Did Paul Initially Approve Of The Long And Winding Road?

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Rickenbacker325
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Re: Did Paul Initially Approve Of The Long And Winding Road?

Post by Rickenbacker325 »

Lord Reith wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 10:59 pm
tulirepo wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 12:34 pm In Peter Jackson's Get Back there is a sequence in which Glyn Johns makes no attempt of hiding the fact that he fell instantly in love with the take from the 26th. He probably remixed also the "finished" take 19 from the 31st. At least he must have been familiar with it. So why did he still choose the other one for the Get Back album? My guess is that he still liked Pauls vocal better. Paul might sound less assured, but his singing on the early take has a dreamy quality, which he lacks on the last take. And this dreaminess fits the song very well. Besides, Glyn Johns might have mused, the playing on take 19 is not perfect either. So out of two imperfect versions, why not simply choose the one that I like better?
These are all good points but in my view he chose too many ragged and unfinished takes. His track selection was basically settled in his mind very early on when he made those acetates, and he kind of ignored everything that was recorded after that. The Beatles may have wanted the album to sound a bit more informal, but the fact that they rejected it three times shows that he went too far. You could have had a really professional sounding and yet more intimate album simply by including all the songs recorded on the last two days. Those performances were all fabulous.

I mean, I get why he liked the take of IGAF he chose. The vocal is really screamy and great. But George's guitar part is still in formation, and the song doesn't even finish. In these sorts of cases I think he let his own personal opinions get in the way of what his real job should have been, which was to produce a commercial quality album that would be up to normal Beatles standards. I mean, there's plenty of ragged takes on the Please Please Me sessions, but they chose the ones that sounded best overall... because why wouldn't you?

Don't get me wrong, I love the Get Back album - but as a bootleg. That's how I first heard it and it's difficult to imagine how anything that shabby could have been presented to the public as the next Beatles album. They had only a few years before been roasted publicly for putting out an informal and amateurish film in Magical Mystery Tour. Imagine how the press would have savaged an album where they are heard singing out of tune (Save The Last Dance For Me) and playing out of time (Long And Winding Road)?
Listening to the Nagras it was very obvious that for whatever reason they loved that take of I’ve Got a Feeling…the whole “on your what?” ad-lib was very popular especially with Paul…and like you said it breaks down and wasn’t even a complete take. Very strange choice indeed
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Re: Did Paul Initially Approve Of The Long And Winding Road?

Post by Kwai Chang »

Paul knows that the Long And Winding Seconal!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
was given Glory and Grace with Phil Spector's Rx.
It's the highlight of the album.
What Paul won't ever admit is that Phil denied Teddy Boy because it...Well you know why. So does Paul.
He's never gotten over it. He should have thanked Phil twice.
Phil probably had better cocaine, too! So the only thing missing is the concealed weaponry.
Basement concert, anyone???
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Re: Did Paul Initially Approve Of The Long And Winding Road?

Post by Fun 4 None »

Kwai Chang wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:07 am Phil probably had better cocaine, too!
I'm sure he did
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