I was wondering if you guys could make a documentary of the old man that appears in the Get Back documentaries. He's the one sweeping the floors in Twickenham? Thanks and happy new year.
He actually had some background. Glyn had been producing The Rolling Stones since 1964. Allen Klein had been managing The Rolling Stones since 1965. As such, the two had dealt with each other. There were possibly other encounters. But Glyn wasn’t speaking about Klein from one meeting. He was speaking from years of having worked with one of Klein’s more high profile clients.
@FurryUmbreonGaming1188 a fraud manager who ended up convincing John Lennon to let him manage The Beatles. I think the rest but McCartney thought it was a good idea. Years later John Lennon said in an interview that Paul was right all along about Klein. Don't think Klein was the sole reason The Beatles ended up splitting but he sure as heck didn't help the matter
@FurryUmbreonGaming1188 Brian Epstein, their first manager had set up a company called NEMS to look after the publishing rights of the songs (and also their touring, I think, until they stopped touring). The deal they had under NEMS was pretty fair (I can’t remember what percentage of the publishing Epstein and his business partner took, but it was pretty reasonable and would have been open for renegotiation probably - as Epstein was a decent guy). Then Epstein died and Lennon met with Klein who had set up ABKO. ABKO owned the Rolling Stones publishing (and maybe touring etc, not sure). Anyway, ABKO would pay the Stones a salary and keep ALL the rest of the money. It was a really stupid deal, but the Stones were enticed by the idea of a salary. Funny enough, George Harrison didn’t allow his song to go to ABKO. His songs were with Northern Songs.
@@Sunking210 Paul was postulating to Linda's brother as the manager. then, lee Eastman, Linda's father, became Paul's manager (even before The Beatles breakout). later, John Eastern (Linda's brother) wrote The Beatles dissolution contract.
I appreciated that Glyn had a new and fabulous statement jacket in every scene we saw him in in the Get Back docu-series. Definitely the fashion plate of the show!
Bro and I really noticed Glyn's parade of never-ending jackets, too! I learned recently that 3 of the Beatles were wearing the same fashion designer on the cover of Abbey Road. The exclusion was -- of course -- George, who stayed in his denims.
After watching that documentary, Glyn really impressed me with not just his ear and ability, but his people skills. Brilliant at handling the personalities, and you could see the respect that even Paul had for him…and Paul did not easily respect anyone. That had to be earned.
Great interview. I have a new found respect for Glyn Johns since watching ‘Get Back’. The ‘Let it Be: Naked’ album is the definitive release. It’s how it should be.
@@crazyantny9161 He's produced some legendary bands: The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Eagles, The Clash, Led Zeppelin... Just to name a few, so yeah... He's a legend in his own right.
I enjoy the Johns mixes. He literally did what he was told to do. So glad The Beatles finally allowed them to be released. They are a legitimate part of Beatles history that deserves canonization.
One of my heroes in music recording history. If I could rewind my life I'd beg him to let me be his apprentice forever. Still very youthful and entertaining. Enjoyed all the footage of him in Get Back.
Glyn John's a legend. And he was actually producing those sessions more than George Martin was. He was also the sound engineer and the sound is phenomenal. Drums and bass in particular had a weight and a punch to them that was different to the sound The Beatles got in Abbey Road with other engineers using the same equipment, so it was definitely him.
He wasn't afraid to push the needles up. Lyndsay-Hogg did a good job capturing Glyn Johns and the equipment in action while recording in the Get Back series. Watch the meters on George's 8 track recorder and on the desk when Glyn is running it. They're hitting the red almost all the time. Other engineers were afraid to break the equipment if they drove it too hard. It was actually against company policy at EMI/Abbey Road Studios at the time to run the meters into the red. He was the first producer to really say "this is fucking rock n roll - push those levels as far as they go just before distortion and let it rip. We want the sound to explode off the listener's stereo!"
Abbey Road the studio, not the album. Yes they got a brand new 16 track machine for the album. I was referring to George Harrison’s 8 track portable machine Glyn Johns was using for Let It Be. Watch the Get Back series.
@@fuchsiaswing8545 those guys had their difficulties with the artists they worked with sometimes but just IMAGINE how little they needed a resume.. "who have you worked with?" Stones Beatles Eagles The Who Humble Pie Eric Clapton Led Zeppelin Van Halen...
I had been informed that for years Glyn Johns would never talk about working with The Beatles, and now there's an interview of him where he revealed all that went on with Get Back. Worth checking out.
I was amazed to see/hear the the results he got while watching and seeing a sound engineer nightmare. The boys sitting wherever and turning the mics every which direction in relation to the amps and plenty of out of tune guitars. Then to see that some of those takes ended up on the album. Respect! 😃
Just read Glyn's book 'Sound Man' It is a great read. He is level headed about the personalities he has to deal with, which is so refreshing, especially when there is such sycophancy and nonsense written about 'pop' music. A straight man (literally) to the many adolescent egotists he often had to work with.
I got the Let It Be box set for Christmas way back in the day. I loved the album and I thought the book was fantastic. My brother took me to the drive ins to see Let It Be . The Let It Be with the book was $8.00 , a huge amount for a 12 year old schoolboy.
Having recently heard what would have been Glyn John's 'Get Back' album (some version thereof), I must confess I prefer it to 'Let It Be' although I do find the latter pretty good.
I agree! I’m taken back as to how many are talking down regarding the let it be album because I still think it’s a great album! Both versions are great imho
Phil Spector was a waste of space and time and it was bizarre that he and his monstrous ego was ever let near such artists as the fab four. Glyn johns is associated with loads of great recordings. Spector went downhill from the Ronettes onwards and ended up a muderer of peple as well as the beatles
I just looked it up: Glyn Johns produced many of the BIGGEST rock n roll albums in history. Legendary albums. This is just a partial list: The Rolling Stones most groundbreaking and important albums: Out of Our Heads (The debut of Satisfaction and This Could Be The Last Time) Satanic Majesties' Request Beggars Banquet Let It Bleed Git Yer Ya-Yas Out Let It Bleed Exile On Main Street Joe Cocker - Joe Cocker! Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I Of Course The Beatles - Let It Be The Who - Who's Next Quadrophenia Who Are You Eric Clapton - Slowhand David Bowie's last album - Nothing has Changed I had no idea he had his hands on so many iconic albums. Every album is a requirement in a library of iconic albums.
Think he also produced some of the Faces and Roxy Music albums I went through a phase of buying albums and thinking he was the only producer around! he was the best I reckon! very modest!
I’ve been to that amphitheater in Tunisia being a massive Beatles fan without knowing it had any Beatles reference at all, funny old world. They say Libya in the sessions don’t they??
Glyn is brilliant,his work with the Beatles was just great. I didn't like let it be till he hooked it up (naked) i like to imagine the Beatles doing an unplugged like mtv use to produce. That would have been just perfect.. exactly how the grunge guys did it. Like hey jude video. 👍🏻💯
I grew up with the PS Let It Be, so I do like it. But I recognize that it went away from the original concept which was to get back to rock and roll roots without overdubs like Spector’s. And it was Lennon that had harsh words with George Martin at the beginning about not doing overdubs, so it is ironic that he championed bringing Spector in.
I prefer the spectorized album to the naked version on the GJ version. Long and winding road isn't the same without strings. across the universe isn't the same without the angelic woo's. the other versions seem so dry to me. PS was a weird SOB but he was pretty talented as a producer, contrary to public opinion.
@@ArmanBaig Phil Spector was a fantastically gifted producer....in the early '60s. He destroyed "Long and Winding Road," IMO, and I believe he did it because John and Yoko told him to do it: "Slather on the strings, Phil! Paul won't mind!"
I'm getting brain-fried by going back and forth listening to all the different versions. I will say this: the sound on the Let it Be - Naked version of "Two of Us" hits hard. Best version for me.
I think at this point I'm more likely to listen to the Naked version of the album, but the original has its charms. For some songs, the orchestral additions were unnecessary, but Eleanor Rigby and Let It Be definitely benefit from the orchestral arrangement Phil Spector added as they both are soaring, bombastic and dramatic. After watching the documentary though, most of the songs work much better in the form they were created and recorded - raw, stripped down, live rock and roll.
I don't understand why Mr Johns slagged off the Phil Spector version, but then said that the good one is a bootleg, without mentioning "Let It Be (Naked)" -- not a bootleg since 2003.
@@bookashkin, the entire original Let it Be film is in RUclips somewhere. I found it and watched it several months ago. Try searching, it will eventually come up.
