The Beatles Love album was released on CD and DVD in November 2006 with one of the highest quality music in the Beatles catalog. Below is a review of this groundbreaking album along with CD album scans. Enjoy.
Stereo CD will contain 78 minutes of newly mixed and mastered music packaged in a jewel box with a 28-page booklet including liner notes by George and Giles Martin. First time ever special edition will include both the stereo CD and a BONUS AUDIO DVD packaged in a digi-package with O-card. The DVD is audio only and will contain 81 minutes of music in both 5.1 surround sound and stereo (presented in DVD-Audio MLP, DTS, Dolby and PCM).
Tracks
1. Because
2. Get Back
3. Glass Onion
4. Eleanor Rigby/Julia (Transition)
5. I Am The Walrus
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing
8. Gnik Nus
9. Something/Blue Jay Way (Transition)
10. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter
11. Help!
12. Blackbird/Yesterday
13. Strawberry Fields Forever
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
15. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
16. Octopus's Garden
17. Lady Madonna
18. Here Comes The Sun/The Inner Light (Transition)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Transition)
20. Revolution
21. Back In The U.S.S.R.
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. A Day In The Life
24. Hey Jude
25. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
26. All You Need Is Love
Review by Rick Kosmick - October 31, 2015
"Love" is an interesting soundtrack created for the Cirque du Soleil theatrical production that opened in Las Vegas in 2006. The soundtrack is a collage formulated from original Beatles recordings that for some would invite controversy in the use of this music. ‘Love’ was created by the legendary Beatles producer, George Martin and his son Giles Martin from over a 100 clips of original multi-track recordings with the permission of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono (estate of John Lennon) and Olivia Harrison (estate of George Harrison).
The use of original Beatles recordings for this soundtrack could have been expected to receive some negative comments or criticisms upon face value of any changes to the presentation or mixes. Comments such as ‘bewildered’ or ‘befuddled’ were expressed upon the initial release of "Love" on CD and DVD Audio (2006) with detractors ignoring the basic premise of a soundtrack created as a celebration of Beatles music and irrespective of the notable approval from members of The Beatles. I personally found it odd in many statements from critics who commonly ignored the experimental nature of Beatles music in its development and sophistication. ‘Love’ is resplendent with experimentation.
In the DVD-Audio format, "Love" is available only in multi-channel 5.1 MLP 96kHz 24Bit. Suffice it to say, this 5.I mix is absolutely stunning! The first thing that comes to mind is the realization the original Beatles recordings were magnificently recorded by the audio engineers. Even more important, you hear the energy of this quartet that were so talented they set a standard that remains unparalleled in popular music. Their song writing skills and musicianship set them apart and their accomplishments remain unrivalled. The Beatles were magnificent performers in the studio.
On the opening track “Because“, the instrumentation is stripped away as you hear the vocal harmonies a cappella in gorgeous immersive sound. Quickly and uninterrupted, the next track starts with the opening guitar chord from “a Hard Days Night” followed by a brief Ringo Starr drum solo from “The End” before jumping into the song “Get Back” with its full intensity that still strikes me with a chill every time I hear it.
The early 1963 Beatles song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was their first recording to utilize four-track equipment but the fidelity has limitations. In the 5.1 mix, the presentation disguises the sonic constraints with a live audience as background (a la The Ed Sullivan Show) for a very effective ambient sound. It fits extremely well as it takes you down memory lane when the Beatles first exploded onto the North American music scene and the ensuing sheer madness of fans during live performances.
The original audio quality on the multi-tracks really show their stuff on the instruments. For example, on the song “Something”, you hear the heartfelt vocals from George Harrison but equally striking is how well Ringo Starr’s drum sound was miked in the studio (on a ballad!) as if you're standing just a few feet away. On “Come Together”, some superb bass playing from Paul McCartney is aurally present in a distinctly bold and deep tone. These are but a few examples that reveal Beatles instrumentation as never heard before.
The "Love" soundtrack is a great reminder as to the adeptness of The Beatles to write and perform rock songs. On “Revolution” John Lennon's impassioned vocals are equally supported by his distorted lead guitar work that resonates with shocking clarity. Revolution is immediately followed by another rocker “Back in the U.S.S.R” sung exuberantly by Paul McCartney with a nifty lead guitar break from George Harrison with its excellent tonal quality. Such was the vitality of the Beatles to knockout these great rock songs with flair and energy.
