The Beatles and the Anniversary Edition of “Let It Be” and their movies

“The new release of the album and the documentation are great,” Ringo Starr said enthusiastically at the recent Zoom press conference attended by the APA. “We found 56 hours of unused video footage. Taken by Peter Jackson, a blessing to us!”

The drummer was “not really satisfied” with the original documentation: “There was no sense of joy.” That’s different now, Star confirmed. “At that time we set a record in a month and then gave the concert on the rooftop. We played again! There is a scene in the documentary where Paul asks: ‘Who likes to play live?’” You can hear me in the background: “I want to!” Star laughed.

“Get Back,” the title of Jackson’s three two-hour films, which will premiere at the end of November, aims to shed new light on work on the album, which went on sale in 1970 as Let It Be. After there had been previous disagreements, McCartney came up with the idea of ​​bringing the Beatles back to their origins. You should record a new album live, with songs composed especially for it. Since the tour was out of the question, it was decided to make a documentary. Instead, the band played their legendary concert on the roof of their music company in London, which police ended 42 minutes after complaining about the “noise”.

Producer Glenn Jones wasn’t planning on releasing a revamped album – which was originally supposed to be called “Get Back” – and instead planned to include studio talks and false entries in the recorded songs in order to keep the session and character alive. The Beatles suspended the entire project in order to record their masterpiece “Abby Road”. After the band split, “Get Back” was released as “Let It Be” in a remake, but now polished by Phil Spector. A good example of Spector’s distinctive sound wall style on the album is his over-orchestrated performance on “The Long Road and Sweat”, which became the Beatles’ No. 20 song in the US.

The new stereo mix for “Let It Be” by Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer Sir George Martin, is based on the Spector production. On Friday, the album will be released on vinyl, photo disc, CD and double CD (with 14 additional tracks). A mandatory Super Deluxe release (five CDs and one Blu-ray with Dolby sound or four LPs and one 12-inch) awaits with new stereo mixes, 27 previously unreleased session tracks and a ‘Let It Be’ EP, the unreleased original LP Previously a mix of Glenn Jones and a book.

At the Zoom press conference, Ringo Starr was also asked about the Beatles’ heritage in general. “We changed the history of music. We wrote songs, not just recorded them. Before that, they were strictly separated: on the one hand songwriters and musicians on the other.” Postscript: “The Beatles Are Still There, The Music Is Still!” “Let It Be” attests to this – the new release in all forms, and the Jackson movie confirms it.