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Author Topic: Worst Beatles Songs :/  (Read 39527 times)
JohnMill
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« Reply #100 on: February 28, 2012, 08:00:47 AM »

You only need to play Let It Be back-to-back with Abbey Road to see what a difference certain elements could make on an album. Considering they were both recorded the same year, why was one such a glorious success, one of the most-celebrated and beloved albums of the 60's, while the other is best remembered for a few good singles and for being a swansong?

I said it in my earlier post, I think Spector gets credit for creating a viable album from the Get Back tapes, but beyond that it's up for debate and always will be. And that's not to say "Let It Be...Naked" was the elixir, in fact I bought that album and was more than underwhelmed by what I heard. There was no spark, no magic.

It reinforced the view even more that the root problems of Let It Be went far beyond the mixes and arrangements. The effort just wasn't there.

What is interesting is that given that 95% of the "Abbey Road" tracks were first rehearsed as potential candidates for the aborted live performance, it could be said that certainly at the time the "Abbey Road" material was viewed as the weaker lot of songs when compared with the tracks on "Let It Be".  Now granted as I understand it a great deal of what would become "Abbey Road" was still unfinished during the recording of "Let It Be" but nevertheless The Beatles chose to focus on the "Let It Be" material in January 1969 instead of say trying to further develop the "Abbey Road" tracks.  

As for the "Let It Be"/"Let It Be Naked" debate: I agree with Ron, "Let It Be" is the better record although by no means should that be considered a ringing endorsement on my behalf.  Personally I wished they would have gone with John Lennon's suggestion and released the "Get Back" record because it would have shown The Beatles for what they were at that point in their careers and effectively broken the myth.  

In the end it should be said neither "Let It Be" nor it's naked counterpart present an accurate portrayal of the music recorded during the sessions as they have both been sanitized in one form or another.  To get the true experience as to what The Beatles were attempting to do during the "Let It Be" sessions one would actually have to look elsewhere.
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pixletwin
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« Reply #101 on: February 28, 2012, 08:08:24 AM »

I actually prefer LIB...N. The running order makes a lot more sense and I enjoy the alternate takes and dressed down production more than Spector's version. It feels like a Beatles album.
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guitarfool2002
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« Reply #102 on: February 28, 2012, 08:16:34 AM »

I go back to several accounts of those around the band saying they approached Abbey Road as the "grand finale" of sorts, the one they wanted to bid farewell with and make it a grand exit. You can hear this in the *performances*, and that's where I'm hearing the contrast between Abbey Road and Let It Be. Everyone knew what the Beatles could do, what potential there was when these guys got down to business. Put the right scenario together, put them in the right atmosphere, and the magic would come out, maybe not as much as in earlier years but it could still be found.

Look at "Ballad Of John And Yoko"...is it a great piece of songwriting? Perhaps not, it's an old-time rocker with John's life in the lyrics. But damn, doesn't that record *sound* and *feel* good when you hear it? It's only John and Paul, strip away all the personal and business issues of 1969, they're playing music together in the studio as if they were 16 playing music in a living room in Liverpool. It's that magic, that chemistry, and it comes out in the performance.

I think they pulled it together for Abbey Road, they got back into the groove again, they brought back Geoff Emerick and George Martin for full participation as they had done in the awesome years of 66-67, they wanted to do it the way it needed to be done. Thus, Abbey Road is full of life.

The times I do see that Beatle magic during Let It Be was on the rooftop - they're playing as a band, and some parts they appear to be having fun, even though George looks bored a lot of the time. This is why I think that rooftop concert has become so iconic - as dreary as they looked and played inside the ol' airplane hangar studio, they did come to life on that roof and played some good rock and roll. If the music they played on the roof had not been good, the concert would not survive as an iconic moment in rock.

Again, are the Abbey Road songs or song fragments stellar examples of the Beatles' songwriting prowess? Some perhaps, some perhaps not. But Abbey Road has a certain sparkle to it that even Spector and his magic dust couldn't capture no matter how much "work" he did with the Get Back tapes, because the band was not into the project as much as on Abbey Road. Even if the participation was knowingly going out with a bang by making a great record.
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Mike's Beard
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« Reply #103 on: February 28, 2012, 09:24:49 AM »

I actually never stated that.
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Yes it was me and I admit I'd overlooked Across The Universe when making that post. However I still stand by my statement that everything else John and George put forward for the album blows.
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« Reply #104 on: February 28, 2012, 09:29:05 AM »

I do like I Me Mine, but it's not like I think it's anything more than a sketch put on the record for a spurious reason.
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« Reply #105 on: February 28, 2012, 09:58:37 AM »

I actually never stated that.
Uh yeah, sorry, that was The Return of the Son of Mike's Beard..  Undecided

Yes it was me and I admit I'd overlooked Across The Universe when making that post. However I still stand by my statement that everything else John and George put forward for the album blows.