The closing track is “All You Need Is Love” and it actually seems quite appropriate for the last song on the soundtrack. Certainly there is the clear message behind the song but it is the crazy and freaked-out prolonged ending of the original recording that represents the experimental essence of The Beatles and a similar experimental approach is taken with a mash-up by adding snippets of vocals from "Baby You're A Rich Man", "Rain" and "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" to this ending. All in all, there is over 80 minutes of glorious music on "Love" that is a tribute to a group of artists that changed the world of music.
The production of George Martin and Giles Martin maintains the character of the original recordings. At the same time, it can be summed up as a daring mix as it opens another door to the potency of The Beatles music. The 5.1 mix is inventive and the balance achieved is outstanding. The transparency is astonishing. The use of the rear channels is discreet for the most part but conceptually steers away from being overly aggressive. It is one of the best multi-channel mixes I have had the pleasure to hear. I consider this DVD-Audio as a spectacular surround soundtrack with a front row seat to the Cirque du Soleil presentation of The Beatles "Love".
As an additional note, high resolution audio for the original recordings of The Beatles has been a long in coming but the time has finally arrived. In a few days on November 6, 2015, Blu-ray versions of The Beatles: 1 and The Beatles: 1+ will be released. Giles Martin is the producer as he continues his work on their catalogue of original recordings. For the multi-channel enthusiasts, to say these Blu-ray releases are highly anticipated would be an understatement.
Love is a soundtrack remix album of music recorded by the Beatles, released in November 2006. It features music compiled and remixed as a mashup for the Cirque du Soleil show Love. The album was produced by George Martin and his son Giles Martin, who said, "What people will be hearing on the album is a new experience, a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period."[1]
The album was George Martin's final album as a producer before his death in 2016.
Background
George Martin and his son Giles began work on Love after obtaining permission from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison (the latter two representing the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison, respectively).[1] The idea for using the Beatles' music in a Cirque du Soleil production had originally come from Harrison, who died in November 2001,[2][3] through his friendship with the company's founder, Guy Laliberté.[4]
Speaking to Mojo editor Jim Irvin in December 2006, Giles Martin said that he first created a demo combining "Within You Without You" with "Tomorrow Never Knows", which he then nervously presented to McCartney and Starr for their approval. In Martin's recollection, "they loved it", with McCartney saying: "This is what we should be doing, more of this."[5]
In discussing the project, Giles Martin commented that elements were used from recordings in the Beatles catalogue, "the original four tracks, eight tracks and two tracks and used this palette of sounds and music to create a soundbed".[1] Because he was concerned that they might not get the green light to proceed with Love, he began by making digital back-ups of the original multi-track recordings, just to get started on the project. He also said that he and his father mixed more music than was eventually released, including "She's Leaving Home" and a version of "Girl" that he was particularly fond of, with the latter eventually being released in 2011 as a bonus track on the album on iTunes.[6]
McCartney and Starr both responded very positively to the completed album. McCartney said that it "puts The Beatles back together again, because suddenly there's John and George with me and Ringo". Starr commended the Martins for their work, adding that Love was "really powerful for me and I even heard things I'd forgotten we'd recorded".[7][8]
Composition
Martin smiling to the camera
George Martin at a performance of the Love stage show
Love contains elements from 130 individual commercially released and demo recordings of the Beatles,[9] and is a complex remix and polymix of multiple songs known as a mashup.[10] As described by Alexis Petridis, mashups were popular earlier in the 2000s, with the Beatles serving as popular material; examples included Danger Mouse The Grey Album (2004), on which the producer fuses Jay-Z's rapping with music from the Beatles' White Album (1968), and Go Home Productions' "Paperback Believer", which used the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and the Monkees' "Daydream Believer".[11] McCartney was a fan of the "bootleg explosion", and hired mash-up producer Freelance Hellraiser as a DJ on his 2004 world tour,[11] leading to the 2005 collaboration Twin Freaks.[12]
Love has also been described as a sound collage.[13][14][15][16][17] According to Neil Spencer of The Observer, the album's 26 tracks "are set in an ambient flow of sound collages",[14] while according to David Cavanagh, Love comprises mashups and megamixes that play "plurally, in collage form", resulting in album that "[flies] in the face of tradition by placing The Beatles in a 21st century sampladelic culture."[17]
Track element notes
"Because" – According to an interview with the Martins in Entertainment Weekly, the opening track includes the bird sounds used in the World Wildlife Fund version of "Across the Universe", as well as "Free as a Bird".[18] In addition, a new recording of a wood pigeon was implemented "to make it more British", according to George Martin.[18]
