I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

Damn I don't want to pay for Hulu but y'all are pushing me toward it.

I admit that the Philip Norman book poisoned me on Paul from an early age, but the older I get the more I love him, despite all you rightly say about his monomania and neediness. And yes, Here There and Everywhere is just so beautiful.

(On another note, does anyone think we'll get the second volume of the Mark Lewisohn, say, during the Biden presidency?)

i dunno. based on what he’s saying it sounds like it could be 5 years or more, easily.

i mean, writing the first one took long enouuh & that’s all pre-studio. imagine the insane archive he’s wading through now, nevermind interviews etc.

I haven’t watched this and from these feedbacks it seems great but the mention of the « yesterday » dream at the Ashers / « certainly it exists already ? » / scrambled eggs lyrics / are way too familiar alteady...

There are a couple of well-worn stories, to be sure, but he never wavers in his joy at retelling those stories. He still seem genuinely amazed that “Yesterday” just appeared out of nowhere. He was always a people-pleaser, but I never got any kind of annoyed or eye-rolling vibe from him. I feel like if someone asked him today, “Remember when you played on Ed Sullivan? What was that like?” he would immediately put himself back in that time and place and would be happy to go on about how wonderful it all was, despite having told the story literally thousands of times.

Contrast with George who, starting around the late ‘80s, despised being pelted with the same questions. On a Simpsons DVD commentary, Matt Groening talks about how, when George came in to record his lines, the writers asked him the same old Beatles questions, and George seemed glum and a little standoffish, giving terse one-word answers. Groening then asked him about Wonderwall Music, and he instantly perked up and went on at length about it.

these are all great examples of why I do not like Paul

This is a nice thing that someone I follow on Twitter wrote a while back: 64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney

I did not expect such enthusiasm for a Fela show, but his description of it (which sounds amazing) does give the impression it burned into his soul.

I haven’t watched this and from these feedbacks it seems great but the mention of the « yesterday » dream at the Ashers / « certainly it exists already ? » / scrambled eggs lyrics / are way too familiar alteady...

― AlXTC from Paris, Saturday, July 31, 2021

His demonstration on a piano of how chords, melodies, and harmonies work is useful.

it’s not going to change your mind if you already hate him

if you are already a fan, mildly on the fence or bear him no ill will you might enjoy it

yeah this sounds like a very good watch for people who can tolerate him, sorry for being cranky

I can barely tolerate him as an interview subject; this is fine and often terrific.

Me neither. Just took a glimpse at a few minutes of the first episode and it seems like Rick Rubin is really able to get some good stuff out of him.

I hate to think what kind of asshole I would look, if I was subjected to the white hot intensity of examination McCartney has had. He’s had to represent the soul of a generation in western culture, and to maintain warmth and affability under those circumstances, well of *course* there’s an act, but he chose to be folksy and generous and not retreat into arrogance or climb on his high horse. At this phase of life I think he is owed whatever respect and accolades that he needs after 60+ years of enriching people’s lives.

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Loving this. I don't know a lot about Rick Rubin and was curious … why him? Googled a bit and didn't immediately find any current interviews explaining how this happened, but I did come across a dead link to an old interview where he was praising the Beatles and dug out the archive.org version:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130627020553/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/06/26/rick-rubin-on-crashing-kanye-s-album-in-15-days.html

Let’s rewind for a second and go back to the beginning. What was the first great song or sound that you can remember hearing?

The Beatles, “Rock ’n’ Roll Music,” the Chuck Berry cover. I was probably 4, and I can remember feeling electrified. That was the first real rock ’n’ roll I’d ever heard.

What is it about the Beatles? What made them work?

It transcends everything. It’s much bigger than four kids from Liverpool. For me the Beatles are proof of the existence of God. It’s so good and so far beyond everyone else that it’s not them.

Yeah this series is great so far, I flew through the first four episodes. Rick Rubin is not someone I would have guessed would be such a good interviewer. It's also nice that they go through some Beatles songs that aren't all/mostly Paul, but he's still able to give interesting insight

just finished it this morning! lovely all the way through. i am glad they spent so much time, in each episode, showing how paul is one of the greatest bass players of all time.

Has anyone mentioned how good Paul looks in it? I guess the black and white photography helps. He looks cooler/hotter than I've seen him for a long time.

Industrial Light & Magic

Ha. That reminds me. When the first episode ended Ob-la-di-ob-la-da started playing and I thought "Oh, they're going to have to fade this out pretty fast" but then the credits just went on and on and on, including, yes, dozens of digital artists, and the song nearly had time to play out. I kind of love that everything that surrounds The Beatles is still such a big deal that even a one-on-one interview in a studio involves such a massive production.

he discusses "Waterfalls"!

So Paul’s also briefly in this Mark Ronson thing that’s also about dudes moving studio faders up and down.

So Paul’s also briefly in this Mark Ronson thing that’s also about dudes moving studio faders up and down.

this is appropriating VH1 Classic Albums culture

rubin is amazing in that dailybeast article, thanks for posting that old link.

