What’s the best version of “Let It Be”

[Bubbler]

Settle it, people. Cite examples. Do your homework. Hit Youtube for the versions you haven’t heard.

But seriously, it’s the album version with the hard guitar. So just vote for that.

 

[Azrael]

seconded

 

[expendable]

I remember this one from my youth.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Hmmm. I love the Beatles, but not an expert or a geek about them. A college friend was totally geeked about them, so I am a bit more atuned to this than I might be.

I don't know all of those versions. I do know the album version and the singles version, which is on Past Masters. The album version is George Martin. The singles version was Phil Spector. I am pretty agnostic, but I believe a lot of people actually disagree with you and prefer the George Martin version. I just found something saying the difference is that it has a cleaned up bass line (McCartney replacing Lennon's original), added harmonies from Harison and McCartney, more instruments and the new solo from Harrison.

I know the two versions, just never thought much about which I prefer.

 

[TigerVols]

I remember this one from my youth.

Greatest thing I'll see on the web all week. Thank you for this.

 

[CD Boogie]

I'm glad I wasn't alive for Beatlemania.

 

[britwrit]

 

[Bubbler]

I do know the album version and the singles version, which is on Past Masters. The album version is George Martin. The singles version was Phil Spector.

Other way around.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Other way around.

My bad. I apologize. Now I am confusing myself, though. I know the Phil Spector version, and I know the George Martin version. So you are saying you prefer the Phil Spector version? My sense was always that more people preferred George Martin's version; didn't like what Phil Spector did to it.

 

[Starman]

Lennon was in a particularly pissy mood during most of the "Get Back" sessions, possibly exacerbated by his heavy heroin use at the time, and due to
the preliminary arrangements of "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road," ie huge majestic piano ballads played by Paul with no rhythm/acoustic guitar parts, ended up playing bass on most of the early takes -- very poorly.

Remember, the initial concept of "Get Back" was that they were gonna get away from super elaborate orchestral production, hundreds of overdubs, etc etc. The original idea was they were going to run through songs beginning to end as a full band, and end up using the best single take of each song.
This idea went down the toilet when they finished up the preliminary sessions and realized they didn't have enough usable full takes to make an album -- and in fact ended up shelving the whole mess for a year, when Phil Spector was called in to "fix it."

So I think on most of the released versions, Paul went back and overdubbed his own bass parts, which
not surprisingly Lennon did not
take too gracefully.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Lennon was in a particularly pissy mood during most of the "Get Back" sessions, possibly exacerbated by his heavy heroin use at the time, and due to
the preliminary arrangements of "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road," ie huge majestic piano ballads played by Paul with no rhythm/acoustic guitar parts, ended up playing bass on most of the early takes -- very poorly.

Remember, the initial concept of "Get Back" was that they were gonna get away from super elaborate orchestral production, hundreds of overdubs, etc etc. The original idea was they were going to run through songs beginning to end as a full band, and end up using the best single take of each song.
This idea went down the toilet when they finished up the preliminary sessions and realized they didn't have enough usable full takes to make an album -- and in fact ended up shelving the whole mess for a year, when Phil Spector was called in to "fix it."

So I think on most of the released versions, Paul went back and overdubbed his own bass parts, which
not surprisingly Lennon did not
take too gracefully.

Right. I didn't know all of that, but my understanding was that on the Spector version there is some sloppy bass played by Lennon, so when Martin got involved, first thing he did was have McCartney do a new bass track. He also added some more harmonies and some added instruments, and chose a different guitar solo that Harrison had done. I am sure Lennon didn't take it too well, but my understanding on that was that he had already bailed, so it was only McCartney, Harrison, Ringo and George Martin working on it at that point.

 

[Starman]

My understanding was that George Martin pretty much washed his hands of the whole "Get Back" project when the sessions sputtered to an end shortly after the rooftop concert in January 1969, and essentially walked away completely to the point that when Paul wanted the band to reconvene in June/July to do "Abbey Road," Martin only agreed on the condition everyone promised to shape up their acts.

The "Get Back" tapes sat in the can most of the rest of 1969, "Abbey Road" came and went and was a big hit, my understanding was the Beatles needed another album to fulfill their contract requirements to EMI and Capitol, so John (possibly prompted by Allen Klein) called in Phil Spector to wade back into the tapes and clean them up, something George Martin had no desire to do.

