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NFT: Beatle fans: The Long & Winding Road

jnoble : 1/24/2021 11:49 pm
Which version is better? The original Let It Be one with the Phil Spector treatment or the stripped down 2003 Let It Be...Naked version?
Paul didn't appreciate the choir & strings but I think the LIB:N one he produced decades later sounds too bare and unfinished
Phil Spector later claimed he had to put on the thick coating of choir & strings to try and cover up Lennon's amateurish bass guitar track.
I like the original best but seems not many feel that way. Ditto the original album mix of Let It Be (the song) with the much better guitar solo than the single mix or LIB:N cut
Totally agree  
TDMaker85 : 1/25/2021 12:17 am : link
Particularly about the guitar solo. Spector version is majestic. I'm not usually a fan of overproduced stuff but the Naked thing is dull.
I think because my ears are so programmed  
short lease : 1/25/2021 1:16 am : link
to Spectors version that the "stripped down" version done decades later probably sounds naturally plain vanilla.

I also like Phil Spector's version better but, I do not know why .... and I completely understand and appreciate McCartney's criticism of the "over production" of the version released in '69.
Naked by a mile  
winoguy : 1/25/2021 7:10 am : link
Spector brought nothing to that album
I think the naked version is better  
Victor in CT : 1/25/2021 7:17 am : link
the Spector additions to me just seemed tacked on by someone who didn't really get what the Bs were doing.
I like them both, but I prefer the original  
Ira : 1/25/2021 7:20 am : link
.
RE: I like them both, but I prefer the original  
Jimmy Googs : 1/25/2021 7:55 am : link
In comment 15133629 Ira said:
Quote:
.


Prefer the original as well.
I have never been a fan of Phil and his "Wall of Sound"  
rnargi : 1/25/2021 8:19 am : link
Hated it on the Beatles,LOATHED it on George's solo stuff (I imagine all the time how much better some of his early solo stuff would have sounded with a more constrained producer), and for the life of me could not understand the unholy marriage of Phil with the Ramones. Just NO.

That said, naked sounds just that. Naked. Because for 30 plus years we had the original. I'd have liked to have seen Paul give the original masters to another producer and tell them to do what Phil did but do it without all the bullshit.

Just an opinion.
Prefer naked version  
averagejoe : 1/25/2021 8:35 am : link
The joke was the album credits should have read overproduced by Phil Spector. Would have liked to have heard a George Martin produced track as well.

Also much prefer the album cut of George solo on Let it Be. The single version is too reverby - think they ran it thru the Leslie speakers.
RE: Prefer naked version  
jnoble : 1/25/2021 8:39 am : link
In comment 15133656 averagejoe said:
Quote:
The joke was the album credits should have read overproduced by Phil Spector. Would have liked to have heard a George Martin produced track as well.

Also much prefer the album cut of George solo on Let it Be. The single version is too reverby - think they ran it thru the Leslie speakers.

That George solo on the album version was the last or second to last thing he ever did on a Beatles song before leaving for good. John was long gone by winter 1970
Love the Spector arrangement...  
x meadowlander : 1/25/2021 9:14 am : link
...with the Harrison solo.

It's a gorgeous song, the string arrangement is a no-brainer.

In the Canon of Beatle releases, the song offered a bit of closure, released as a single after the breakup was publicly announced a month earlier.
...  
SFGFNCGiantsFan : 1/25/2021 9:18 am : link
Such a great tune.
RE: Love the Spector arrangement...  
jnoble : 1/25/2021 9:30 am : link
In comment 15133702 x meadowlander said:
Quote:
...with the Harrison solo.

It's a gorgeous song, the string arrangement is a no-brainer.

In the Canon of Beatle releases, the song offered a bit of closure, released as a single after the breakup was publicly announced a month earlier.


There are now three versions. The LIB album mix, the single mix, and the LIB:Naked mix. The only noticeable differences were the guitar solos and the LIB:N one did away with the echo effect Phil put on Ringo's percussion during the verses
The SXM Beatles channel seems to play the single and Naked versions a lot and not the album mix for whatever reason
I think both versions are problematic.  
Section331 : 1/25/2021 9:43 am : link
Specter is right that the original is a little too spare, but he took a song that needed a little help and completely overran it. His score is awful, so ponderous and predictable. He could have used a string quartet to add the score to much greater effect.

The original is a little too spare, which is what often happens with demos. It needed a little touch up, not a total overhaul. So I will go with the LIB:N version as my preferred. And this is the first I've heard that Lennon played bass on it, why would Paul allow that? I guess at that point, none of them really cared.
RE: I think both versions are problematic.  
x meadowlander : 1/25/2021 10:00 am : link
In comment 15133747 Section331 said:
Quote:
Specter is right that the original is a little too spare, but he took a song that needed a little help and completely overran it. His score is awful, so ponderous and predictable. He could have used a string quartet to add the score to much greater effect.