What I took away from the latest Peter Jackson special Get Back was that all of the Beatles weren't that keen on going to Tunisia - especially when their fan base was in the UK and Europe and the guy pushing it the most over and over and over and over was the young producer/director filming the fab four for the cpuple of weeks. Only Beatle who was all in for playing live in front of an audience was Ringo but I don't think Ringo not liking the food was a factor in the decision
@@One.Zero.One101 and yet, in 1971, Pink Floyd took their bespoke PA system and multitrack to Pompeii and made a live film performing to the ghosts of Pompeii, and we are still watching that and it's regarded as epic. Floyd were on EMI and recorded at Abbey Road, but they already had a bespoke quad PA and light show, while the Beatles had 25w combos. John even says something like, "We are still think of four blokes and some amps and speakers." The Beatles should have had the best gear and tour facilities in the world but they didn't.
I’ve always loved the Let It Be album but I think the addition of “Don’t Let Me Down” would have made it even stronger and that it was a mistake to leave it out.
I completely agree. I think Spector worked miracles with those recordings. His only mistake was not including Don't Let Me Down as you said. Strange too because it was very much featured in the film. Let It Be Naked was kind of a dupe on the fans. It wasn't really naked or what it would've been without Spector. They actually tried to emulate Spector's edits on I Me Mine, but failed. Also the Frankenstein editing of the two roof top versions of I Got A Feeling is perplexing. The first version (The one that Spector used) was far superior. The Let It Be Naked version is just plain wrong.
I was 12 years old when I bought Let it Be and I loved it with an uncritical ear, everything about it. Even the strings and schmaltzy "ah ah ah" choir on the Long and Winding Road. So I still have a sentimental attachment to the version originally released and I'm a little tired of people picking on it!
The "schmaltzy" Spector versions will one day regain their rightful place as the greatest versions. Right not its too soon to see the light. "Stripped down" is the hip ethos in our time.
Spector's versions suck. They'll never be regarded highly. Never. Schmaltzy, muddy shite. Yeah, I used to love them too, for lack of fuck-else. Once I heard Glyn's mixes I couldn't listen to Spectorized crap ever again. Naked was ok by me.
@@Frip36 opinions are like arseholes and yours here is leathery and loose. The players, the audiophiles, the critics alike agree, in near unison, that Spector took a self-aggrandising shite on those tracks. Your appreciation of them is rose tinted, underpinned by nostalgia and yearning - a heady brew, most certainly, but in this case it's much too salty to serve to a discerning customer.
The strings are beautiful and genius but they take away rather than add in my opinion. They had the ability to create a complete sound and they really just muddied it up and hid the genius of Billy Preston
Let It Be Naked is superb. So they got there in the end. Like many other fans, I hated Spector's production of that album. But I always thought the songs were all great except Dig It and Maggie Mae. And it should have included Don't Let Me Down. Well Naked has done all those things. No longer having to listen to Dig It and Maggie Mae that have been taken off. All the other 11 songs sound great. And that now including Don't Let Me Down. When I discuss Beatles albums on forums I always talk about Let It Be Naked. The Naked version has made it the great album it should have been. Not one bad song, most being 8-10 out of 10 level imo.
I love Naked but many fine eared audio types dislike some of the technology used on it. Let It Be to me is always unfinished music no 4... I'll always wish they had stopped at the end of January and then after Ringo finished the movie spent another few weeks on it and did their live show by the sea or the hills of Canterbury or whatever. Or maybe Macca had cooled his jets and they'd have called Lindsay-Hogg and crew back in March of 70 and spent 6 to 8 weeks getting 20 or 25 songs finished and resolved the project then taken a few years off or broken up on a higher note.
That original album was, and still is great. I like the more recent, live versions of Let It Be too. Bit of a Shame there was the contention about the whole idea (that it was to be an album played live, and no overdubs), and strings and things were added. Hence the different versions. But the Beatles had bigger worries at the time. They were at the point they were drifting apart. And that's just the way that was, you can't blame anyone or anything for that. Like Paul says; they were like army buddies who'd all got married and were moving on from the old gang. The original album has a very special place in my record collection, over production and all. Give it another listen. I dig a pygmie...
I would have thought at the time that choosing something like the Blackpool Tower ballroom would have been an ideal setting for this performance film concept and Ringo could have easily have had eggs and chips on tap! GJ was a diverse and brilliant producer. Imo so was Phil Spector, if you look at Imagine, Let It Be and All Things Must Pass you couldn’t get a more diverse production.
@@aquatarkus2022 That was Peter Brown's book with Steven Gaines, and definitely tawdry. It does delve into the business side of things well, as Brown was Brian Epstein's chief assistant at NEMS. Very heavy on gossip, but a good read when it delves into the business side of things.
It was that American guy with the cigar , he pushed them to go to middle east after one of the Beatles said they wanted to do a relaxed event for the fans at home. Give a free event during the fans , but they ignored him and the guy pushing Tunisia and tiki torches said what’s the most profitable/ fashionable charity right now and at that point the guys gave up . He kept pushing his middle east idea and that’s where get back came from
I believe Joe Jackson did record a live album of original songs with Big World in 1986 and the audiencewas silent. I wonder if Joe Jackson knew the Let It Be story before he did that? Thanks for posting !
Let it be let’s be serious was a thing only a certain 4 individuals could have done. The songs were stunning. It had a live feel so it’s just about the only time we get to hear the greatest band in history cooking a stew. The material was back to basics with the years of songwriting genius to back it up. They were also a bit drained from all the pressure adulation and hippy ideals side effects. To top it all off there’s a sad sense that it will all be over soon.
They were rusty playing live after three years of studio effects addiction and they played mostly crappy run-throughs of bad songs with a few gems, retreating back to studio gimmickry on final album Abbey Road to save face. Put them up against smoking live bands of 1969 like the Who or The Band and the 'greatest band in history' tag sounds like the mindless hype it is.
@@steveconn yea sure against “smoking live bands of the era” The Beatles weren’t the best, but they and music historians would all acknowledge that anyway. The Beatles were never the technical best at their instruments but please guy there’s NOT even a question which of the bands had the best and most well known songs. Useless millennials these days MIGHT know one or two Who songs, no way they would know any of The Band BUT they will know Beatle songs. Enough said about their legacy. If I wanted to be blown away at a live concert in ‘69 there were plenty of choices other than the Beatles but they were and still are the best.
This guy is a music legend. We are getting to a point where these guys are the last connection we have to that magical time in the world of popular music.
Also produced "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out" for the Stones. Pissed off both the Who & The Eagles tho'...Daltrey felt his voice was mixed too low... told the Eagles "you are not a rock band...THE WHO are a rock band!" "Recording McCartney for Red Rose Speedway he sat reading a newspaper McCartney said "when are you going to start recording us?" John's said "when you play something worth recording i'll start recording you.." Eddie Van Halen worked with Andy Johns said that Sammy HATED Andy Johns because he wouldn't let him get away with anything so we had to have Ted Templeman produce with Andy in 2nd chair. These guys understood production and how to get the most out of the process!
I like live shows. Concerts. Overdubs and stuff like that make great sounding songs too. But I like the feeling I get listening to the whole band playing at once -- even with mistakes and junk. I'm not going to say one version or another is better. I just know for me, I like some of those rejected takes- lots actually.
I know what you mean. On a 3 disk set of The White Album (which includes the Esher demos recorded at George Harrison’s house) there’s a demo version of John Lennon singing “Dear Prudence” that’s just stunning. I almost prefer this over the finished version (almost).
I prefer the rooftop takes of Get Back over the studio version by a long shot. Paul's voice on take 2, the guitars being turned off and on again in take 3, they're so fun to listen to.
i love the Get Back album that Glen Johns did and it finally came out in the Let it be box set. I rather listen to Get Back instead of Let it Be beacuse it as nature intended !!!
@@charlie-obrien Kick Out The Jams by MC5 is entirely live and it's from February 1969. But it's their first, they were unknown so it's not like they risking that much like the Beatles in that situation (or Stones, Animals, CCR, Doors, Hendrix, etc...)
None of the examples being offered -- Time Fades Away, Kick Out the Jams, or Running on Empty -- were exactly what McCartney was aiming at: A single performance, in which an entire album of new songs would be performed live, for the first time, and recorded for release. TFA was cobbled together from various concerts, and the songs were not conceived as an album; Running on Empty was not only recorded in concerts, but on the tour bus and in the hotels. Even Kick Out the Jams was a mashup of two back-to-back concerts; the songs had all been played at many other MC5 concerts, and I expect others from the performances were left off the album.
