And I love how Spector put in John Lennon's little joke at the end of Get Back: On behalf of the band, I thank you, and I hope we passed the audition.
I realized that, Naked or no Naked, Ringo Starr did not sing a song on this album. On every album prior to this, and even after, he had one song he could sing on a Beatles album. What happened with LIB?[/b]
When they release the remastered Beatles albums, they better release the 1970 version! It would be so wrong to omit this masterpiece (as I see it) from the catalog, just because of Paul's hatred of Phil Spector. If he hated him so much, how could he possibly have gotten his hands on this project? Wasn't Paul essentially running the show by this point, considering John's preoccupation with Yoko Ono and Heroin? I just don't get it.
And Paul's disgust with Phil's orchestration on "Long/Road" is puzzling, considering Paul has agreed to orchestration to a lot of his songs in the past. To my ears, its beautiful - and soooo Beatle-y.
Everyone here needs to be reminded with LIB was all about. John Lennon told George Martin that he wanted to get back to the basics - no more "production tricks," as it were. That's the reason, I think, that George Martin wasn't involved in the project. After the fiasco of LIB, John Lennon went back to George Martin and said the Beatles wanted to record a new album with him, and that they'll do "just like the did in the past."
Frankly, its such a 380 degree turn around for Lennon. Lennon was the guy who, around 1965 or so (with McCartney), said they wanted their sound to not be limited to just guitars - that's how they wound up getting into all the weird and innovative experimentation in the studio.
Well, whatever, right? LIB achieved what Lennon ultimately wanted - a guitar-driven album. After LIB, they went back to doing their "studio magic" with Abbey Road.
I think everyone will agree that LIB was a great group effort - all Beatles were involved, since a lot of it was recorded live.
I always wondered why Spector limited the album to such a degree keeping off Don't Let Me Down? Wasn't Old Brown Shoe by Harrison recorded around this time, as well?