You should reconsider that statement, at least where George is concerned. This is a partial list of songs George put forward and recorded/rehearsed with the band during the Let It Be sessions:

Something
All Things Must Pass
Isn't It A Pity
Old Brown Shoe
I Me Mine
For You Blue
Hear Me Lord
Let It Down

That's a partial list, not including covers of things he heard when hanging out with Dylan and The Band, songs he'd do with Jackie Lomax, and other works-in-progress.

Note that on this partial list, you have one smash hit Beatles single A-side, one Beatles B-side, one solo hit single, 2 Beatles album cuts, one title track of a solo triple album, and two solo album cuts.

Not a bad haul for a group of songs that "blows". Cheesy
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« Reply #106 on: February 28, 2012, 10:58:57 AM »

I have to clarify something I wrote about Abbey Road - Again with anything Beatles, it can be frustrating to deal with several different accounts of the same story. I realized there are as many accounts of people working on Abbey Road who say there was no indication it was to be the "last" Beatle album, rather it was just the next project in line to be recorded. What I suggested was based on what I heard, that there was a deliberate effort to do a better job knowing it was all coming to an end. Then there are observers who say certain members were not all that enthusiastic about the studio work unless it was on their own composition.

I guess we have to weigh it all and form our own opinions of what happened. It reminds me of those Anthology scenes where the three Beatles are reciting different versions of the same story.
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« Reply #107 on: February 28, 2012, 11:00:38 AM »

I think John was the only one who knew it was to be the last album.
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Chocolate Shake Man
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« Reply #108 on: February 28, 2012, 11:08:08 AM »

From the things I have seen from that time, it seemed as if no one was entirely sure whether the break was permanent or temporary even throughout 1970. I think Paul's lawsuit against the other three in December 1970 really put the nail in the coffin. It certainly made the possibility of all four playing together quite dim for a few years. John, George, and Ringo though working together a fair amount in the years just after the breakup.
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JohnMill
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« Reply #109 on: February 28, 2012, 11:24:03 AM »

To tell you the truth there are several indications that "Let It Be" was to be the last album.  This is never really expounded upon but if you look at the evidence and the offhand remarks made there was a period of time towards the end of the "Let It Be" project and the month of February, 1969 where it looked as if there wouldn't have been an "Abbey Road" project.  

First off there is a comment by George Harrison in the "Anthology" that he was coaxed back into the group (after quitting during the Twickenham rehearsals) on the premise of the band getting back together and making things tidy.  In fact as much has been made about The Beatles laying down their arms in order to make "Abbey Road", this process actually began at the start of the Apple Studio sessions for "Let It Be" as the tension and backbiting which defined the Twickenham rehearsals were all but absent at Apple.  In fact more times than not during the Apple sessions, The Beatles could be seen enthusiastically working towards their goal of somehow bringing the project to completion and also for the most part enjoying one another's company.

There is however no indication that any other recording was planned at this point as engineer Glyn Johns was about to depart for the United States for his honeymoon and Ringo Starr was due to begin filming "The Magic Christian".  However sometime between the end of the "Let It Be" project and the beginning of the "Abbey Road" sessions something that is rarely spoken about happened.  The Beatles realized that one of the songs they had worked hard about bringing to completion during the final days of January ("I Want You (She's So Heavy)") still lay unfinished.  At this point it is believed it was suggested to them that they should reconvene to record this track in order to fill out the "Let It Be" album, not to start a new recording project like most assume.  For this reason session time was booked not at EMI Studios but at Apple Studios in late February to record this track.  Billy Preston was present and it is believed that along with beginning to record "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" the band also used the opportunity to overdub additional vocals onto "Don't Let Me Down".  Very little has apparently survived the years from this solitary Apple Studios session from February as Apple was in the process of testing out a new mixer at the time and ostensibly for this reason most of this session wasn't preserved on multi-track tape.