Yes, it refers to the magnificent ampitheatre at Djem in Tunisia - an historic masterpiece which is much more preserved than the Colleseum in Rome. We went to Djem in 2019 and it was being used for a national exhibition. Breathtaking. A Beatles concert there would have been spellbinding
Yeah, he definitely misremembered. Understandable as it was 50+years ago. Paul had lots of ideas but was the one keen on the UK and roping the police in. So the rooftop idea was an idea pitching to Paul's thoughts.
@@hellsjamfleas I love how at the end Paul turned around, saw the cops on the roof, and let out this WHOOP! like "YEAH I'm gonna get arrested again!!!".
I always found it strange as well, but then found out that Capital Records told Phil not to use it as the song was going to be included on the Album Hey Jude which was released in February 1970.
Or as John and Paul would say: "If we had a pence for every time we did a silly voice during the Let It Be sessions..." (both men's wealth legit measured in billions nowadays lol)
Jimi Hendrix performed in front of a live audience doing new music with the Band of Gypsy's, New Year's Eve 1969 and it was released as the Band of Gypsy's only album. So, it has been done.
Except B o G had been writing and rehearsing for 3 months; half the songs in the concerts had been previously recorded; and there were 4 shows, from which they chose and edited down a selection of half a dozen of the new songs to release as a live recording. That's not at all what McCartney was aiming for a year earlier. He wanted to write a complete, brand new album; and perform and record it live from start to finish, in one go. Mind you, he failed -- mainly, I'd say, for the obvious reason: The band had no manager to make it all work on the logistics side.
They have done it first at Hey Jude And by that time I have read somewhere that Jefferson Airplay had done it before the same year in a terrace in New York
Unless Glyn Johns' choice of tracks was meant to be a 'sound track for the making-of-the-album sort of documentary', his continued inclusion of "Rocker/Save The Last Dance For Me/Don't Let Me Down" completely baffles me. He had it on both versions of his rejected offerings to The Beatles/EMI. Granted: some of his mixes were great, but to think his overall version of the album was better than Phil Spector's is a bit egocentric. His version of "Two of Us" sounds like John and Paul were drunk. To choose studio versions of two songs ("I've Got A Feeling" and "Dig A Pony") that the band performed much better on the roof is a cause of wonder, too. Although Glyn Johns' versions of the album had it's moments, I still prefer the "Let It Be" album much more. I do give thanks to Johns for recording the all the material that Spector had available to make the correct version of the album.
I guess I'm the odd one out but I enjoy the Spector mixes... he fixes the speed of Two of Us... makes I Me Mine rock..... Let It Be has a brilliant guitar solo .... Long and Winding Road is lush and rich. My only gripe with Spector is he dropped Don't Let me Down. As for the Johns mix... One After 909 kicks really rocks... but having Teddy Boy on it was awful.
Yeah you have to wonder whether Spector wasn't given the option of using Don't Let Me Down as it was already released on the Hey Jude album. Spector did a fab job, regardless.
Thanks Marcus and Timothy... never thought of that... however having said that Hey Jude album was a Capitol release... on the UK albums which are the official ones Don't Let me Down is not on an album
If ditching a brilliant song like Don't Let Me Down is your only gripe, you haven't thought about Spector's crimes deeply enough. What he did to the Long And Winding Road is abominable.
@@bookashkin I don't have any gripes, it's a good record. I like it. I couldn't care less what you think of it, your opinion on the Long and Winding Road is of no consequence. Paul hated it so much he used much of the orchestral arrangement in his live gigs. I like the "Naked" version, but it's a different take to the one Spector was given. He did what he did with what he got - and damn fine job he did too. Plausible reasons for Don't Let Me Down being "ditched" have been mentioned above. Pay attention.
In Paul's 1970 letter said keep the orchestra on winding road just turn it down a bit. Paul's version of this song in future live and in the broad street film has horns on it and not naked. I love the original album. I like the tracklist with universe on side one and winding road on two. The naked version is sadder and boring. But i like both. I hate remix and what if albums.
Well i guess they got the real deal Let it be now finally? Sans Phil Spector. I was there in the sixties, its hard to imagine the revolutionary appeal of the Beatles at that dynamic time. But the new films are as close as we can get.
When Spector came around, we said, "Well, if you want to work with us, go and do your audition." He worked like a pig on it. He always wanted to work with the Beatles, and he was given the shittiest load of badly recorded shit, with a lousy feeling toward it, ever. And he made something out of it. He did a great job. -John Lennon, from "The Rolling Stone Interview", 1971
This is one thing in the Get Back footage which keeps cropping up and it is baffling. It's the idea that they couldn't afford anything. It makes no sense. But then nobody else has ever tried to make an album in such a terrible, uncontrolled way before. Glyn is right - the idea that Ringo couldn't get the best food in the world in Libya is laughable :)
I heard that due to Apple set up for every 10,000 pounds they spent they had to earn 120,000 pounds in taxes! Why Allen Klein and Lee Eastman were brought in… to help sort out the business mess and cut out all the expenses of Apple Corp. it was killing them all financially. Good businessmen the Beatles were not, musicians they were great!
For anyone interested, the original Let it Be mix is on spotify now, its called Let it be - naked. A million times better than the absolute grotesque that Spector made out of that record.
"Let It Be... Naked" isn't the Glyn Johns mix, but still worth a listen. "Let It Be (Super Deluxe)" does have the Glyn Johns mix, which I personally like better because it approaches the album how it should have been approached - as a soundtrack to the movie, not an album trying to be seen as a standalone work in its own right.
@@DrFishopolisPHD Thanks for the info. I presumed the naked mix was the original, but having just read the wiki page for the album, it seems that quite a lot of compositing was made. There's an interesting track by track breakdown on the wiki page. Ive never heard the Glyn Johns mix. Will hunt it down
I for one am really glad the idea to do the gig in the Roman amphitheatre didn't happen. It was gimmicky and a real jumping the shark idea. That sort of thing would have been better suited to Paul and Wings. Beatles didn't need no gimmicks! So much more pure and beautiful to see them sitting around at Twickenham or Apple just noodling around as the creations developed.
I too am glad the gig didn’t happen. Listening to them kick around the idea, not once did it sound like a good one to me. I just couldn’t picture it. It doesn’t fit what the Beatles were, or at least what they were doing at that point in their career. Better that Pink Floyd did it, that was perfect for them. I bet they heard about the idea while they were recording at Abbey Road and said, well if they’re not gonna do it, we will.
It wasn't Paul's idea it was Michael Lindsey Hogg. And I don't recall Paul ever throwing his support behind the idea either. Lol Paul kept throwing around ideas that would get them arrested so he almost got his wish ironically up on their own roof top when the cops shut them down.
He had a good point about how The Beatles (being very wealthy and hugely popular at the time) could not afford a personal chef for Ringo in Tunisia? Or even for their earlier trip to India? Were they all just super frugal? They were so big and yet in the Get Back movie they all just stroll in the studio like nothing. No entourage or anything. Totally different than celebs today lol
They weren't THAT wealthy, not like Elon Musk. It was a different time. Record companies, agents were more in control also. LP's were $5.98. Their money was probably tied up in record company accounts and not as ready "cash". Merchanding was not as over saturated and exploited with $50 tee shirts , concert venues were not as big or as lavishly produced, ticket prices were at lot lower and the Beatles DIDN"T TOUR later. Heck Woodstock hadn't even happened! Plus England had huge tax rates (TAXMAN!) , that's why alot of English performers moved to the States or elsewhere. TV was relatively new. But everyone who appears in the Get Back movies was probably getting paid by the Beatles....right... from Producers to chauffeur to people building the sets? Who else would be paying them? Who paid the movie producer, who paid for the 57 hours of film? Look at sports figures , football , baseball players didn't make that much back then either, not like now. The world had just come out of WWII, I think people were more frugal and money wasn't as free and "globablly" flowing. The Beatles were not "Boomers" , Lennon was born in 1940. That being said....they did have chauffeured Bentleys to get them to the studio every day!
Phil Spector was very polarizing with his producing skills. The Let it Be and All Things Must Pass albums are given well deserved criticism today, but his work with Lennon on the Imagine album is fantastic.
Hmm ... I don't think it was Paul who suggested that they go play live in Tunisia and they bring people on a boat over there. I think Glyn John's memory is not accurate. Paul wanted a live show, but he wasn't sure where to do it. In the Get Back documentary I seem to recall Michael Lindsay-Hogg bringing that up all the time.
