to LIBN. The sound on LIBN, to my ears, suffers from squashed music syndrome (I think I may have just now coined the term)...where everything is the same level...made for mp3 players and the like. There is no dynamic range...which is a pity.
Spector's work was overblown and overdone. Even the remasters didn't improve it, in my opinion. LIBN didn't sound great, but it wasn't just the production. The takes they used didn't seem to fit.
I think by alternative, Wayne means grunge. It didn't hurt to have Pearl Jam record I Got a Feeling sounding just like the Beatles version, but sounding just like Pearl Jam too. And Get Back never sounded like George Martin. John pretty much told him early on, just record the live sound, no production. Paul had no input in LIBN other than okaying the final version.
Funny , it was John's directive, no production, but he liked what Phil did and Paul got upset with it.
My favorite Beatle albums:
1 Abbey Road
2 White Album
3 Let it Be
This is me. I don't know how it went anonymous.
Any Idea If there will be a completion of the Capitol Versions of the Beatles Album: Yesterday and Today Through Rock and roll Music?
All of the different versions have their problems. The various Glyn Johns "Get Back" attempts have their charms. Unfortunately, they also contain takes with plenty of flubs, when there were other takes available. "Two Of Us" could hardly be considered the definitive version, and "Let It Be" is just plain lackluster. Phil Spector was out of his element, with no real experience with a real rock band or with post-production work. "The Long & Winding Road" is just a gloopy mess, "I Dig A Pony" essentially rewrites the song, "Across The Universe" sounds as wasted as John looked in the movie, and "Let It Be" takes the January 1970 overdubs and blasts them to ear bleed levels. LIBN is a compromise and is compromised. It follows "Anthology 3" which already had great outtakes. And it can't qualify as being the definitive version of the "Get Back" sessions, since the definitive versions of "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down" and "Let It Be" were released on singles. Oddly enough, each one was subject to some form of creative editing or overdubbing. I guess it isn't possible to get back and let it be at the same time.
Nice comment, Harry. Thank you.
Yeah, "... isn't possible to get back and let it be at the same time". I like that. And Harry, you mention Anthology. One thing that I didn't like about LIBN was the second disc. All the little snips of songs that you couldn't even play the separate tracks, as short as they were.
I had bought Let it Be Rehearsals Vol 1 (I bought it out of a Guitar magazine, so it had to be legit), so I new there were full versions of some of these great songs in the mix.
Wow, my understanding was that LIBN was fully Paul's project. I mean he did not mix it personally (he has not mixed his own stuff since the late 80s - he has studio engineers do that) but he told them what we wanted and approved the output at each step - not just at the end). In fact, here is the opening sentence from Wiki on it.
Let It Be... Naked is a version of the 1970 Let It Be album by The Beatles that was remixed and remastered under the direction of Paul McCartney. It was first released in November 2003.
I've often said "You can't argue with Wiki". But I was sure I remembered at the time of the release, Hicks or someone saying, they presented their work to both Paul and Ringo. They expected comments that would have them back in the studio, but were surprise that both Paul and Ringo only said "Sounds good" and that was it.
Let it be was the worst record the fabs ever made-It was pure rubbish with a sugar coating by Spector-thank
goodness that had the sense and recorded Abbey Road
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