Has anyone heard the Glyn Johns version of Let it Be?

[mva5580]

I've been reading The Complete Beatles Chronicle and it's clear Glyn Johns was given the go-ahead to put together an album for the Get Back sessions, and I'm just curious if anyone has heard it? I may try to find it tonight.

[GloiGloi]

Yep, I've got it on vinyl. You should find it on the net no problem.

[mva5580]

How does it compare to Spector's version in your opinion?

[chrth_rb]

It's available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbvXx2Ca4fc

I actually like it a lot. I've never done a direct compare amongst the different versions, but this may be my favorite.

[Backbeat60-62]

The Beatles were definitely trying to return to their early hard rock roots sound with 'Get Back', coming full circle with their career. Glyn Johns - who produced the Who and Led Zeppelin, and later, Blue Oyster Cult and the Clash - was a great choice. Unfortunately it was the winter of the Beatles' discontent in how to change into the next phase.. I think John Lennon was the one who wanted it most but the others didn't go along with it. Lennon went off and pursued it on his own with the Plastic Ono Band.

[GloiGloi]

It's a lot closer to Naked than the Spector version. I like it, but then again I can listen to hours of Twickenham tapes quite happily when the mood takes me.

[mva5580]

The amazing thing about that album is that for how miserable they apparently were making it (and I would imagine they would be since according to all the accounts a lot of the recording was done during the day for the film when they were used to late night sessions on other albums,) there are still some great, great songs on that album. Get Back, Two of Us, For You Blue, I've Got a Feeling, Let it Be, The Long and Winding Road, I mean those are excellent songs. And I enjoy some of the others on there as well. Them at their worst is a hell of a lot better than most bands at their best.

And I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't use Johns idea of re-doing the Please Please Me cover for Let it Be. I mean they had that picture (which they later used on the Blue Album compilation,) and it was perfect. It would have been a great bookend for their career. Oh well though.

[GloiGloi]

Yep. In 30 days, not that many weeks after finishing the marathon sessions for the White Album, they recorded an album's worth of new songs, wrote a fair chunk of Abbey Road, did a rooftop show, made an Oscar winning film and came up with a bunch of songs that would later appear on solo albums.
Not bad really, considering this was a low point.

[Backbeat60-62]

The amazing thing about that album is that for how miserable they apparently were making it [...] there are still some great, great songs on that album. [...] Them at their worst is a hell of a lot better than most bands at their best.

And I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't use Johns idea of re-doing the Please Please Me cover for Let it Be. I mean they had that picture [...] and it was perfect. It would have been a great bookend for their career. Oh well though.

I see the Please Please me album as the transition from their early live hard rock and roll phase to a professional recording group. The album after that, "With The Beatles" starts a new phase. Just like it would have been appropriate to have that re-done Please Please Me cover for the cover of Get Back - as they got back to where they once belonged.

[sklus20]

The Beatles were definitely trying to return to their early hard rock roots sound with 'Get Back', coming full circle with their career. Glyn Johns - who produced the Who and Led Zeppelin, and later, Blue Oyster Cult and the Clash - was a great choice. Unfortunately it was the winter of the Beatles' discontent in how to change into the next phase.. I think John Lennon was the one who wanted it most but the others didn't go along with it. Lennon went off and pursued it on his own with the Plastic Ono Band.

It was actually Paul that was the driving force of the "get back" to basic rock which is what he eventually did with early Wings.

[Backbeat60-62]

It was actually Paul that was the driving force of the "get back" to basic rock which is what he eventually did with early Wings.

Do you think Paul and John's ideas of how to do it were at odds? I'm still trying to figure it out. For example, compare what John went off and did solo, to what Paul did with Wings. John went off and did stuff with members of Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Yes, Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa and so on. His early solo stuff, to me, seems to have a lot more edge than Paul's... from a listener point of view it seems to me John fulfilled the "Get Back" idea better music-wise. He even did songs live that he hadn't performed since the Cavern days, like "Baby Please Don't Go". But Paul formed Wings and came up with all new music and didn't look back.

[GloiGloi]

I don't particularly think so. He went through a phase of it when he first started playing live with Yoko but by 1971 the Spector produced Imagine isn't exactly all rock and roll. I think it took Paul a while to get himself together after the end of the Beatles but once he did it was okay. I really don't like to choose between them in that way music wise. I just wish we could have had chance to see what John could have come up with in later years.