I grew up with the ‘new phase’ Let It Be al bum. I thought those performances were raw in a good way but tight. The Orchestration on ‘I Me Mine’ was tasteful. ‘Long & Winding’ was over done but it doesn’t upset me as much as some things in the Fab Four catalogue. ‘I Need You’ ( a rather hurried mix) & ‘ Got To Get You Into My Life’ with the tambourine being higher in the mix than Ringo’s drums.I wish Paul had over dubbed some Bass on ‘Across The Universe’ and it had been issued in its original Key.
I did as well. So much has been said and written about the Spector produced mix, especially lately. Now I just got the new vinyl box set and while it sounds a little different, It doesn’t sound better, IMHO, than the original.
Remember film speeds and the translation to digital. An extra frame per second. So all films are slightly sped up for home viewing. All of them. So if you saw a 2hr film at the cinema, it's about 2hrs 5 mins on a dvd or video. So yes. This will speed up the audio. And indeed the key of the song. Think you'll find Paul played it to the right key.
Get back Session songs we’re already a mediocre recordings. But Spector trashed those songs. Especially winding road (and of all George’s songs-they picked worst 2 as sick joke). And u Can’t compare it to tambourine’s volume.
@@newagain9964 I like the recordings and energy, despite the temperature on the Apple roof, the Beatles are in great form. The production of the drums on ‘Got To Get You..’ isn’t up to par. I think Cliff Bennett version is a better recording. Each to their own...
It was. I've got a Bootleg as that's all you can get unless Paul has released it from it's imprisoned cage. It's absolutely dire except for the Rooftop & even then you've tired of it. All these released clips I've seen since I don't have cable were them jamming & composing & he thought that's just not worth including in the film but that's the actual gold dust. Thank God it wasn't binned.
Isn't the bootleg the same as the Naked Version? Or is this just a very old interview? I saw Glyn was interviewed before the premiere of Get Back, they should really get some new interviews with him and others who were involved and are still around.
I purchased a secondhand copy of soundman by Glynn Johnsand it was fantastic. There’s a good reason that his autobiography is becoming more difficult and more expensive to find.
I heard Glynn John’s asked for a credit but Not a royalty for the sessions and he told the band that a credit would be good enough for his career. Everyone was cool with it but apparently John was ‘suspicious’ of his explicitly not requesting a royalty. When John’s explained this to them, he also said (and this seems relevant) that he got ‘no response from John Lennon’. My theory is that was the seed was planted then that became the remixes with other producers, that he was convinced that the only reason that Johns didn’t ask for money was because the mixes weren’t good (or that Glyn wasn’t proud enough of them to request a royalty). I love John but he was a stubborn sonofabitch and when he got an idea in his head, he couldn’t be convinced otherwise (as is evident in the Allen Klein mess for *one example).
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This is research for the documentary What Happened To Claudio?
For more info please go to www.findingclaudio.com/
Spoiler alert - He died in 1981.
I was wondering if you guys could make a documentary of the old man that appears in the Get Back documentaries. He's the one sweeping the floors in Twickenham? Thanks and happy new year.
I love Glyn after watching “Get Back.” He saw right through Allen Klein, and for that he is all the more admirable
Talk about an “if only” moment. Glyn all but calls him a fraud but John wasn’t listening.
He actually had some background. Glyn had been producing The Rolling Stones since 1964. Allen Klein had been managing The Rolling Stones since 1965. As such, the two had dealt with each other. There were possibly other encounters. But Glyn wasn’t speaking about Klein from one meeting. He was speaking from years of having worked with one of Klein’s more high profile clients.
@FurryUmbreonGaming1188 a fraud manager who ended up convincing John Lennon to let him manage The Beatles. I think the rest but McCartney thought it was a good idea. Years later John Lennon said in an interview that Paul was right all along about Klein. Don't think Klein was the sole reason The Beatles ended up splitting but he sure as heck didn't help the matter
@FurryUmbreonGaming1188 Brian Epstein, their first manager had set up a company called NEMS to look after the publishing rights of the songs (and also their touring, I think, until they stopped touring). The deal they had under NEMS was pretty fair (I can’t remember what percentage of the publishing Epstein and his business partner took, but it was pretty reasonable and would have been open for renegotiation probably - as Epstein was a decent guy). Then Epstein died and Lennon met with Klein who had set up ABKO. ABKO owned the Rolling Stones publishing (and maybe touring etc, not sure). Anyway, ABKO would pay the Stones a salary and keep ALL the rest of the money. It was a really stupid deal, but the Stones were enticed by the idea of a salary. Funny enough, George Harrison didn’t allow his song to go to ABKO. His songs were with Northern Songs.
@@Sunking210 Paul was postulating to Linda's brother as the manager. then, lee Eastman, Linda's father, became Paul's manager (even before The Beatles breakout). later, John Eastern (Linda's brother) wrote The Beatles dissolution contract.
I appreciated that Glyn had a new and fabulous statement jacket in every scene we saw him in in the Get Back docu-series. Definitely the fashion plate of the show!
Absolutely! Kept me in suspense and engaged! Lol. I Had no idea he was that freaking cool! Always knew he was talented
or the greatest narcissist.
Bro and I really noticed Glyn's parade of never-ending jackets, too!
I learned recently that 3 of the Beatles were wearing the same fashion designer on the cover of Abbey Road. The exclusion was -- of course -- George, who stayed in his denims.
I recognised one that Brian Jones had worn
@@junaid1 In the same room as Paul and John? Unlikely
After watching that documentary, Glyn really impressed me with not just his ear and ability, but his people skills. Brilliant at handling the personalities, and you could see the respect that even Paul had for him…and Paul did not easily respect anyone. That had to be earned.
Why do you think Paul didn’t respect people?
I would say John is the one that didn’t easily respect others... his respect had to be earned
That's not true, Paul respected the hell out of himself.
Quite the opposite. Are you on drugs? He sounded arrogant
This is the most productive conversation ever.
Great interview. I have a new found respect for Glyn Johns since watching ‘Get Back’. The ‘Let it Be: Naked’ album is the definitive release. It’s how it should be.
What a charming guy. Imagine the history this man has seen and heard. Such a legendary producer.
Define legendary....
@@crazyantny9161
He's produced some legendary bands: The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Eagles, The Clash, Led Zeppelin... Just to name a few, so yeah... He's a legend in his own right.
Dude.. he recorded the freakin Beatles’ rooftop concert. That alone makes him legendary.
@@natalyamartirosyan I know right ???
@@ghoppr71 absolutely. Also his outfits in “get back” are fabulous!
Let it be naked is an exceptional album. Every song is great. Love it. Includes don't let me down too which is great
I enjoy the Johns mixes. He literally did what he was told to do. So glad The Beatles finally allowed them to be released. They are a legitimate part of Beatles history that deserves canonization.
What a Fashion Hipster Glynn was. A true legend of sound .
One of my heroes in music recording history. If I could rewind my life I'd beg him to let me be his apprentice forever. Still very youthful and entertaining. Enjoyed all the footage of him in Get Back.
Glyn Johns is a legend in his own right
What a cool guy. Loved his presence and outfits in the Get Back doc.
Just a heads up to anyone who is curious, you can listen to all the Glenn Johns mixes for the let it be album on the Beatles RUclips channel
Glyn John's a legend. And he was actually producing those sessions more than George Martin was. He was also the sound engineer and the sound is phenomenal. Drums and bass in particular had a weight and a punch to them that was different to the sound The Beatles got in Abbey Road with other engineers using the same equipment, so it was definitely him.
He wasn't afraid to push the needles up. Lyndsay-Hogg did a good job capturing Glyn Johns and the equipment in action while recording in the Get Back series. Watch the meters on George's 8 track recorder and on the desk when Glyn is running it. They're hitting the red almost all the time. Other engineers were afraid to break the equipment if they drove it too hard. It was actually against company policy at EMI/Abbey Road Studios at the time to run the meters into the red. He was the first producer to really say "this is fucking rock n roll - push those levels as far as they go just before distortion and let it rip. We want the sound to explode off the listener's stereo!"
Abbey Road the studio, not the album. Yes they got a brand new 16 track machine for the album. I was referring to George Harrison’s 8 track portable machine Glyn Johns was using for Let It Be. Watch the Get Back series.
His method of mic'ing drums has been recognized by drummer and engineers as the "Glyn Johns Drum Mic Method".