The original is a little too spare, which is what often happens with demos. It needed a little touch up, not a total overhaul. So I will go with the LIB:N version as my preferred. And this is the first I've heard that Lennon played bass on it, why would Paul allow that? I guess at that point, none of them really cared.
Lennon also played bass on 'Helter Skelter'. Look up the isolated bass on YouTube - it may well be the worst track of bass playing I ever heard on a major recording, but in the mix it actually ADDS to the song. A fantastic piece of mixing, IMO - I never noticed how shitty that bass track was.

The oddball bass player occasionally occurred with the Beatles when McCartney would play another instrument live - 'Two of Us' is another good example, with Harrison playing the bass parts on his Telecaster.
RE: RE: I think both versions are problematic.  
jnoble : 1/25/2021 10:12 am : link
In comment 15133757 x meadowlander said:
Quote:
In comment 15133747 Section331 said:


Quote:


Specter is right that the original is a little too spare, but he took a song that needed a little help and completely overran it. His score is awful, so ponderous and predictable. He could have used a string quartet to add the score to much greater effect.

The original is a little too spare, which is what often happens with demos. It needed a little touch up, not a total overhaul. So I will go with the LIB:N version as my preferred. And this is the first I've heard that Lennon played bass on it, why would Paul allow that? I guess at that point, none of them really cared.

Lennon also played bass on 'Helter Skelter'. Look up the isolated bass on YouTube - it may well be the worst track of bass playing I ever heard on a major recording, but in the mix it actually ADDS to the song. A fantastic piece of mixing, IMO - I never noticed how shitty that bass track was.

The oddball bass player occasionally occurred with the Beatles when McCartney would play another instrument live - 'Two of Us' is another good example, with Harrison playing the bass parts on his Telecaster.


They had a sunburst right-handed 6 string Fender IV bass on hand in the later era for John or George to use. George played bass on Old Brown Shoe and one of the Revolver songs too, I forget which. Lennon's bass parts on Helter Skelter and Back In The USSR wasn't the greatest but those songs didn't need anything complex anyway to hold the bottom end down
funny  
giantfan2000 : 1/25/2021 10:46 am : link
McCartney claimed he hated Spector's version and when he went to court against other Beatles to dissolve the partnership - He used Spector doing this to Long and Winding Road over his objections as reason the partnership was no long functioning

But when Wings did their huge American tour in 1976 and McCartney played Long and Winding Road for the first time live .. He used the Spector arrangement!
RE: funny  
x meadowlander : 1/25/2021 11:18 am : link
In comment 15133823 giantfan2000 said:
Quote:
McCartney claimed he hated Spector's version and when he went to court against other Beatles to dissolve the partnership - He used Spector doing this to Long and Winding Road over his objections as reason the partnership was no long functioning

But when Wings did their huge American tour in 1976 and McCartney played Long and Winding Road for the first time live .. He used the Spector arrangement!
That 76' Tour made up the body of the excellent 'Wings Over America' Triple Live album. My Birthday Present in 77.

There's quite a bit of footage of that tour on YouTube. Outstanding stuff - Jimmy McCullough was a phenomenal lead guitarist - with Denny Laine, that was a whale of a band.
wings  
giantfan2000 : 1/25/2021 11:36 am : link
there is a bootleg floating around of last wings tour .in Dec 1979 . it was in Scotland I believe - they were warming up for their next world tour
their first stop was JAPAN and we know what happened there

anyway wings were promising the critically underrated Back to the Egg album and the song selection was great

Paul McCartney & Wings - 1979 - Last Flight [Glassgow Concert] - ( New Window )
RE: RE: funny  
rnargi : 1/25/2021 11:38 am : link
In comment 15133902 x meadowlander said:
Quote:
In comment 15133823 giantfan2000 said:


Quote:


McCartney claimed he hated Spector's version and when he went to court against other Beatles to dissolve the partnership - He used Spector doing this to Long and Winding Road over his objections as reason the partnership was no long functioning

But when Wings did their huge American tour in 1976 and McCartney played Long and Winding Road for the first time live .. He used the Spector arrangement!

That 76' Tour made up the body of the excellent 'Wings Over America' Triple Live album. My Birthday Present in 77.

There's quite a bit of footage of that tour on YouTube. Outstanding stuff - Jimmy McCullough was a phenomenal lead guitarist - with Denny Laine, that was a whale of a band.


I remember going to see the film (Rockshow) in 80 on the biggest screen on the east coast at the time...Palace Theater in Danbury CT.
RE: wings  
jnoble : 1/25/2021 11:51 am : link
In comment 15133928 giantfan2000 said:
Quote:
there is a bootleg floating around of last wings tour .in Dec 1979 . it was in Scotland I believe - they were warming up for their next world tour
their first stop was JAPAN and we know what happened there

anyway wings were promising the critically underrated Back to the Egg album and the song selection was great Paul McCartney & Wings - 1979 - Last Flight [Glassgow Concert] - ( New Window )


Paul was performing Coming Up live in '79 before the studio cut on McCartney II came out later on in 1980
Btw, the live version of that song is 10,000 times better than the dorky studio version lol
coming up  
giantfan2000 : 1/25/2021 1:46 pm : link
the live version is pretty good
but the music video is the best
Paul McCartney - Coming Up (Official Music Video) - ( New Window )
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