The Beatles would then move over to Trident Studios where they would continue recording "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" for the remainder of the month.  Then all of the sudden nothing until April.  Paul McCartney got married, John married Yoko and they had their first of a series of bed-ins and George recorded a few demos at Abbey Road (perhaps in preparation for that solo album he was thinking of).  Then all of the sudden in April, a flurry of activity resumes now at EMI studios which by the end of the summer would result in the handsome LP "Abbey Road".

As George Harrison mentioned in the "Anthology": "It was then decided we should do one better album".  There is however the distinct possibility that this decision wasn't made until two months after the "Let It Be" project ended as there are indications that in the weeks after the conclusion of the January sessions, The Beatles were more interested in finishing up an LP rather than beginning a new one.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2012, 11:25:35 AM by JohnMill » Logged

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guitarfool2002
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« Reply #110 on: February 28, 2012, 12:01:03 PM »

To JohnMill, I just wanted to add a few things to consider: You're talking about what amounted to a period of four days in Feb. 1969, from the 22nd to the 25th. The delay from the last proper session on Jan. 31 was from Glyn Johns as you mentioned, as well as Billy Preston who I guess they still considered an active participant. But the key "missing person" would be George Harrison who was out of action during these weeks in February because he had surgery to remove his tonsils.

So yes, when they got back together on the 22nd, they recorded I Want You on Feb. 22nd and that was it, nothing else was recorded. Those other days were for mixing and editing, then George came into the studio by himself on Feb 25th to record demos of three originals which had been rehearsed during the Get Back sessions.

But - One of the key dates would be in early March when Paul and John called Glyn Johns and asked him to compile, edit, and start mixing an album from all of the tapes they had recorded in January. At this point, it feels like John and Paul at least had put an official "stop" to the work on that proposed album and had given Glyn Johns the power to put it together. Notice they didn't record anything else until mid-April, when Geoff Emerick was again asked to engineer what became "Ballad Of J&Y' and two days later, they started work on two of the songs Harrison had demo'ed back on Feb. 25th.

This work was done a month after Johns had worked on editing and mixing the "Get Back" tapes. Glyn Johns himself would not engineer another recording until early May. Johns later prepared the master for the "Get Back" album with George Harrison and George Martin present on May 28th.

It feels like John and Paul had ended the Get Back project when they hired Glyn Johns to mix in early March. All that was left was the final touches, as soon as Johns had something solid to hand in. I don't think anything that wasn't on Glyn Johns' preliminary or working tracklists would have been considered a part of Get Back. "I Want You" was merely on the shelf, as were "Something" and "Old Brown Shoe".
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JohnMill
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« Reply #111 on: February 28, 2012, 12:11:01 PM »

To JohnMill, I just wanted to add a few things to consider: You're talking about what amounted to a period of four days in Feb. 1969, from the 22nd to the 25th. The delay from the last proper session on Jan. 31 was from Glyn Johns as you mentioned, as well as Billy Preston who I guess they still considered an active participant. But the key "missing person" would be George Harrison who was out of action during these weeks in February because he had surgery to remove his tonsils.

So yes, when they got back together on the 22nd, they recorded I Want You on Feb. 22nd and that was it, nothing else was recorded. Those other days were for mixing and editing, then George came into the studio by himself on Feb 25th to record demos of three originals which had been rehearsed during the Get Back sessions.

But - One of the key dates would be in early March when Paul and John called Glyn Johns and asked him to compile, edit, and start mixing an album from all of the tapes they had recorded in January. At this point, it feels like John and Paul at least had put an official "stop" to the work on that proposed album and had given Glyn Johns the power to put it together. Notice they didn't record anything else until mid-April, when Geoff Emerick was again asked to engineer what became "Ballad Of J&Y' and two days later, they started work on two of the songs Harrison had demo'ed back on Feb. 25th.

This work was done a month after Johns had worked on editing and mixing the "Get Back" tapes. Glyn Johns himself would not engineer another recording until early May. Johns later prepared the master for the "Get Back" album with George Harrison and George Martin present on May 28th.

It feels like John and Paul had ended the Get Back project when they hired Glyn Johns to mix in early March. All that was left was the final touches, as soon as Johns had something solid to hand in. I don't think anything that wasn't on Glyn Johns' preliminary or working tracklists would have been considered a part of Get Back. "I Want You" was merely on the shelf, as were "Something" and "Old Brown Shoe".