AND he tried to warn John about Klein. Guy was nearly a lot of people's heroes.
@@MASAo7 Definitely
I love the way Lennon referred to Glyn as Glynis in the Get back documentary 🤣
Glynis Johns is still with us, too. She's 98.
Yeah he was a comedic genius that Lennon
As a musician in a band..we all need our Glynis
It was pretty clear than JL didn't think much of CJ
That was his nickname among the industry. Led Zeppelin went as far as to put Glynis John’s in the cover is LZII as a playful jab at him.
What a great honor to Glyn...check him out...anywho 50 years later what a great thing to see him...great book he wrote...his career is amazing.
Glyn’s a legend of the industry. No more to add.
He and his brother Andy are titans in the rock and roll world-two of the very best recording engineers. Their body of work speaks for itself.
@@fuchsiaswing8545 those guys had their difficulties with the artists they worked with sometimes but just IMAGINE how little they needed a resume.. "who have you worked with?" Stones Beatles Eagles The Who Humble Pie Eric Clapton Led Zeppelin Van Halen...
Glyn Jones is a fashion icon
I had been informed that for years Glyn Johns would never talk about working with The Beatles, and now there's an interview of him where he revealed all that went on with Get Back. Worth checking out.
Is this it ? Where is it ?
@@paddyskate I'm curious as well
I was amazed to see/hear the the results he got while watching and seeing a sound engineer nightmare. The boys sitting wherever and turning the mics every which direction in relation to the amps and plenty of out of tune guitars. Then to see that some of those takes ended up on the album. Respect! 😃
Just read Glyn's book 'Sound Man' It is a great read. He is level headed about the personalities he has to deal with, which is so refreshing, especially when there is such sycophancy and nonsense written about 'pop' music.
A straight man (literally) to the many adolescent egotists he often had to work with.
I got the Let It Be box set for Christmas way back in the day.
I loved the album and I thought the book was fantastic.
My brother took me to the drive ins to see Let It Be .
The Let It Be with the book was $8.00 , a huge amount for a 12 year old schoolboy.
Having recently heard what would have been Glyn John's 'Get Back' album (some version thereof), I must confess I prefer it to 'Let It Be' although I do find the latter pretty good.
I agree! I’m taken back as to how many are talking down regarding the let it be album because I still think it’s a great album! Both versions are great imho
@@Kenneth-nVA the long and winding road is pretty aweful
Phil Spector was a waste of space and time and it was bizarre that he and his monstrous ego was ever let near such artists as the fab four. Glyn johns is associated with loads of great recordings. Spector went downhill from the Ronettes onwards and ended up a muderer of peple as well as the beatles
@@drunkenmasterii3250 Spector's version of The Long And Winding Road is camel poo.
@@bookashkin Seriously, the naked version is 100x better.
I was always a Glyn Johns supporter (even his track order is better than the released one), glad we got his mixes
I just looked it up: Glyn Johns produced many of the BIGGEST rock n roll albums in history. Legendary albums. This is just a partial list:
The Rolling Stones most groundbreaking and important albums:
Out of Our Heads (The debut of Satisfaction and This Could Be The Last Time)
Satanic Majesties' Request
Beggars Banquet
Let It Bleed
Git Yer Ya-Yas Out
Let It Bleed
Exile On Main Street
Joe Cocker - Joe Cocker!
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
Of Course The Beatles - Let It Be
The Who - Who's Next
Quadrophenia
Who Are You
Eric Clapton - Slowhand
David Bowie's last album - Nothing has Changed
I had no idea he had his hands on so many iconic albums. Every album is a requirement in a library of iconic albums.
His brother, Andy was no slouch too !
Bowies last album was actually Blackstar, which was fantastic.
Let it Bleed and Led Zep 1 sound amazing! Bravo Glyn Johns!
Kudos to him for doing great work. 🎸👏🏻😎
Think he also produced some of the Faces and Roxy Music albums I went through a phase of buying albums and thinking he was the only producer around! he was the best I reckon! very modest!
He also co-produced Family's second album ('Family Entertainment') and produced the first two LPs from the Eagles.
I’ve been to that amphitheater in Tunisia being a massive Beatles fan without knowing it had any Beatles reference at all, funny old world. They say Libya in the sessions don’t they??
It was supposed to be in Sabratha, in Libya. Where were you?
Glyn is brilliant,his work with the Beatles was just great. I didn't like let it be till he hooked it up (naked) i like to imagine the Beatles doing an unplugged like mtv use to produce. That would have been just perfect.. exactly how the grunge guys did it. Like hey jude video. 👍🏻💯
He did great stuff with The Who including Who's Next and Quadrophenia, their two best albums in my view.
No doubt.
I hope to be as cool at that age as the interviewer. Guy on the right is smooth. And what a voice.
I grew up with the PS Let It Be, so I do like it. But I recognize that it went away from the original concept which was to get back to rock and roll roots without overdubs like Spector’s. And it was Lennon that had harsh words with George Martin at the beginning about not doing overdubs, so it is ironic that he championed bringing Spector in.
I prefer the spectorized album to the naked version on the GJ version. Long and winding road isn't the same without strings. across the universe isn't the same without the angelic woo's. the other versions seem so dry to me. PS was a weird SOB but he was pretty talented as a producer, contrary to public opinion.
@@ArmanBaig Phil Spector was a fantastically gifted producer....in the early '60s. He destroyed "Long and Winding Road," IMO, and I believe he did it because John and Yoko told him to do it: "Slather on the strings, Phil! Paul won't mind!"
@@OnePost909 Yeah, I agree. The orchestration almost makes it sound like a cheesy '70s movie theme song.
@@ArmanBaig Spector ruined long and winding road
Better word is "bastardised " it!!!!
I'm getting brain-fried by going back and forth listening to all the different versions. I will say this: the sound on the Let it Be - Naked version of "Two of Us" hits hard. Best version for me.
I think at this point I'm more likely to listen to the Naked version of the album, but the original has its charms.
For some songs, the orchestral additions were unnecessary, but Eleanor Rigby and Let It Be definitely benefit from the orchestral arrangement Phil Spector added as they both are soaring, bombastic and dramatic. After watching the documentary though, most of the songs work much better in the form they were created and recorded - raw, stripped down, live rock and roll.
Eleanor Rigby isn’t on Let It Be nor did Spector produce it
@@calfolk7381 ok whatever, the point remains.
I like Spector’s production of the Let It Be album 👍
I don't understand why Mr Johns slagged off the Phil Spector version, but then said that the good one is a bootleg, without mentioning "Let It Be (Naked)" -- not a bootleg since 2003.
The Best version of the Let It Be Album is actually available in the Let it Be FILM.. If you haven't watched that do so it's great.
Let It Be FILM isn't available :)
@@bookashkin It was, but long since deleted, I have it on DVD, it cost a lot of money. The American is right
@@bookashkin,
the entire original Let it Be film is in RUclips somewhere. I found it and watched it several months ago.
Try searching, it will eventually come up.
@@MarkSeibold Cool! I saw it at a cinema once back in the 1980s :)
What I took away from the latest Peter Jackson special Get Back was that all of the Beatles weren't that keen on going to Tunisia - especially when their fan base was in the UK and Europe and the guy pushing it the most over and over and over and over was the young producer/director filming the fab four for the cpuple of weeks. Only Beatle who was all in for playing live in front of an audience was Ringo but I don't think Ringo not liking the food was a factor in the decision
Both Lindsay-Hogh and Glyn Johns seemed like the young ones in the room, when they both infact were older with longer careers than The Beatles;-)
I was thinking the Ringo's excuse for leaving India was not liking the food. Was this a common thing for him, I wonder?
@@magazinekitchen iirc he grew up with many allergies and was always sick as a kid. Maybe that's why he's picky with food
@@One.Zero.One101 and yet, in 1971, Pink Floyd took their bespoke PA system and multitrack to Pompeii and made a live film performing to the ghosts of Pompeii, and we are still watching that and it's regarded as epic. Floyd were on EMI and recorded at Abbey Road, but they already had a bespoke quad PA and light show, while the Beatles had 25w combos.
John even says something like, "We are still think of four blokes and some amps and speakers."
The Beatles should have had the best gear and tour facilities in the world but they didn't.
Glyn is joking ... Ringo had a film to make, so no way he was off to Tunisia ...
I’ve always loved the Let It Be album but I think the addition of “Don’t Let Me Down” would have made it even stronger and that it was a mistake to leave it out.
