The Beatles 'Let It Be' re-release, begins streaming on Disney+, May 8, 2024*

As I’m fond of mentioning, I think “Across the Universe” is bulletproof. I like every version of it the Beatles did .

Because I’m a big fan of their psychedelic era I think the No-One’s Gonna Change Our World version is still my favorite because it has that vibe but the hums wild version and the one in the Anthology are excellent also.

It’s sort of crazy to me that the Beatles didn’t worry about giving that version away to a charity thing before releasing the Phil Sphincter-ized
( ) version on Let It Be.

 

I think they have since disappeared.

Remember, Let it Rot was an album, a movie and a lawsuit

 

My introduction to the song was the LIB album the night it was debuted on WABC-FM by DJ Dave Herman. It was love at first hear. Great radio night, that night. He also premiered Live At Leeds a few hours later.

 

In a related matter, today I ran across the original Get Back book that came with the 1970 Let It Be box set for $3.00.

 

Wow..and all the pages were intact?

 

Yes, intact. The front cover has a tear that was taped, but otherwise in great shape.

 

Damn! I paid 20€. I overpaid.

 

Funny how you found the book so cheap and yet, if you want the entire box set you have to prepare to shell out hundreds. Was this at a book shop where the owner didn’t know any better? In all honesty, I’d have preferred a reproduction of the book, inclusive in the SDE, instead of the stand alone book we got.

 

Local library book sale. Someone must have donated it.

 

That is great news. But you might want to look at this page:

Let It Be box set

In the early 1990s, the Italian bootleg company Vigotone included reprinted copies of the book in their Get Back Journals box set of CDs. Near-perfect copies of the originals, they are almost impossible to tell apart. Compared side-by-side, the photo quality difference is noticeable, but not by much. The main giveaway is that the back covers of the reissue books are blank, listing no credits. However, original German copies of the Get Back books were printed without the back credits so not all "blank back" copies that turn up are fake. Extra copies of the bogus book were available separately in very small quantities, but even those are now hard to find.

 

I took the Fly On The Wall disc and edited out all the non-music bits [except opening "good morning" and closing goodbyes] and it is actually kind of a cool window into the sessions...

 

Mine is probably the reproduction then. For $3 I'm still chuffed.

 

It just could have been so much more IMO.

 

22 minutes was enough for me.

 

With the content being what it was… yep.

 

Maybe you’re right. I’m thinking about it in the context of the “back to basics” approach that had kicked in, whether it was Dylan, the Band, or CCR. It may have been a step too far, however. The only really rough moment to my ears is the bum notes on “The Long And Winding Road”.

 

This is an exceedingly good point.

 

I can't say I agree with this at all. The plot is pretty thin with a fair bit of missing context and there are large segments of the series dedicated exclusively to performance and the writing of songs. It's also about the world's biggest music artists so the music portion is positively integral, and Paul himself intended it to be a documentary about the creation of the album. That so happens to include the arguments. Two/three of the biggest plot points are about moving studios and figuring out where and how to perform and record.

Respectfully, I think you might be interpreting it differently due to your opinion about the album but I don't see that as the intent and I don't think there's much evidence to back it up. If it were more about the conflict and etc. I feel like there'd be contemporary and historical interviews with the band discussing their unique feelings about the process but we don't get anything like that. It's just captured as it happens here and there. There's not a deep insight into their characters.

 

I’m kinda shocked this is happening. I thought the movie would never see the light of day again but it makes sense to do this after the Get Back documentary. It probably feels “safe” now to release the original movie now that we have all this new context from those recording sessions.

 

I remember seeing the original book on sale separately in late 1972 in Harlequin, a London record store chain, for £1.
I didn’t bother to buy it, as it didn’t come with the box.

(Happy ending: I picked up a NM copy in 1985 or so for £6)

 

You nailed it

 

I think that the old book and LP box set are quite redundant, now that we’ve got all this superb material in pristine quality.

For the non-collector fan, of course.

 

Some scholars suggest that Khan left Earth specifically because he found the outtakes on the Anthology sets genetically inferior.

 

Or non-nostalgic fan.

 

I had the original 1968 Yellow Submarine paperback at one time. My dumb sister cut out one of the pages and taped it to her mirror. I don't know what ultimately happened to it now, but it's probably worth 10 cents.