I've read a few times that "I Want You" was originally intended for "Let It Be" not "Abbey Road".  Now what could have possibly happened was that after the February sessions, The Beatles realized that "I Want You" was for one reason or another not going to be able to make the cut for "Let It Be" but the fact that they reconvened at Apple Studios, brought along Billy Preston and the same crew they had worked with in January (including photographer Ethan Russell) tells me that initially "I Want You" was attached to the "Let It Be" project.  It just didn't work out that way in the end.
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« Reply #112 on: February 28, 2012, 12:59:16 PM »

If You've Got Trouble.

Agreed, when Ringo pleads "Rock on, anybody" you know it's a dud!
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« Reply #113 on: February 28, 2012, 01:09:40 PM »

I know The Beatles are the best  Grin not because of what the critics say but just because they had an over-all better career than anyone else that ever entered the industry & because they are one of the most influential figures in history ...
Are you Jann Werner by any chance?
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« Reply #114 on: February 28, 2012, 01:50:13 PM »

Imagine if they ended it with their last album being abbey road/ Let it be together for an ultimate ending.
1. Come Together
2. Something
3. Oh! Darling
4. Across the Universe
5. Here Come the Sun
6. Because
7. Let it Be
8. Sun King
9. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
10. Don't Let Me Down
11. Get Back
12. The Long and Winding Road
13. The End
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« Reply #115 on: February 28, 2012, 01:57:03 PM »

Sorry newguy, but your alternate track list takes the sequential strengths of both respective albums and reduces them to zero. (Though Oh! Darling to Across the Universe is an interesting transition).
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Chocolate Shake Man
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« Reply #116 on: February 28, 2012, 02:57:24 PM »

Taking away one of the best things they ever did - the B-side of Abbey Road - would not be the ultimate ending.
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Ron
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« Reply #117 on: February 28, 2012, 08:43:39 PM »

When I first got into all this music I was in high school, and I can tell you guys that although 'let it be" is pretty weak, I thought it was super cool as a teenager.  (this was in the 90's).  I liked how different it was from all their other albums, it just had a different sound and was the ultimate shaggy haired drug addled Beatles record.  My friends and I would listen to it all the time, here we were teenagers who actually enjoyed "dig a pony" and things.  A lot of it was reverence for John Lennon I believe, but don't let your familiarity with the music jade you: even on an album that weak, the Beatles still had the magic. 
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« Reply #118 on: February 28, 2012, 10:25:59 PM »

I'm serious. 60's tape loops for the masses? The insane 'dialogue'? Atonal noise on a multi-million selling record by the biggest group in the world at the time? It's amazing!
but, man, it's Far Out.... man!
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« Reply #119 on: February 28, 2012, 10:29:02 PM »

I actually never stated that.
Uh yeah, sorry, that was The Return of the Son of Mike's Beard..  Undecided

Yes it was me and I admit I'd overlooked Across The Universe when making that post. However I still stand by my statement that everything else John and George put forward for the album blows.

You should reconsider that statement, at least where George is concerned. This is a partial list of songs George put forward and recorded/rehearsed with the band during the Let It Be sessions:

Something
All Things Must Pass
Isn't It A Pity
Old Brown Shoe
I Me Mine
For You Blue
Hear Me Lord
Let It Down

That's a partial list, not including covers of things he heard when hanging out with Dylan and The Band, songs he'd do with Jackie Lomax, and other works-in-progress.

Note that on this partial list, you have one smash hit Beatles single A-side, one Beatles B-side, one solo hit single, 2 Beatles album cuts, one title track of a solo triple album, and two solo album cuts.

Not a bad haul for a group of songs that "blows". Cheesy

You know, it's too bad The Beatles didn't record an album of all George songs, instead of Let It Be.......
This would have been cool...
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« Reply #120 on: February 29, 2012, 12:22:06 AM »

Long Long Long (uneventful)
For You Blue (stupid blues song anyone could have written)
Blue Jay Way (droning, uninspired psychedelic arrangement)
When I Get Home (ugh)
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Newguy562
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« Reply #121 on: February 29, 2012, 12:24:36 AM »

Long Long Long (uneventful)
For You Blue (stupid blues song anyone could have written)
Blue Jay Way (droning, uninspired psychedelic arrangement)
When I Get Home (ugh)
You had me til you said blue jay way & when i get home  Sad
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hypehat
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« Reply #122 on: February 29, 2012, 02:23:30 AM »

Long Long Long is great. and you're mad.
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« Reply #123 on: February 29, 2012, 05:59:54 PM »

What Goes On

BLASPHEMY!
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« Reply #124 on: February 29, 2012, 08:09:29 PM »

Run For Your Life (mainly for those misogynist lyrics)
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