Its present in the Naked remix of the album, which is definitely my faviourite version of Let It Be
I completely agree. I think Spector worked miracles with those recordings. His only mistake was not including Don't Let Me Down as you said. Strange too because it was very much featured in the film.
Let It Be Naked was kind of a dupe on the fans. It wasn't really naked or what it would've been without Spector. They actually tried to emulate Spector's edits on I Me Mine, but failed. Also the Frankenstein editing of the two roof top versions of I Got A Feeling is perplexing. The first version (The one that Spector used) was far superior. The Let It Be Naked version is just plain wrong.
The naked version of “the long and winding road” is WAY better. The original is over produced big time.
@@FPChris that’s the only song on Naked that is unequivocal better than the OG version
Totally agree
Great interview ❤️
I was 12 years old when I bought Let it Be and I loved it with an uncritical ear, everything about it. Even the strings and schmaltzy "ah ah ah" choir on the Long and Winding Road. So I still have a sentimental attachment to the version originally released and I'm a little tired of people picking on it!
The "schmaltzy" Spector versions will one day regain their rightful place as the greatest versions. Right not its too soon to see the light. "Stripped down" is the hip ethos in our time.
I Love the strings and choir on Let it be and Long and Winding Road ..also grew up with it.
Spector's versions suck. They'll never be regarded highly. Never. Schmaltzy, muddy shite. Yeah, I used to love them too, for lack of fuck-else. Once I heard Glyn's mixes I couldn't listen to Spectorized crap ever again. Naked was ok by me.
@@Frip36 opinions are like arseholes and yours here is leathery and loose. The players, the audiophiles, the critics alike agree, in near unison, that Spector took a self-aggrandising shite on those tracks. Your appreciation of them is rose tinted, underpinned by nostalgia and yearning - a heady brew, most certainly, but in this case it's much too salty to serve to a discerning customer.
The strings are beautiful and genius but they take away rather than add in my opinion. They had the ability to create a complete sound and they really just muddied it up and hid the genius of Billy Preston
I just read the Glynn Johns autobiography. Just a great read.
Glyn Johns.I remember him being on almost all the hit records from 60s70s80s
Glyn John's autobiography "Sound Man" is a must read!
Joe Jackson wrote and recorded the kind of album Paul McCartney suggested. It's called "Big World".
Was thinking the exact same thing! A great record, too.
Joe Jackson is terrible.
@@ohdear2001 If you don't like Joe Jackson('s music), you're sick.
@@ohdear2001 haha, ok. I'm sure someone will come along in the comments and say The Beatles are terrible as well.
Tom Waits did as well in 1975 with his Nighthawks at the Diner album.
Let It Be Naked is superb. So they got there in the end.
Like many other fans, I hated Spector's production of that album. But I always thought the songs were all great except Dig It and Maggie Mae. And it should have included Don't Let Me Down.
Well Naked has done all those things. No longer having to listen to Dig It and Maggie Mae that have been taken off. All the other 11 songs sound great. And that now including Don't Let Me Down.
When I discuss Beatles albums on forums I always talk about Let It Be Naked. The Naked version has made it the great album it should have been. Not one bad song, most being 8-10 out of 10 level imo.
Still an afterthought when compared to AB, SP, Revolver.
I love Naked but many fine eared audio types dislike some of the technology used on it. Let It Be to me is always unfinished music no 4... I'll always wish they had stopped at the end of January and then after Ringo finished the movie spent another few weeks on it and did their live show by the sea or the hills of Canterbury or whatever. Or maybe Macca had cooled his jets and they'd have called Lindsay-Hogg and crew back in March of 70 and spent 6 to 8 weeks getting 20 or 25 songs finished and resolved the project then taken a few years off or broken up on a higher note.
That original album was, and still is great. I like the more recent, live versions of Let It Be too. Bit of a Shame there was the contention about the whole idea (that it was to be an album played live, and no overdubs), and strings and things were added. Hence the different versions. But the Beatles had bigger worries at the time. They were at the point they were drifting apart. And that's just the way that was, you can't blame anyone or anything for that. Like Paul says; they were like army buddies who'd all got married and were moving on from the old gang.
The original album has a very special place in my record collection, over production and all. Give it another listen.
I dig a pygmie...
YESS GLYN!! Great interview!!
I would have thought at the time that choosing something like the Blackpool Tower ballroom would have been an ideal setting for this performance film concept and Ringo could have easily have had eggs and chips on tap!
GJ was a diverse and brilliant producer. Imo so was Phil Spector, if you look at Imagine, Let It Be and All Things Must Pass you couldn’t get a more diverse production.
The Glyn John's mix is in the Let It Be/Get Back box set.
The "ultimate" Beatle biography imo was called "The love you Take", by insiders that worked closely with them, as friends.
Here there and everywhere by Geoff emrick is a must
"The Love You Make" was a kiss and tell trasharama.
@@aquatarkus2022 That was Peter Brown's book with Steven Gaines, and definitely tawdry. It does delve into the business side of things well, as Brown was Brian Epstein's chief assistant at NEMS. Very heavy on gossip, but a good read when it delves into the business side of things.
Glyn produced my friends first album, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.
Hoggs manic ass said Ringo didnt want to go on the roof but the movie proves our man Glyn right
Glyn’s body of work speaks for itself. He's a titan in the world of rock and roll and worked with everyone. His brother Andy was no slouch, either!
It's funny that Glyn remembers the Tunisia proposal as coming from Paul, when it really was coming from Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
Libia
It was that American guy with the cigar , he pushed them to go to middle east after one of the Beatles said they wanted to do a relaxed event for the fans at home. Give a free event during the fans , but they ignored him and the guy pushing Tunisia and tiki torches said what’s the most profitable/ fashionable charity right now and at that point the guys gave up . He kept pushing his middle east idea and that’s where get back came from
It was a long time ago, memory fades.
That guy was coming out with some awful ideas
I have never seen Glyn Johns as an older man. It’s almost difficult to see him being the same person that worked on Let It Be.
And I only knew him as an older man because I only seen him from the Eagles documentary interviews. So I was shocked to see him young in Get Back.
I believe Joe Jackson did record a live album of original songs with Big World in 1986 and the audiencewas silent. I wonder if Joe Jackson knew the Let It Be story before he did that? Thanks for posting !
And Jackson Browne did a similar live album in '77. " Runnin' on Empty". New songs , live.
Let it be let’s be serious was a thing only a certain 4 individuals could have done. The songs were stunning. It had a live feel so it’s just about the only time we get to hear the greatest band in history cooking a stew. The material was back to basics with the years of songwriting genius to back it up. They were also a bit drained from all the pressure adulation and hippy ideals side effects. To top it all off there’s a sad sense that it will all be over soon.
They were rusty playing live after three years of studio effects addiction and they played mostly crappy run-throughs of bad songs with a few gems, retreating back to studio gimmickry on final album Abbey Road to save face. Put them up against smoking live bands of 1969 like the Who or The Band and the 'greatest band in history' tag sounds like the mindless hype it is.
@@steveconn Except the rooftop session proves otherwise!
@@steveconn yea sure against “smoking live bands of the era” The Beatles weren’t the best, but they and music historians would all acknowledge that anyway. The Beatles were never the technical best at their instruments but please guy there’s NOT even a question which of the bands had the best and most well known songs. Useless millennials these days MIGHT know one or two Who songs, no way they would know any of The Band BUT they will know Beatle songs. Enough said about their legacy. If I wanted to be blown away at a live concert in ‘69 there were plenty of choices other than the Beatles but they were and still are the best.
This guy is a music legend. We are getting to a point where these guys are the last connection we have to that magical time in the world of popular music.
The sound quality on the Roof recordings was brilliant and it was GJ who did that.
Also produced "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out" for the Stones. Pissed off both the Who & The Eagles tho'...Daltrey felt his voice was mixed too low... told the Eagles "you are not a rock band...THE WHO are a rock band!" "Recording McCartney for Red Rose Speedway he sat reading a newspaper McCartney said "when are you going to start recording us?" John's said "when you play something worth recording i'll start recording you.." Eddie Van Halen worked with Andy Johns said that Sammy HATED Andy Johns because he wouldn't let him get away with anything so we had to have Ted Templeman produce with Andy in 2nd chair. These guys understood production and how to get the most out of the process!
I like live shows. Concerts. Overdubs and stuff like that make great sounding songs too. But I like the feeling I get listening to the whole band playing at once -- even with mistakes and junk. I'm not going to say one version or another is better. I just know for me, I like some of those rejected takes- lots actually.