"Get Back" – The track uses the opening guitar chord from "A Hard Day's Night", the drum and guitar solos from "The End", percussion from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", and the orchestral swell from "A Day in the Life".[19][20]
"Glass Onion" – This track includes guitar from "Things We Said Today".[21]
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" – George and Giles Martin stated that elements from both the studio recording and the Hollywood Bowl live performance were used in the 5.1 surround sound mix.[18]
"Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" – The medley features the guitar solo from "Taxman" and the horn section from "Savoy Truffle".[22][23][24] The Martins said they also remixed keyboards from "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and backing vocals from "Helter Skelter" into the track.[25]
"Gnik Nus" – The track contains the vocal arrangement of "Sun King" played in reverse[23] and accompanied by tambura drone.[26]
"Something" (with "Blue Jay Way" transition) – The track emphasises the lead vocal[21] and George Martin's string arrangement on "Something" before transitioning into "Blue Jay Way", which also includes elements from "Nowhere Man".[27] Giles Martin said the portion from "Blue Jay Way" set the mood for the next track, which they created in response to an idea by the director of the Love show for a "macabre Victorian circus".[21]
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter" – The track contains the whole of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", guitars from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", and heavily delayed vocals from "Helter Skelter". It also includes horse sounds from "Good Morning, Good Morning", harmonium and other elements from "Cry Baby Cry" and laughter from "Piggies".[28]
"Strawberry Fields Forever" – This version builds from an acoustic demo[29] to incorporate sections of take 1 of the song (including harmony vocals that were cut from the edit of take 1 issued on the 1996 Anthology 2 compilation) and take 26.[30] At the end of the track, it includes the orchestral section from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", the piano solo from "In My Life", the brass included in "Penny Lane", the cello and harpsichord from "Piggies", and the coda of "Hello, Goodbye".[23] According to author John Winn, part of "I'm Only Sleeping" also appears in the closing mashup.[31]
"Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" – This track combines the vocals and the dilruba from "Within You Without You" with the bass and drums from "Tomorrow Never Knows".[20]
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – The track includes horns and guitars from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", clavioline from "Baby, You're a Rich Man", and sound effects from "Tomorrow Never Knows".[32]
"Octopus's Garden" – This track contains the string arrangement from "Good Night", sound effects and vocal elements from "Yellow Submarine", and elements from "Lovely Rita", "Helter Skelter" and ends with the beginning guitar riff from "Sun King".[20][23]
"Lady Madonna" – The song includes the percussion intro from "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?", the piano from "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", the guitar riff from "Hey Bulldog", Billy Preston's organ solo from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and Eric Clapton's guitar solo from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".[33]
"Here Comes the Sun" (with "The Inner Light" transition) – As mentioned by Giles Martin, the track includes tabla and dilruba from "Within You Without You",[21] backing vocals from "Oh! Darling" and a bass line from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".[34]
"Come Together/Dear Prudence" (with "Cry Baby Cry" transition) – The track contains nearly all of "Come Together", which transitions into "Dear Prudence". It concludes with the vocal part from the end of "Cry Baby Cry", strings from "Eleanor Rigby", and what Giles Martin referred to as the "climax" from "A Day in the Life".[21]
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" – The track uses a George Harrison demo of the song, previously issued on the Anthology 3 compilation.[21][29] George Martin wrote a new orchestral score for the track, which he described as being his final Beatles string arrangement.[21][35]
"All You Need Is Love" – The track includes elements from "Baby You're a Rich Man" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band",[36] and ends with orchestration from "Good Night" and the sign-off from The Beatles Third Christmas Record.[21]
Release and reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic83/100[37]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[22]
Blender[38]
Entertainment WeeklyA[39]
The Guardian[11]
NME8/10[40]
The Observer[14]
Pitchfork8.5/10[41]
PopMatters6/10[42]
Q[43]
Rolling Stone[44]
Slant[45]
Uncut[4]
Love was first played publicly on Virgin Radio's The Geoff Show. Geoff Lloyd, the show's host, chose to play the entire work uninterrupted, to allow younger fans to experience an album premiere.[46]
The album was released as a standard compact disc version, a two-disc CD and DVD-Audio package, a two-disc vinyl package, and as a digital download. The DVD-Audio disc contains a 5.1-channel surround sound mix (96 kHz 24-bit MLP), downmixable to two-channel. For backwards compatibility it also contains separate audio-only DVD-Video content with two-channel stereo (48 kHz 16-bit PCM) and 5.1-channel surround (448 kbit/s Dolby Digital and 754 kbit/s DTS).