[Backbeat60-62]

I'm just referring to live music, which is what "Get Back" was an attempt to get back to. John was the one with 'Revolution' live (while Paul had 'Hey Jude', nixing George's idea for lots of lead guitar in that song), John doing 'Yer Blues' on the Rock n Roll Circus show, then several other gigs like Toronto '69. The way those bands he was in sounded live obviously must have been the sound he was aiming for the Beatles live sound to be at least since the White Album.

I'm not sure if it was John or Paul's idea during the "Get Back" sessions to revive "The One After 909", a song from the live period they were trying to get back to, before the Please Please Me album. But, how they played "One After 909" on "Get Back" is my prime example of the sea change in live playing they were progressing to. I tend to think it was John's idea based on the early live solo performances he released.

[chrth_rb]

The theory I'm most inclined to believe is:

Paul felt after The White Album that the band was falling apart (I don't recall if the Klein/Eastman fiasco had started yet), and he attributed this to the lack of touring (the studio empowered them as artists but at the same time separated them). Therefore, he conceived the Get Back project as a way of getting the band "back together" as it were by recreating the environment of the earlier days.

Of course, since it was the Beatles, it wasn't enough -- it had to be filmed too. Which of course just exacerbated tensions. It didn't help that one of John's and George's problems -- Paul asserting himself as group leader -- was made more acute by his pushing them to do this project.

It wasn't a bad idea -- by all accounts the group had a blast on the roof -- it just wasn't feasible under the circumstances. If it had been George's idea, for example, perhaps it would've worked better.

[Backbeat60-62]

[...] Paul asserting himself as group leader -- was made more acute by his pushing them to do this project. It wasn't a bad idea -- by all accounts the group had a blast on the roof -- it just wasn't feasible under the circumstances. If it had been George's idea, for example, perhaps it would've worked better.

Oh, yeah! The rooftop concert was a blast. They had been tossing around ideas for a public show for a month. They talked about doing an all night show at the pyramids, and playing "Sun King" right as the sun came up (John's idea). Or take a bunch of fans on a cruise ship and play shows on there for two weeks, but Ringo didn't like the idea of being stuck on a boat with a bunch of fans. George had some great ideas for new music, but his stuff had to wait for his first solo album.

[theeggman]

The Beatles had already returned to their rock n' roll roots with the White Album. The only one who really changed style after The Beatles is Paul McCartney when he started Wings. His first album, while filled with many sloppy compositions, still had the Beatles feel. But then, he went on recording softies like Mary Had A Little Lamb.

[chrth_rb]

^^You know, the "You and I have memories/Longer than the road that stretches out ahead" part of Two of Us always makes me think of later McCartney. I may be totally out of my mind with this one, but I feel it has a "connection" to his solo work.

[al_881]

I'm a little late coming in on this one but I have 2 versions of the Glyn Johns CD's. A little bit different. One of them has 4 tracks at the end with the Beatles talking about the future.

Anyways, compared to the Spector one I like the GJ ones my self. However, some of the Spector tracks do stand out.

Comparing the Let It Be (Fly on the Wall) one to Spectors can't be done. Spectors is better. I'm sure McCartney wanted his to be true to what he wanted but the Let it Be and Long and Winding Road versions on both Spectors and GJ are much better.

Check out the GJ book. You get a great insight on how they did Abbey Road. Quite impressive.
Couple of items:
1. Lennon couldn't stand Maxwell Hammer
2. The rocker at the end of "The End" was done in one take!

later

[raveoned]

I've heard both GJ mixes, and I really like them both (which is probably why I like LIB...Naked more than the original Spector release).

One reason I think that they were rejected originally was what was discussed further up on this thread. The Beatles were going through a phase where they just didn't care (except for Paul). While the complete songs on both versions of Get Back are good and do show the group returning to an unadorned sound, there are the little in between clips that probably reminded the group of why they didn't care anymore.

Like Ringo said, "Once we had a great song, all the BS went out the window and the music was the thing". They heard bits of the BS in between everything, and it cooled them somewhat on the whole thing.

Unfortunately, it was at the expense of GJ, who still has issues with talking about the whole thing to this day (40 years on).

I really loved the cover, and I had wished they kept it for the original LIB release (or even unveil it for the Naked CD).

[Ramirez16]

I always wondered if it was around and after reading this and knowing what actually to search for I found the Thirty Days bootleg and it has the first mix. Now I need to find the other one.

I always liked ...Naked over the original but I think it's because I decided to listen to it first because I read that Paul didn't like the original and blah blah blah.

[raveoned]

Ramirez - listening to ...Naked first probably ruined you from listening to the original!