I know what you mean. On a 3 disk set of The White Album (which includes the Esher demos recorded at George Harrison’s house) there’s a demo version of John Lennon singing “Dear Prudence” that’s just stunning. I almost prefer this over the finished version (almost).
I prefer the rooftop takes of Get Back over the studio version by a long shot. Paul's voice on take 2, the guitars being turned off and on again in take 3, they're so fun to listen to.
Glyns mix is my favorite
i love the Get Back album that Glen Johns did and it finally came out in the Let it be box set. I rather listen to Get Back instead of Let it Be beacuse it as nature intended !!!
Neil Young performed a bunch of new songs live on his Harvest tour and released the new songs as a new album called Time Fades Away. That was in 1972
Yes, and as Glyn Johns said, no one had ever done before in 1968.
BTW, Times Fade Away is a great album, as most of Mr Young's releases were.
@@charlie-obrien Kick Out The Jams by MC5 is entirely live and it's from February 1969. But it's their first, they were unknown so it's not like they risking that much like the Beatles in that situation (or Stones, Animals, CCR, Doors, Hendrix, etc...)
Jackson Browne's Running on Empty was all new music recorded live as an album, but Paul did have the idea first
None of the examples being offered -- Time Fades Away, Kick Out the Jams, or Running on Empty -- were exactly what McCartney was aiming at: A single performance, in which an entire album of new songs would be performed live, for the first time, and recorded for release. TFA was cobbled together from various concerts, and the songs were not conceived as an album; Running on Empty was not only recorded in concerts, but on the tour bus and in the hotels. Even Kick Out the Jams was a mashup of two back-to-back concerts; the songs had all been played at many other MC5 concerts, and I expect others from the performances were left off the album.
Yes, it refers to the magnificent ampitheatre at Djem in Tunisia - an historic masterpiece which is much more preserved than the Colleseum in Rome. We went to Djem in 2019 and it was being used for a national exhibition. Breathtaking. A Beatles concert there would have been spellbinding
Because it is newer. The Original Colosseum in Rome is MUCH older.
@@BigSmallTravel
Again, no one on the internet can allow even the most insignificant detail just slide, without chiming in.
@@BigSmallTravel No, it’s because of an earthquake and people using parts of it to build new things.
that would'a been bad ass tho
He said it was Paul's idea to go to Libya but only Hogg wanted to go according to the new doc.
Yeah, he definitely misremembered. Understandable as it was 50+years ago. Paul had lots of ideas but was the one keen on the UK and roping the police in. So the rooftop idea was an idea pitching to Paul's thoughts.
@@hellsjamfleas I love how at the end Paul turned around, saw the cops on the roof, and let out this WHOOP! like "YEAH I'm gonna get arrested again!!!".
I'm glad "Glynnis," lol, is still around. It must've been a real treat for him when his mixes finally got released on the Super Deluxe album.
Thankfully, The Pink Floyd nicked the Roman amphitheater idea a few years later going to Pompeii.
Let it be is a great record in every way. Complainers will complain
Dig It and Maggie May are subpar, Dig A Pony kind of half there, I Me Mine edited together twice to make a full track.
@@steveconn woof. Dig a pony just grows on you, give it a chance.
The decision to not include Don’t Let Me Down on the Spector produced Let It Be was just weird. Then AND now.
I always found it strange as well, but then found out that Capital Records told Phil not to use it as the song was going to be included on the Album Hey Jude which was released in February 1970.
@@johnbuckley8724 So "Don't Let Me Down" was never on the original Beatles LP's? Not on Let it Be. And not on Abbey Road? That's insanity.
Wound up being the B side to Get Back (the single).
But Dig It and Maggie Mae (which are kind of fun in their entirety, but not as Spector snippets) were included.
@@ronroskowske6047
That should have been one of the Beatles famous "double A sides".
John Lennon: "The only damper here is you Glyn Johns" :) What a legend!
Glyn's work is on the Naked version and it's amazing.
I love Glyn Johns drum sound, on the faces stuff those compressed overheads giving that fat sound, what an engineer/producer
If I had a nickel for ever lost master of a classic album I've found rotting in the boot of my Bentley...
You'd have no nickels?? :-D
With green mildew.......?
Or as John and Paul would say: "If we had a pence for every time we did a silly voice during the Let It Be sessions..." (both men's wealth legit measured in billions nowadays lol)
Jimi Hendrix performed in front of a live audience doing new music with the Band of Gypsy's, New Year's Eve 1969 and it was released as the Band of Gypsy's only album. So, it has been done.
His playing on that record is, IMHO, the best on record. My fave JH lp.
Except B o G had been writing and rehearsing for 3 months; half the songs in the concerts had been previously recorded; and there were 4 shows, from which they chose and edited down a selection of half a dozen of the new songs to release as a live recording. That's not at all what McCartney was aiming for a year earlier. He wanted to write a complete, brand new album; and perform and record it live from start to finish, in one go.
Mind you, he failed -- mainly, I'd say, for the obvious reason: The band had no manager to make it all work on the logistics side.
They have done it first at Hey Jude
And by that time I have read somewhere that Jefferson Airplay had done it before the same year in a terrace in New York
Unless Glyn Johns' choice of tracks was meant to be a 'sound track for the making-of-the-album sort of documentary', his continued inclusion of "Rocker/Save The Last Dance For Me/Don't Let Me Down" completely baffles me. He had it on both versions of his rejected offerings to The Beatles/EMI. Granted: some of his mixes were great, but to think his overall version of the album was better than Phil Spector's is a bit egocentric. His version of "Two of Us" sounds like John and Paul were drunk. To choose studio versions of two songs ("I've Got A Feeling" and "Dig A Pony") that the band performed much better on the roof is a cause of wonder, too. Although Glyn Johns' versions of the album had it's moments, I still prefer the "Let It Be" album much more. I do give thanks to Johns for recording the all the material that Spector had available to make the correct version of the album.
Phil’s production techniques are period specific - you either go for the sound or you don’t .
I guess I'm the odd one out but I enjoy the Spector mixes... he fixes the speed of Two of Us... makes I Me Mine rock..... Let It Be has a brilliant guitar solo .... Long and Winding Road is lush and rich.
My only gripe with Spector is he dropped Don't Let me Down.
As for the Johns mix... One After 909 kicks really rocks... but having Teddy Boy on it was awful.
Yeah you have to wonder whether Spector wasn't given the option of using Don't Let Me Down as it was already released on the Hey Jude album. Spector did a fab job, regardless.
@@marcusphelan57 They were big on not duplicating releases back then; I believe he was ordered to leave it out.
Thanks Marcus and Timothy... never thought of that... however having said that Hey Jude album was a Capitol release... on the UK albums which are the official ones Don't Let me Down is not on an album
If ditching a brilliant song like Don't Let Me Down is your only gripe, you haven't thought about Spector's crimes deeply enough. What he did to the Long And Winding Road is abominable.
@@bookashkin I don't have any gripes, it's a good record. I like it. I couldn't care less what you think of it, your opinion on the Long and Winding Road is of no consequence. Paul hated it so much he used much of the orchestral arrangement in his live gigs. I like the "Naked" version, but it's a different take to the one Spector was given. He did what he did with what he got - and damn fine job he did too. Plausible reasons for Don't Let Me Down being "ditched" have been mentioned above. Pay attention.
Glyn Johns is my new hero!
In Paul's 1970 letter said keep the orchestra on winding road just turn it down a bit. Paul's version of this song in future live and in the broad street film has horns on it and not naked. I love the original album. I like the tracklist with universe on side one and winding road on two. The naked version is sadder and boring. But i like both. I hate remix and what if albums.
"Let it Be... Naked" is a great record. "Let it Be" is okay.
The place Glyn Johns is talking about is Tunisia, in the city of El Djem. I always get Glyn John mixed up with Klaus Voorman
It was MICHAEL LINDSAY- HOGG ( Let it Be) the directors idea to go up and shoot on the roof - it happened in a space of 10 minutes -
Well i guess they got the real deal Let it be now finally? Sans Phil Spector. I was there in the sixties, its hard to imagine the revolutionary appeal of the Beatles at that dynamic time. But the new films are as close as we can get.
When Spector came around, we said, "Well, if you want to work with us, go and do your audition." He worked like a pig on it. He always wanted to work with the Beatles, and he was given the shittiest load of badly recorded shit, with a lousy feeling toward it, ever. And he made something out of it. He did a great job.