Love placed at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart during its first week of release, trailing Westlife's The Love Album and Oasis' Stop the Clocks compilation.[47] In the United States, it debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200, where it was certified Platinum in late 2006.[48] At the 50th Grammy Awards in February 2008, Love won in the categories Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Surround Sound Album.
Legacy
Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly wrote in 2007: "LOVE really does feel fresh in a way that other latter-day Beatles products like Let It Be... Naked and even the Anthology collections haven't, quite. Freed from the need to adhere to chronology or chart success like the 10-million-selling 1's collection of a few years back, this instantly replaces that uninspired hits set as the album you'd give a kid who needs to discover the Beatles for the first time. It also manages to be the album you'd give the jaded boomer who's hearing these songs for the ten thousandth time."[49]
In 2017, Uncut ranked the album at number 75 in their list of "The 101 Weirdest Albums of All Time".[17]
Track listing
All tracks written by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted.
"Because" – 2:44
"Get Back" – 2:05
"Glass Onion" – 1:20
"Eleanor Rigby" (with "Julia" transition) – 3:05
"I Am the Walrus" – 4:28
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" – 1:22
"Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" – 1:54
"Gnik Nus" – 0:55
"Something" (with "Blue Jay Way" transition) (George Harrison) – 3:29
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter" – 3:22
"Help!" – 2:18
"Blackbird/Yesterday" – 2:31
"Strawberry Fields Forever" – 4:31
"Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" (Harrison/Lennon–McCartney) – 3:07
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – 4:10
"Octopus's Garden" (Richard Starkey) – 3:18
"Lady Madonna" – 2:56
"Here Comes the Sun" (with "The Inner Light" transition) (Harrison) – 4:18
The Beatles vs The Four Seasons (VJ Records) VJ Records had first rights to distribute the Beatles records circa 1962 - 1963. VJ also had similar rights to distribute The Four Seasons. While mainly used as a way for disk jockey's to boost ratings, both the Beatles and the Four Seasons were very popular on the East Coast radio shows. Philadelphia was a Four Seasons stronghold. VJ later released the album. It is very rare. I found this double vinyl LP album in King Karol record shop in NYC, mismarked for just $5.00. I later sold it at a Beatlesfest show in the Meadowlands for $75.00. It contained VJ's Introducing The Beatles album's songs again.
For this year, if you would like to listen to a full hour of Beatles Christmas Messages, you can stream them all in great fidelity at the below link. These are the Christmas messages included here:
Beatles - Wish you a Happy Xmas 1963/1969: 1-Crimble medley (BBC Saturday Club 12-21-1969). 2-Christmas time is here again(edit version 1995). 3-From us to you 1963. 4-Another Beatles Christmas 1964. 5-Third Christmas record 1965. 6-Everywhere it's Christmas 1966. 7-Christmas time is here again 1967. 8-1968 Christmas record. 9-Seventh Christmas record 1969. 10-Hello Dolly(1964 outtake). 11-Speech(1964 outtake). 12-Christmas time is here again (full version).
Two more Christmas songs from John and Paul:
From John, Happy Christmas War Is Over, and From Paul, Wonderful Christmas Time... Enjoy
The Beatles Christmas Messages are available on the below collections along with outtakes:
Each year the Beatles would send a studio message thanking all their fan club members for a wonderful year. Below are the covers for each year from 1963 thru 1969 and a link where you can get them. Enjoy http://returntopepperland.blogspot.com/2006/11/beatles-christmas-records.html
The Beatles’ 1970 film Let It Be is coming to Disney+ on 8 May 2024.
