Unproduce the producer...

[DUC]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... xhome.html

Sir Paul has Beatle break-up album [Let It Be] remastered to strip out the sound of Phil Spector.

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I love "Let It Be". But I also like the fact that Paul wants to strip it down, to make it more "live" sounding. Compared to today's music, it's already stripped down.

[Auxillary]

It's exactly as it was in the room. You're right there," said McCartney. "If we had had today's technology back then, it would sound like this." The new album was remastered, fittingly, at Abbey Road using 21st-century digital technology.

Is it only me who sees some extreme irony in this statement?

[DUC]

To me, Paul was technically the best Beatle, but he was the most retarded and uptight.

Ringo needs to smack him upside his head.

And yes, he's totally talking out of his ass on that comment.

[blinkman]

I'm so stoked about this. I saw a bit about it on one of those CNN scrolling ticker thingies, like almost a year ago...I was beginning to wonder if it was actually true.

I really love some of the songs on Let it Be but I have always hated Spector's cheesy embellishments. I can't wait to hear "The Long and Winding Road" without all that shit.

-chad

[DUC]

I can't wait to hear "The Long and Winding Road" without all that shit.

I like that stuff, but I'm into Al Green.

But since you bring that song up, what else can they strip down from an already sparce record?

[Shawn Simmons]

I heard they were going to do the un-Spector-izing thing to George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" too. I'm kind of against this whole thing. A record is not only a document of songs but also a period of time. If Paul didn't like the way "Let It Be" sounded, he should've spoken up back then. (I know, he's said he didn't like it before) I don't love the way Spector's stuff sounds but it does have a sound.

With this way of thinking, a record is never truly done because one can always go back and remix it, take out the hand claps or cowbell, and add the twenty solos that got edited out.

Of course, it is Paul's record but it is also John's, George's, and Ringo's.

I think Let It Be should be left alone.

Shawn

[joel hamilton]

I bet phil goes and shoots paul...

[bobbydj]

I bet phil goes and shoots paul...

That would be a terrible tragedy.

[DUC]

I bet phil goes and shoots paul...

Any news on his alleged murder? The news was all over it, but now I've heard nothing.

[joel hamilton]

I dunno what ever happened with that. weird right?

He always had a gun around. I am pals with someone who humped ronnie....

we always wondered if phil would show up with a loaded .38 revolver...

[@?,*???&?]

The 'Yellow Submarine' soundtrack that came out a few years ago is all of the songs of the soundtrack RE-Mixed from the original masters- not the slave bounce reels. Meticulous. A must listen and must A/B for any fan of recording or the Beatles. All but two songs work really well. The bass drum and snare drum on the title track now sound amazing. Slightly warmer, more clear and after hearing it, I thought they ought to remix the entire catalog. So many of George Martin's and Geoff Emericks decisions were base upon a very limited multi-track technology. Decisions were made with regard to instrumentation by taking into account how the bounces would take place. Eleanor Rigby from the remix album sounds fantastic, but all of the strings are from the first generation reel. Mix magazine did an extensive article on the process and Sonic Solutions was the digital multi-track medium. For you recording afficionados, I highly lending your exceptionally talented ears to this.

[bedbug]

I think it's funny that they called the album "Let it Be" and that's exactly what they're not doing.

[justinf]

I can't believe they submerged that Spector shooting the way they did, in today's media climate. Conspiracy theorists come forward

[sad iron]

Ok, if you already know this history then ignore me here but here's some background on Let It Be:

The whole idea (dreamed up mostly by Paul) was to film the process of the Beatles rehearsing for a live show, their first since '65. The resulting show (to be performed on an island or a battleship or the moon or something), would be recorded and they would release a live album of the show and the film of the process that got them to the show.

What happened was a film document of the band having a tough time getting anything done on a cold shitty sound stage. You could see the wear in the relationships on the film, culminated by George's famous blow up at Paul where he offers to play nothing at all, anything to please Mr. McCartney.

Anyway for those who have seen the film, it's hard, but educational, to watch.

At the end of the project, they still wanted to release an album to go with the film and they wanted it to be live, raw; like it would sound if the listener was in the room when it was recorded. They had Glyn Johns do a couple of mixes where he culled together the best of the stuff and put it together in a sort of narrative string. At the end of the second mix he submitted it to the band and the reaction was, well, the mix stayed on the shelf. And so did Let It Be.

THey came back to gether and recorded Abbey Road a while later and then released Let It Be as their final record although it was recorded before Abbey Road. But when the time came to put it out, they had a problem: a lot of the tracks still sounded...bad. Enter Phil Spector to fix up the tracks.

I don't think Paul was ever in favor of having Spector do the mixes, and even less so after he heard the stuff, particularly Long and Winding Road. I believe at the time Paul was also pissed that his first solo record had been bumped for release by something else, a Beatles single, I think. And the band was dissolving/had already dissolved by that point...

But the point I want to make here is that in many ways, Spector's job was to polish a turd. I have the Glyn Johns mixes and while their cool as a document of a certain time in Beatle history, a lot of those tracks, while amazing songs, don't really hold up that well on their own. It doesn't feel like an album at all. It feels a lot like those tapes we've all made of our band rehearsals...and never listened to.

So Spector did an amazing job with what he had to work with in some cases. Paul has spent the last 30-odd years carping over the one that got away, that magic album in his head. We shall see now I guess.


How's that for a long ass post?

Jason

[sad iron]

Ok, if you already know this history then ignore me here but here's some background on Let It Be:

The whole idea (dreamed up mostly by Paul) was to film the process of the Beatles rehearsing for a live show, their first since '65. The resulting show (to be performed on an island or a battleship or the moon or something), would be recorded and they would release a live album of the show and the film of the process that got them to the show.

What happened was a film document of the band having a tough time getting anything done on a cold shitty sound stage. You could see the wear in the relationships on the film, culminated by George's famous blow up at Paul where he offers to play nothing at all, anything to please Mr. McCartney.

Anyway for those who have seen the film, it's hard, but educational, to watch.

At the end of the project, they still wanted to release an album to go with the film and they wanted it to be live, raw; like it would sound if the listener was in the room when it was recorded. They had Glyn Johns do a couple of mixes where he culled together the best of the stuff and put it together in a sort of narrative string. At the end of the second mix he submitted it to the band and the reaction was, well, the mix stayed on the shelf. And so did Let It Be.

THey came back to gether and recorded Abbey Road a while later and then released Let It Be as their final record although it was recorded before Abbey Road. But when the time came to put it out, they had a problem: a lot of the tracks still sounded...bad. Enter Phil Spector to fix up the tracks.

I don't think Paul was ever in favor of having Spector do the mixes, and even less so after he heard the stuff, particularly Long and Winding Road. I believe at the time Paul was also pissed that his first solo record had been bumped for release by something else, a Beatles single, I think. And the band was dissolving/had already dissolved by that point...

But the point I want to make here is that in many ways, Spector's job was to polish a turd. I have the Glyn Johns mixes and while their cool as a document of a certain time in Beatle history, a lot of those tracks, while amazing songs, don't really hold up that well on their own. It doesn't feel like an album at all. It feels a lot like those tapes we've all made of our band rehearsals...and never listened to.

So Spector did an amazing job with what he had to work with in some cases. Paul has spent the last 30-odd years carping over the one that got away, that magic album in his head. We shall see now I guess.


How's that for a long ass post?

Jason