-John Lennon, from "The Rolling Stone Interview", 1971
This is one thing in the Get Back footage which keeps cropping up and it is baffling. It's the idea that they couldn't afford anything. It makes no sense. But then nobody else has ever tried to make an album in such a terrible, uncontrolled way before.
Glyn is right - the idea that Ringo couldn't get the best food in the world in Libya is laughable :)
I heard that due to Apple set up for every 10,000 pounds they spent they had to earn 120,000 pounds in taxes! Why Allen Klein and Lee Eastman were brought in… to help sort out the business mess and cut out all the expenses of Apple Corp. it was killing them all financially.
Good businessmen the Beatles were not, musicians they were great!
@@markking6812 Good thing Neil Aspinall agreed to return to them and lead Apple
RE Glyn's point about no one recording albums live in front of audiences, Snarky Puppy recorded their last few albums in this way.
For anyone interested, the original Let it Be mix is on spotify now, its called Let it be - naked. A million times better than the absolute grotesque that Spector made out of that record.
And the super deluxe with Glyn John's mixes
Let it be "Naked" is a great....unlike the original.
"Let It Be... Naked" isn't the Glyn Johns mix, but still worth a listen. "Let It Be (Super Deluxe)" does have the Glyn Johns mix, which I personally like better because it approaches the album how it should have been approached - as a soundtrack to the movie, not an album trying to be seen as a standalone work in its own right.
@@DrFishopolisPHD Thanks for the info. I presumed the naked mix was the original, but having just read the wiki page for the album, it seems that quite a lot of compositing was made. There's an interesting track by track breakdown on the wiki page. Ive never heard the Glyn Johns mix. Will hunt it down
It’s alright. The Long and Winding Road is the only standout from Naked.
I for one am really glad the idea to do the gig in the Roman amphitheatre didn't happen. It was gimmicky and a real jumping the shark idea. That sort of thing would have been better suited to Paul and Wings. Beatles didn't need no gimmicks! So much more pure and beautiful to see them sitting around at Twickenham or Apple just noodling around as the creations developed.
They had gigantic egos. Fame really messes with the mind.
So I guess Pink Floyd jumped the shark with "Live at Pompeii?"
I too am glad the gig didn’t happen. Listening to them kick around the idea, not once did it sound like a good one to me. I just couldn’t picture it. It doesn’t fit what the Beatles were, or at least what they were doing at that point in their career. Better that Pink Floyd did it, that was perfect for them. I bet they heard about the idea while they were recording at Abbey Road and said, well if they’re not gonna do it, we will.
It wasn't Paul's idea it was Michael Lindsey Hogg. And I don't recall Paul ever throwing his support behind the idea either. Lol Paul kept throwing around ideas that would get them arrested so he almost got his wish ironically up on their own roof top when the cops shut them down.
He had a good point about how The Beatles (being very wealthy and hugely popular at the time) could not afford a personal chef for Ringo in Tunisia? Or even for their earlier trip to India? Were they all just super frugal? They were so big and yet in the Get Back movie they all just stroll in the studio like nothing. No entourage or anything. Totally different than celebs today lol
To put it simply....said money was not in their pockets. Finances were a mess.
They weren't THAT wealthy, not like Elon Musk. It was a different time. Record companies, agents were more in control also. LP's were $5.98. Their money was probably tied up in record company accounts and not as ready "cash". Merchanding was not as over saturated and exploited with $50 tee shirts , concert venues were not as big or as lavishly produced, ticket prices were at lot lower and the Beatles DIDN"T TOUR later. Heck Woodstock hadn't even happened!
Plus England had huge tax rates (TAXMAN!) , that's why alot of English performers moved to the States or elsewhere. TV was relatively new. But everyone who appears in the Get Back movies was probably getting paid by the Beatles....right... from Producers to chauffeur to people building the sets? Who else would be paying them? Who paid the movie producer, who paid for the 57 hours of film?
Look at sports figures , football , baseball players didn't make that much back then either, not like now. The world had just come out of WWII, I think people were more frugal and money wasn't as free and "globablly" flowing. The Beatles were not "Boomers" , Lennon was born in 1940.
That being said....they did have chauffeured Bentleys to get them to the studio every day!
The reason Ringo wouldn’t go to Tunisia was he was about to start a film with Peter Sellers. Thought that was quite clear in the documentary.
Phil Spector was very polarizing with his producing skills. The Let it Be and All Things Must Pass albums are given well deserved criticism today, but his work with Lennon on the Imagine album is fantastic.
I think Phil Spector was great for Let It Be. A number 1 album with 3 number one hits in the Billboard chart can’t be called a disappointment.
@@ricardolopezrago1688 Many will say it achieved those heights in spite of Spector's production, not because of it.
And they were sooo young
Can we just talk about Glyn's amazing clothing at the time? 🕺
Hmm ... I don't think it was Paul who suggested that they go play live in Tunisia and they bring people on a boat over there. I think Glyn John's memory is not accurate. Paul wanted a live show, but he wasn't sure where to do it. In the Get Back documentary I seem to recall Michael Lindsay-Hogg bringing that up all the time.
I grew up with the ‘new phase’ Let It Be al bum. I thought those performances were raw in a good way but tight. The Orchestration on ‘I Me Mine’ was tasteful. ‘Long & Winding’ was over done but it doesn’t upset me as much as some things in the Fab Four catalogue. ‘I Need You’ ( a rather hurried mix) & ‘ Got To Get You Into My Life’ with the tambourine being higher in the mix than Ringo’s drums.I wish Paul had over dubbed some Bass on ‘Across The Universe’ and it had been issued in its original Key.
I did as well. So much has been said and written about the Spector produced mix, especially lately. Now I just got the new vinyl box set and while it sounds a little different, It doesn’t sound better, IMHO, than the original.
Remember film speeds and the translation to digital. An extra frame per second. So all films are slightly sped up for home viewing. All of them. So if you saw a 2hr film at the cinema, it's about 2hrs 5 mins on a dvd or video. So yes. This will speed up the audio. And indeed the key of the song. Think you'll find Paul played it to the right key.
Get back Session songs we’re already a mediocre recordings. But Spector trashed those songs. Especially winding road (and of all George’s songs-they picked worst 2 as sick joke). And u Can’t compare it to tambourine’s volume.
@@newagain9964 I like the recordings and energy, despite the temperature on the Apple roof, the Beatles are in great form. The production of the drums on ‘Got To Get You..’ isn’t up to par. I think Cliff Bennett version is a better recording. Each to their own...
@@LEEFORDJAGG Benett/Beatles versions of Get U into my life, are to similar to be remarkable.
Were the Let it Be Naked mixes anywhere near sounding like the original Johns mixes spoken of here as only available as "bootlegged"?
It was. I've got a Bootleg as that's all you can get unless Paul has released it from it's imprisoned cage. It's absolutely dire except for the Rooftop & even then you've tired of it. All these released clips I've seen since I don't have cable were them jamming & composing & he thought that's just not worth including in the film but that's the actual gold dust. Thank God it wasn't binned.
Hey Glyn, if you're reading this, where did you get that dapper corduroy coat?
Isn't the bootleg the same as the Naked Version? Or is this just a very old interview?
I saw Glyn was interviewed before the premiere of Get Back, they should really get some new interviews with him and others who were involved and are still around.
I purchased a secondhand copy of soundman by Glynn Johnsand it was fantastic. There’s a good reason that his autobiography is becoming more difficult and more expensive to find.
I read it for free this week - it's at my local library.
Johns' mix of the album would be interesting. I'd like to hear the songs without the "wall of sound" and the "angel chorus" on the song Let It Be.
I heard Glynn John’s asked for a credit but Not a royalty for the sessions and he told the band that a credit would be good enough for his career. Everyone was cool with it but apparently John was ‘suspicious’ of his explicitly not requesting a royalty. When John’s explained this to them, he also said (and this seems relevant) that he got ‘no response from John Lennon’. My theory is that was the seed was planted then that became the remixes with other producers, that he was convinced that the only reason that Johns didn’t ask for money was because the mixes weren’t good (or that Glyn wasn’t proud enough of them to request a royalty). I love John but he was a stubborn sonofabitch and when he got an idea in his head, he couldn’t be convinced otherwise (as is evident in the Allen Klein mess for *one example).
He comes out of the documentary incredibly well, and those clothes...
Is it bad that after watching Get Back, I was personally offended they rejected all of Glyn's mixes 🙄?
Let it be naked has the best versions of all those songs