I love shows where they move faders. Moar plz

otm

I love it too. It's difficult to find stems of a lot of songs (or maybe I don't know where to look) so hearing an isolated track is always pretty thrilling for me

oh man what's that radio show where a classic rock dude breaks down a classic track playing all the isolated parts? it got some ILM discussion a while back but i can't remember on which thread. i remember episodes on Black Hole Sun, Once In A Lifetime, and The Impression That I Get, but I don't think any of those were how it actually came up in the first place.

Hmm not heard of that but I'd like to if you remember the name. Rick Beato does some of this dissection on his YouTube channel, but he doesn't always have the stems and he's cagey about where he gets them from when he does

Are you thinking of Song Exploder?

I think you mean this?

https://www.955klos.com/thesession/

^^^ yes! that's it, thank you.

Rick Rubin pretending to not have heard any of the well worn Beatles/Macca facts was amusing. "Really?"

Sometimes he went further than that in playing dumb. I think he said something like “were you writing songs of your own yet?” about the early 60s, which led Paul down his “actually I wrote my first song at 13” lane.

I actually found that refreshing. He let Paul do the talking instead of trying to show off his own Beatles knowledge (like, say, Marc Maron probably would have done), and that approach lets less-knowledgeable fans share in the surprise and enthusiasm.

That said, part of me wants someone to re-edit the series with Phil-Hartman-as-Ed-McMahon replacing Rubin. “You know, we were keen on using backwards tapes.” “YES. YOU ARE CORRECT, SIR.”

I finished the show on Friday. I think my favorite moment was Paul’s bodily evident joy at listening to “Check My Machine”

Paul’s bodily evident joy was indeed a source of joy for me at many points. A talking body is much better than just a talking head. Good direction.

5-disc Let it Be box on the way, apparently:

TONY BRAMWELL on Facebook: Let It Be
5 disc box set
Release date
15th October! 🍏☮️❤️@BeatlesFriend

— Harold Lepidus 🌳 (@DylanExaminer) August 10, 2021

Yeah, that sounds pretty reasonable.

FWIW, years ago I boiled down those ridiculous 40-odd disc leak of the Nagra tapes to what I'd want to keep, and I ultimately came up with four-discs of the Twickenham sessions, two discs covering the Apple studio sessions after they reconvened, and then a single disc of the complete rooftop performances on top of a Glyn Johns acetate and my own personal version of Let It Be/Get Back. That's nine discs (really eight full discs worth of material if I were to pair the last two on the same disc).

I almost never listen to the Johns acetate I kept, not when I have my own personal version of the album. The rooftop performances I hear once in a while, and the remaining six discs of sessions are mostly reference, something I sample once in a while rather than listen to completely.

I dug the “Albums That Never Were” configuration of Get Back a lot

Just took a look at it - looks good! I'd probably dig it too. For reference, this is the "Albums That Never Were" config dated January 2015):

Side A:
1. One After 909
2. Dig A Pony
3. I’ve Got A Feeling
4. I Me Mine
5. Don’t Let Me Down
6. Get Back

Side B:
7. Dig It
8. Let It Be
9. Maggie Mae
10. Two of Us
11. For You Blue
12. The Long and Winding Road
13. Across The Universe

For mine, I just pick and chose my favorite elements from official Beatle releases:

Side A:
1. Get Back (45 version, preceded by the "I dig a pygmy" intro heard on Let It Be)
2. I Dig a Pony (Let It Be)
3. For You Blue (Let It Be)
4. The Long and Winding Road (Anthology 3 but with the semi-spoken part replaced with Billy Preston's solo)
5. Two of Us (Let It Be)
6. I Got a Feeling (Let It Be)

Side B:
7. One After 909 (Let It Be)
8. Don't Let Me Down (45 version)
9. I Me Mine (Anthology 3 but without the chatter they spliced in at the beginning)
10. All Things Must Pass (Anthology 3, a cheat but I love hearing it here)
11. Across the Universe (Anthology 2)
12. Let It Be (45 version)
13. Get Back (final live performance from Anthology 3 with John's closing remarks restored)

Assuming they're going to carry on with all this, wonder if Revolver will get the special edition treatment next (I guess Let It Be missed the 50-year anniversary because the sort-of tie-in Peter Jackson film was postponed) or whether they'll use 2023 as the start of a set of 60-year anniversary editions starting with Please Please Me. I guess that would make more sense, though I'm not sure there'll be all that much excitement about it.

well it’s The Beatles, so if there’s a way to delay it further, mess it up or deny their remaining fans you can bet they’ll look into it

cf. thread title

Let It Be Special Edition tracks announced:

[

1: Remix of original album
2: Apple sessions
3: Rehearsals and Apple jams
4: Get Back LP – 1969 Glyn Johns mix
5: Let It Be EP (four songs)
6: Blu-ray audio inc 5.1 surround mix

few tracks on Spotify today, too

Factoring in the "remix" and the four-track EP, the contents feel a lot smaller than expected.