The film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in January 1969, has been commercially unavailable since the 1980s. A documentary about the making of the film and Let It Be album, The Beatles: Get Back, was directed by Peter Jackson and released in November 2021.
In January 2019, at the time of the documentary’s announcement, a line in the press release stated: “Following the release of this new film, a restored version of the original Let It Be movie directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg will also be made available.” However, in the intervening five years there was no further news.
Jackson’s Park Road Post Production company restored the film from the 16mm negatives, including sound restoration using his machine-assisted learning (MAL) technology which was used in both The Beatles: Get Back and the ‘Now And Then’ single.
Although there is no word on a physical edition, the press release mentions that the film will “launch exclusively” on Disney+, suggesting a wider release to follow.
Here’s the full press release:
BURBANK, Calif. (April 16) – Today, Disney+ announced that Let It Be, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original 1970 film about The Beatles, will launch exclusively on Disney+ May 8, 2024. This is the first time the film is available in over 50 years.
First released in May 1970 amidst the swirl of The Beatles’ breakup, Let It Be now takes its rightful place in the band’s history. Once viewed through a darker lens, the film is now brought to light through its restoration and in the context of revelations brought forth in Peter Jackson’s multiple Emmy Award®-winning docuseries, The Beatles: Get Back. Released on Disney+ in 2021, the docuseries showcases the iconic foursome’s warmth and camaraderie, capturing a pivotal moment in music history.
Let It Be contains footage not featured in the Get Back docuseries, bringing viewers into the studio and onto Apple Corps’ London rooftop in January 1969 as The Beatles, joined by Billy Preston, write and record their GRAMMY Award®-winning album Let It Be, with its Academy Award®-winning title song, and perform live for the final time as a group. With the release of The Beatles: Get Back, fan clamour for the original Let It Be film reached a fever pitch. With Lindsay-Hogg’s full support, Apple Corps asked Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production to dive into a meticulous restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative, which included lovingly remastering the sound using the same MAL de-mix technology that was applied to the Get Back docuseries.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg says, “Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film. But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” says Peter Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back, and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word… looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
Let It Be, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, stars John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, with a special appearance by Billy Preston. The film was produced by Neil Aspinall with The Beatles acting as executive producers. The director of photography was Anthony B Richmond.
Let It Be will debut exclusively on Disney+ May 8, 2024.
Word started to spread a few days ago, that the Let It Be documentary film from 1970, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, was about to finally become available again. Yesterday, I was told that the film will debut on Disney+ in May, and will be released on physical media later this year.
I wrote about it over on my Norwegian Wood blog, and made a mock-up of a blu-ray cover, just as an illustration. Over on Facebook, I published the same picture on the Daily Beatle Facebook page, with no words, as I figured news would be out in an official capacity soon.
I was rewarded just a few hours later, when the official social media accounts of the Beatles displayed the photo teaser seen above, with the sentence “There will be an answer.” Which, of course, is from the lyrics of the song “Let It Be”. And which song did Paul McCartney perform in public just a few days ago at the Jimmy Buffett tribute at the Hollywood Bowl?
People have been asking why do we need the “Let It Be” movie, we have already been given more than seven hours of that era in Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary, which has been available on Disney+ since November 2021.
There are many reasons for “Let It Be” to be available. Remember those few glimpses we get in Jackson’s TV documentary of the 31 January recordings? The day after the rooftop concert? The three songs they recorded then, “Let It Be”, “The Long and Winding Road and “Two Of Us” are represented with complete footage and audio in Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s “Let It Be”. And there are plenty more interruptions of songs in the rooftop segment in Jackson’s documentary. There are lots more interviews with people on the street and much more footage of the police, waiting and eventually going up on the rooftop to stop the show. There are fewer interviews and less police scenes in Lindsay-Hogg’s film, allowing us to enjoy fuller versions of the songs.
For complete satisfaction and an uninterrupted concert though, one has to settle for the album “Get Back (Rooftop Performance)” which is available from several streaming platforms.