During this whole time the Beatles were maintaining to the public they were still
a functioning group and planned to stay together, but behind the scenes all four members were pursuing solo activities with little interest in any more group projects.

 

[Bubbler]

My bad. I apologize. Now I am confusing myself, though. I know the Phil Spector version, and I know the George Martin version. So you are saying you prefer the Phil Spector version? My sense was always that more people preferred George Martin's version; didn't like what Phil Spector did to it.

Yes, I prefer the Spector version. And you're right, many prefer the single version mixed by George Martin, which is the muted one in which George Harrison's solo is played through a Hammond organ Leslie speaker.

Starman nailed most of the history behind it, but what I didn't know until I did a bit of research of my own is that the harder solo was recorded in early 1970 when Spector began piecing the Get Back sessions together.

By then, George Harrison had heard the final mix of what was to be the "Let It Be" single and thought his solo could be better. He wanted something with more heft. Hence the difference in the guitar solo in the single version vs. the album version.

Then, there's George's original, recorded live during the Get Back sessions. And there's a third used on the Naked album.

I always wondered what it would sound like if both the single and album solos were superimposed on top of one another? Figured it would be the dream version of the song.

Well, it's kind of a case of being careful what you wish for. Inevitably, someone mashed them up on Youtube. Here's the result.



A mess because without access to the masters, you can't balance them correctly.

Anyway, I think the Spector version of the "Let It Be" album is a tad unfairly maligned. And I like Harrison's solo in the album version not necessarily because it's harder, but because it creates a sonic sweep that the single version lacks. The loud moments give poignancy to the quiet ones.

 

[Songbird]

None of them.

 

[OscarMadison]

 

[Starman]

Yes, I prefer the Spector version. And you're right, many prefer the single version mixed by George Martin, which is the muted one in which George Harrison's solo is played through a Hammond organ Leslie speaker.

Starman nailed most of the history behind it, but what I didn't know until I did a bit of research of my own is that the harder solo was recorded in early 1970 when Spector began piecing the Get Back sessions together.

By then, George Harrison had heard the final mix of what was to be the "Let It Be" single and thought his solo could be better. He wanted something with more heft. Hence the difference in the guitar solo in the single version vs. the album version.

Then, there's George's original, recorded live during the Get Back sessions. And there's a third used on the Naked album.

I always wondered what it would sound like if both the single and album solos were superimposed on top of one another? Figured it would be the dream version of the song.

Well, it's kind of a case of being careful what you wish for. Inevitably, someone mashed them up on Youtube. Here's the result.



A mess because without access to the masters, you can't balance them correctly.

Anyway, I think the Spector version of the "Let It Be" album is a tad unfairly maligned. And I like Harrison's solo in the album version not necessarily because it's harder, but because it creates a sonic sweep that the single version lacks. The loud moments give poignancy to the quiet ones.

By the accounts I've read, there were never more than two Beatles in the studio at the same time during late 1969-early 70 when Spector was trying to patch the "Get Back" tapes together.

Lennon had already announced to the other three that he was done with the band back in October. His contribution mainly consisted of calling in Spector to work on the tapes, and saying "call me when you're done."

George came in to work on his own songs, but they weren't exactly masterpieces, and obviously by this time he was stockpiling his good stuff for what would become "All Things Must Pass."

Paul's stuff was already the most record-ready from the original sessions, plus obviously he wasn't too happy with what Spector was doing with "The Long and Winding Road" or "Let It Be," so that wasn't a real fruitful working relationship either.

And as it turned out, he was working on his own solo album, so he wasn't going to throw "Maybe I'm Amazed" into the mix.

 

[Azrael]

Nice.

The Ray Charles version of anything is the best version.

 

[Chef2]

Settle it, people. Cite examples. Do your homework. Hit Youtube for the versions you haven’t heard.

But seriously, it’s the album version with the hard guitar. So just vote for that.

...and match.

 

[Scout]

Musically, no.
Emotionally, yes.



The backstory is James and Paul are driving around Liverpool when this is filmed.

Paul's eye dip on "Mother Mary" sets me up...

"He is," pretty much does me in.

 

[Driftwood]

Whichever version had the guitar solo played on a Fender.