Giles Martin, as with previous Beatles reissues, is producing the upcoming reissue of Let It Be. The reissue comes out this Friday (October 15) about a month before the highly-anticipated release of the three-part film series The Beatles: Get Back directed by Peter Jackson.
In the lead-up to the release of The Beatles: Get Back, Jackson has said how surprised he was to realize that the sessions for Let It Be weren’t the tension-filled awkwardness as originally depicted by Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original documentary. This sentiment was also shared by Martin, who touched on this in a new interview with NME.
“I was surprised by the camaraderie, especially between John and Paul,” said Martin. “We sort of see this as The Beatles’ ‘break-up album’, and of course it wasn’t because they were back in the studio doing ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ [on ‘Abbey Road’] pretty soon afterwards… It was quite a collaborative process.”
He adds, “The strain of ‘Let It Be’ was actually the strain that [John and Paul] put on George and Ringo by trying to force themselves together, and the strain of doing a live show with no songs in two-and-a-half weeks’ time.”
When pressed to detail this strain, Martin said, “What I can get [from the outtakes] is that George was being ostracised slightly during ‘Let It Be’. Because he had all these songs [which eventually became his sprawling 1970 solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’] but you hear John refer to him as ‘Harrisongs’ – he’s got his own publishing deal and he’s come as a songwriter.”
Martin continued, “It’s like, ‘Oh – we should give George a song.’ At this stage, George was writing way more than John was. I think John had some sort of writers’ block – he doesn’t have a huge amount of songs on ‘Let It Be’. I think the attention [John and Paul] were giving one another – almost like they were trying to rekindle their relationship – ostracised George, to a certain degree.”
As previously reported, the Let It Be reissue will be available in the following formats: Standard CD, Standard LP, Deluxe 2 CD, Special Edition LP Picture Disc, Super Deluxe 5 CD/1 Blu-Ray and Super Deluxe 4 LP + 12″ EP. Each format is currently available for pre-order at The Beatles.com.