It is important that Lindsay-Hogg’s film is available, as it’s one of The Beatles’ films made when they were together, alongside “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Help!”, “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Yellow Submarine”. And it’s important that it is available on a disc, because: Where are those other iconic Beatles films available on streaming platforms? I believe perhaps you might be able to find “A Hard Day’s Night”, but forget about finding the others. Streaming movies are for the mass consumption market for the general public, not for those interested in niches or cult films.
Anyway, you need not worry. Even if the rumours about a physical release should prove to be untrue, bootleggers will make available the film as soon as they have recorded it from Disney+.
Of course now speculations are all about the format, and whether or not Jackson has applied the same method of enhancing the picture quality as he did with “Get Back”, where faces are somewhat plastic looking in places. Will this new release be “Let It Be” as rebuilt by Peter Jackson, sticking to the same scenes as Lindsay-Hogg? In a January 2022 interview, Lindsay-Hogg claims that for the last two or three years, he has been working with the director of photography Tony Richmond on the print, so it looks totally different, and Giles Martin has been working on the soundtrack.
One problem with the original “Let It Be” film is that sometimes the wrong sound was overdubbed, like a different take of the song or you can see an out of place instrument being picked. For the sake of being true to the original, will these flaws be kept in? We’ll find out soon enough.
TIMELINE: LET IT BE (movie)
1969: 16mm footage of the Beatles filmed in January for proposed TV Special and album, “Get Back”. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
1969: The Beatles all attend a screening of a rough cut of the movie on July 20. Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg recalled that it was about an hour longer than the released version.
1969: Film and album shelved for now, new album “Abbey Road” recorded and released.
1969-70: Footage reworked for movie screening, to fulfill 3 film contract with United Artists.
1970: Theatrical release. Film has been blown up to 35mm, sound is in mono, retitled “Let It Be”.
1975: BBC 1 shows the film on Boxing Day. 16mm version, mono.
1979: Four years later, BBC 1 again shows the film on Boxing Day. 16mm version, mono.
1980: John Lennon is killed.
1981: Home Video release (USA) of 35mm film pan-and-scan: VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc and Videodisc on 20th Century Fox/Magnetic Video Corporation. Mono.
1982: TV screening (UK) of 16mm cropped version on BBC TV. Mono.
1983: TV screening (West Germany – Bayerische Rundfunk). 16mm version, mono. The film was also shown on TV in several other countries, Finland and Australia among them, but we have no full overview of this. And of course, the film was also shown on TV in the seventies.
1992: Original 16mm film restored by Ron Furmanek for Apple, with remastered sound mixed by Furmanek, assisted by George Martin, in stereo when multitracks exist.
1995: Restored footage from film and outtakes shown on “The Beatles Anthology” TV series.
1997: VCI (UK) announces plans to release “Let It Be” on VHS. It doesn’t happen.
2001: George Harrison succumbs to cancer.
2002: Paul McCartney says plans for DVD release alongside “Let It Be…Naked”.
2003: Original 16mm film plus outtakes restored by Bob Smeaton.
2003: “Let It Be…Naked” album released. Outtakes from “Let It Be” film used in promotion of album. No sign of the film on DVD.
2003: Movie director Lindsay-Hogg says 2 DVDs with the film and outtakes ready for 2004.
2004: A review of a 3 disc version appears online.
2005: “The Toronto Sun” features interview with Bob Smeaton who says a DVD will come out that year.
2006: In a US radio show, Bob Smeaton gives three possible release dates in 2006 for the DVD.
2007: Apple Corps Ltd register the domain name letitbemovie.com.
2007: Neil Aspinall says the film is still too controversial for release.
2008: Yoko Ono says the DVD will not be released yet.
2008: “The Daily Express” (UK) says DVD was cancelled by Paul and Ringo.
2009: Unidentified “insider” claims Yoko Ono is the one blocking the release.
2009: Theatrical screening at a film club in Philadelphia, PA. Good print, poor mono sound.
2010: BBC radio show says DVD is still considered for release at a future date.
2011: Original film and outtakes re-transferred again in higher resolution for future release.
2012: Film due out for 50th anniversary of “Love Me Do”, but plans are again scrapped.
