Let It Be (Super Deluxe)

The Super Deluxe version of The Beatles‘ Let It Be album was released on October 15, 2021. The original Let It Be album was released in May 1970, about a month after the band broke up. Although it was their final release, it was recorded prior to the sessions that became Abbey Road. The original concept of filming the band recording an album as a live event was eventually scrapped, especially after George quit the band for a few days over his dislike of the idea. In the end, the entire project was abandoned, but only after enough material had been recorded for an initial version to be produced by Glyn Johns. This version was disliked by all four members, and that was the end of Let It Be (insert joke about how they decided to “let it be” here). The band then went on to record their true final album, Abbey Road, which some (including me) believe to be their masterpiece (as opposed to Sgt. Pepper). After the band broke up, the label brought in Phil Spector to cobble together the now year-old recordings and he produced the album Let It Be. Or, as Beatles producer George Martin quipped, he over-produced the album Let It Be.

The new Super Deluxe version includes a 2021 Remaster of the original album along with the 1969 Glyn Johns mix and a variety of studio out-takes. Let It Be has never been my favorite Beatles album, but songs like “Let It Be,” “Get Back,” “Long and Winding Road,” “Across the Universe,” and “Two of Us” have made it onto playlists I’ve created over the years. This new Super Deluxe version does not suddenly propel the album to the top of the list, but highlights like the Glyn Johns version of “Long and Winding Road” (which removes the strings added by Phil Spector) and the out-take of George’s “All Things Must Pass” are worth pulling out for a listen. In the end, this album just doesn’t have the same quality of songs as in their best albums, no matter how they are produced. Even with all of the work put into this edition, most of these songs still sound more like bonus tracks from The White Album and Abbey Road than like a true Beatles album.

Some of the Faux household’s favorite Beatles songs

Two of my favorite Beatles songs are “Ticket to Ride” and “A Day in the Life.”

Two of Ms. Faux’s favorite Beatles songs are “Here Comes the Sun” and “I’m Only Sleeping.” Her favorite Beatles song is “Can’t Buy Me Love” but it isn’t on the list. I’ll pay for that later, I suppose.

Two of Faux, Jr.’s favorite Beatles songs are “Temporary Secretary” and “Something.”

Solo Beatles

The usual breakdown of mini-themes isn’t on this week’s show, except for the three sets of solo songs by each Beatle. I included some well-known and lesser-known songs. John’s “Working Class Hero” is one of the first songs that people over fifty ever heard with an F-bomb in it. Paul’s “Temporary Secretary” is a fan-favorite from McCartney II. George Harrison’s “Crackerbox Palace” is a song I bought on 45 when it was a hit. I still think it is a great song. It was hard to find three Ringo songs that I wanted to include, so I ended up with the two best and one from 1982 that I had never heard before. It is disappointing that most of his records are weak material and fairly boring covers. Ringo has a brand new four-song release, but it is pretty blah.

The Beatles, a Saturday morning cartoon, aired from ’65 to ’67. The 39-episode series was disliked by the band at the time, but they all later came around to actually liking it. It is not a quality show, but it gave kids a chance to hear Beatles songs, and since there was no MTV back then, it worked as a sort of early video concept.

The Beatles were very reticent to make the animated feature Yellow Submarine because of their dislike of the Saturday morning show. Luckily, they were talked into doing it, thus creating one of the most beloved animated films ever made.

The last live Beatles concert was at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, in 1966. By this point, the crowds created so much noise that they couldn’t hear themselves play and they had to speak to each other through the microphones.

…and this was their last live performance

There weren’t music videos in the ’60s, but this is better than almost every video aired on the first day of MTV.

Here is my favorite scene from one of the best rock and roll movies ever made.

John wrote a lot of great songs as a solo Beatle, but this is most likely his best known.

Paul also wrote a lot of great songs as a solo Beatle. Unlike John, he lived long enough to be part of the MTV era, and therefore he produced stuff like this, love it or hate it.

George didn’t record as much as Paul in the ’80s, but he made his comeback album in 1987 and produced this MTV classic.

And while Paul and George were on MTV in the ’80s, Ringo was on PBS with this classic children’s show.

Paul starred in a movie.

John also starred in a movie.

George was in some films too.

And so was Ringo.