But, the original, while good, is something I have but rarely play. ...Naked has been played many more times (and I've had the original CD since it first came out over 20 years ago!)

While I understand John and George's infatuation with Spector (even having him produce a good bit of their solo work), it completely ran against what The Beatles were trying to accomplish at that stage.

You have John telling George Martin, before recording Abbey Road that "We'll do this without any of your overproducing crap" (stronger words were used), but Spector does LIB as this overwrought production.

A lot of it I just can't listen to. One reviewer in 1970 said it was a "cardboard tombstone and cheap sendoff to the greatest band of the '60s".

[Ramirez16]

Ramirez - listening to ...Naked first probably ruined you from listening to the original!Well I heard Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road and Get Back but couldn't stand Across the Universe. I love it on ...Naked though and one thing that I would get from it if available as DLC is I've Got a Feeling. Though not overproduced on the original I love the performance of the song on ...Naked over the original.

[Ramirez16]

Yeah know that they are easily attainable on the internet as I learned today but I think it would be a nice idea to officially release the Get Back/Let It Be sessions along with the Let It Be film remastered on DVD (and Blu Ray) and hopefully a "replica" of the original box set on VINYL. Possibly the sessions in a CD set, the film on DVD and Blu Ray and the "replica" of the original box set will include all the things from the original release, Glyn John's second Get Back and the 2009 remaster of Let It Be on Vinyl, all the sessions on CD, and the film on DVD or Blu Ray. C'mon Paul, do it next year for the 30th anniversary!

[ArothmanMusic]

I prefer the 'Naked' versions of everything except "Long and Winding Road", which I think sounds too much like a demo without all the strings. I could do without the choirs and crap, but the basic four-member recording is just a bit too unpolished.

[HeadHunter67]

I got a CD version of "Get Back" from a friend who's a Beatles collector/archivist kind of guy... and I'm utterly amazed at the difference over the versions that we traditionally hear on Let It Be!

I'll have to find myself a copy of ...Naked, if for nothing else than to compare it side-by-side.

Ultimately, what I'd like is the "ultimate" version of Let It Be, using the best stuff off Get Back, Anthology, Past Masters and the remastered retail release. I've always been disappointed that Don't Let Me Down wasn't included on the final cut. There are a couple tracks that I could live without in return.

[Dr.Smoot]

I prefer the 'Naked' versions of everything except "Long and Winding Road", which I think sounds too much like a demo without all the strings. I could do without the choirs and crap, but the basic four-member recording is just a bit too unpolished.

I am sort of there on this. I can't stand the Spectorized weepy wall of sound track, but the naked version sounds almost barren, like the other Beatles are there but just barely. Maybe it would have just been best as a solo McCartney track with just Paul at the piano.

The version in question of Let It Be - I like the vocals, thats about it.

[Dr.Smoot]

The theory I'm most inclined to believe is:

Paul felt after The White Album that the band was falling apart (I don't recall if the Klein/Eastman fiasco had started yet), and he attributed this to the lack of touring (the studio empowered them as artists but at the same time separated them). Therefore, he conceived the Get Back project as a way of getting the band "back together" as it were by recreating the environment of the earlier days.

Of course, since it was the Beatles, it wasn't enough -- it had to be filmed too. Which of course just exacerbated tensions. It didn't help that one of John's and George's problems -- Paul asserting himself as group leader -- was made more acute by his pushing them to do this project.

It wasn't a bad idea -- by all accounts the group had a blast on the roof -- it just wasn't feasible under the circumstances. If it had been George's idea, for example, perhaps it would've worked better.

I think the biggest mistake made in the entire process - in fact in the Beatles entire career - was almost instantly going from the contentious White Album sessions to the even more contentious Get Back sessions, and then with the added pressure of it being filmed to boot. There was no reason whatsoever why the Beatles couldn't have and shouldn't have taken a break, maybe even a year or more, and then come back when they actually felt like making music, instead of it feeling like a forced march instigated by Paul. I don't know what anyone was thinking, all I can assume is that the band had some kind of unstated work ethos that you don't slack off, you keep plugging no matter what, but it was fatal in this case.

[Ramirez16]

Yep. In 30 days, not that many weeks after finishing the marathon sessions for the White Album, they recorded an album's worth of new songs, wrote a fair chunk of Abbey Road, did a rooftop show, made an Oscar winning film and came up with a bunch of songs that would later appear on solo albums.
Not bad really, considering this was a low point.The Thirty Days set that I found is really nice. I love to hear all the takes.