2012: Richard Porter learns from insider that the film may be released in 2014 or 2015.
2012: Ringo says: “One day that will come out, but we’re not thinking about it right now”.
2013: The “Let It Be…Naked” album released on iTunes and two videos made available for download: “Get Back” and “Don’t Let Me Down” – both compiled in 2003 of outtakes from the original “Let It Be” movie.
2013: “Help!”, “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Yellow Submarine” restored and released on Blu-ray.
2014: “A Hard Day’s Night” released on Blu-ray.
2015: Ringo confirms that “Let It Be” will eventually be released, just not this year.
2015: The last 34 minutes of Furmanek’s unpublished 1992 restoration uploaded on YouTube
2015: Apple releases a collection of The Beatles’ promotional films on Blu-ray and DVD. The material from “Let It Be” looks unrestored. This triggers speculation that Apple saves the restored version for a later stand-alone release.
2016: Bootleg company HMC releases the 1992 restoration of the film on a DVD+CD package in NTSC and an aspect ratio of 4:3, with the lower part of the picture cropped.
2016: Paul tells Rolling Stone that he keeps promoting a release of the film internally.
2017: In an interview with the film’s Cinematographer Tony Richmond in February, it was revealed that “Since then, we remastered it for DVD and there were so many outtakes that weren’t used in the film that really show the acrimony between all of the Beatles. But that’s still being held up by George Harrison’s estate and his wife and Yoko Ono because they don’t want the acrimony shown.”
2018: A new movie is being planned: In an interview with a radio station in Quebec, Canada in September, Paul McCartney was asked about the fate of the Beatles’ “Let It Be” film. “We keep talking about that,” Paul confirmed, “we have meetings at Apple”. Paul thinks there is “some talk” about making a new movie, re-editing it from the same footage. “Who knows, that may be happening in a year or two,” Paul concludes, obviously knowing a lot more about the subject.
2019: In January, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the rooftop concert, The Beatles announced that a new film will be made, culled from the 55 hours of Get Back film footage available. The new film will be directed by Sir Peter Jackson. A release date is not announced, but the announcement says that a restored original “Let It Be” film will also be made available in conjunction with the new film. However, while there were plans to show the new documentary in cinemas starting in 2020, no plans were made to screen the original “Let It Be” film that year.
2020: On December 20, Peter Jackson introduced a “sneak peek” – teaser for the upcoming film. The footage looks better than ever before. During the pandemic, the film has morphed into a TV series, Jackson keeps adding more and more footage in order to tell the whole story of the “Let It Be” album in his series.
2021: On June 17, 2021, it was announced that the Peter Jackson film is not going to theatres after all, it will be expanded to three two hour episodes and will debut on the Disney+ channel on November 25, 26 and 27. No word about the fate of the original “Let It Be” film.
2022: The Get Back series debuts on DVD and blu-ray in the States, only blu-ray elsewhere. A faulty first run is recalled and it takes time to ship the replacement discs. Meanwhile, several bootleggers have released their own product featuring the series, with more languages available as subtitles than the official product, and bonus material, sometimes including the full “Let It Be” film.
2022: In an interview with Cigar Aficionado, Michael Lindsay-Hogg says that “Let It Be” will come out, but he is unsure of how. “For the last two or three years, the director of photography Tony Richmond and I have been working on the print, so it looks totally different and Giles Martin has been working on the soundtrack”.
2023: In August, the U.S. Beatles fanzine Beatlefan reported of an upcoming relaunch of “Let It Be” that it was exactly as it originally was in 1970 with an upgraded soundtrack made possible by Jackson’s crew, remixed by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks. At the same time, Michael Lindsay-Hogg said in an interview that he was hoping for the relaunch to happen in 2023 or early 2024.
2024: Let It Be finally becomes available on the Disney+ streaming platform in May.
Sessions was a cancelled compilation album of previously unreleased tracks by the Beatles, planned for release by EMI in 1985 but never issued officially, due to objections by the surviving Beatles. The album consists of 13 finished but unreleased Beatles songs. A planned single containing two of the tracks from Sessions – "Leave My Kitten Alone", backed with an alternative version of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" – was also left unissued. The idea was resurrected in 1995 as the greatly expanded three-volume double CDs called The Beatles Anthology with an accompanying six-hour documentary.
However, other bootleg labels came up with their own sets of unreleased tracks.
The Beatles Ultimate Sessions Collection is a 2 CD set. It has a nice selection of rare tracks in very good sound quality. It has appeared under several labels. I have been enjoying revisiting this collection. A detailed track listing appears below.
DISC ONE - US black and white version, includes original "Sessions" mixes taken from DESS "Sessions" (Version 2)
01 Come And Get It 02 Leave My Kitten Alone 03 Not Guilty 04 I'm Looking Through You 05 What's The New Mary Jane 06 How Do You Do It 07 Besame Mucho 08 One After 909 09 If You've Got Trouble 10 That Means A Lot 11 While My Guitar Gently Weeps 12 Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues 13 Christmas Time (Is Here Again) 14 Revolution 1 (take 18) - Sessions (Fake Apple) ST 12373/4 (2LP set) 15 And Your Bird Can Sing (take 2) - Purple Chick Revolver Deluxe Edition 16 She's A Woman (take 7) - Purple Chick Beatles For Sale Deluxe Edition 17 Yes It Is (rechannelled stereo) - Past Masters Vol. 1 (left channel-stereo mixed to mono/right channel-OOPsed version) 18 For You Blue ("Get Back" album version) - Purple Chick Let It Be Deluxe Edition 19 Free As A Bird (outfake) - Upgraded Collection-Highlights 20 Come And Get It (take 5) - Sessions (Fake Apple) ST 12373/4 (2LP set) 21 I'm A Loser (take 2) - Purple Chick Beatles For Sale Deluxe Edition 22 Don't Bother Me (take 10) - Purple Chick With The Beatles Deluxe Edition 23 Dizzy Miss Lizzy ("backing track" outfake) - Help (OOPSed) 24 Revolution (take 15) 25 Hello Goodbye (take 1) - Miscelleneous Tracks (Yellow Dog 2005)
DISC TWO - UK colour version - fake EMI PROMO CD configuration, All tracks taken from Another Sessions...PLUS
01 Hello Little Girl - Hope We Passed The Audition (Purple Chick) 02 Love Of The Loved - Hope We Passed The Audition (Purple Chick) 03 How Do You Do It (Ultra Rare Trax mix) - Please Please Me Deluxe Edition (Purple Chick) 04 Do You Want To Know A Secret (take 7) - Please Please Me Deluxe Edition (Purple Chick) 05 One After 909 (true stereo outfake) - DESS "Sessions" (Version 2) 06 That Means A Lot (stereo version) - Help! Deluxe Edition (Purple Chick) 07 Shout (complete - mostly stereo) - Anthology 1 + Around And Around (Silent Sea) 08 Leave My Kitten Alone (stereo version) - Beatles For Sale Deluxe Edition (Purple Chick) 09 I'm Looking Through You (alt. stereo mix) - Rubber Soul Deluxe Edition (Purple Chick) 10 Paperback Writer (alt. stereo mix) - Anthology VHS 11 Strawberry Fields Forever (takes 4,25,26) - Sgt. Pepper Deluxe Edition (Purple Chick) 12 The Fool On The Hill (demo) - Anthology 2 13 I Am The Walrus (reference mix) - DESS Casualties 14 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (unedited take 1) 15 What's The New Mary Jane (complete alt. mix) - Another Sessions...PLUS + Miscelleneous Tracks (Yellow Dog 2005) 16 Not Guilty (unedited take) 17 I Me Mine (acetate) - Acetates (2002) 18 Goodbye (acetate) - Acetates (2002)
HIDDEN TRACKS: 19 Like Dreamers Do - Hope We Passed The Audition (Purple Chick) 20 Besame Mucho (Ultra Rare Trax mix) - Hope We Passed The Audition (Purple Chick) 21 If You've Got Trouble (alt. stereo mix) 22 Christmas Time Is Here Again (alt. stereo mix) 23 Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues (stereo reconstruction using "Sessions" configuration) 24 Come And Get It (stereo demo)
BONUS TRACKS (from original US versions): 25 Medley: Obladi Oblada/Christmas Time (Is Here Again) - Ultra Rare Trax Vol. 5 26 Real Love (video mix) - Anthology DVD
