Read Online Beatles' Let It Be (33 1/3) by Steve Matteo - Free Book Online
Authors: Steve Matteo
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playing at a London venue, on a boat, or in some far-off place like Tripoli. There was still the possibility of the group’s being filmed performing live, but instead they would do something in a controlled environment, secretly, with no audience. George suggested that they should take some of the new songs they had begun, add more if necessary, andrecord a new album at their new studio in the basement of Apple’s headquarters. All agreed to George’s conditions and it was decided that the project would continue on January 20. In fact, it actually began on January 22. We shall soon see why this delay took place.
For the time being and through the release of the final
Let It Be
album, 223 rolls of corresponding film and audio recorded over 10 days and amounting to nearly 60 hours of film and synched sound would be left almost completely unused. The Beatles had played over 200 different songs and innumerable jams and improvisations during the Twickenham filming.
Chapter Three
We’re on Our Way Home
The Beatles would now move to their Apple headquarters to make a proper album. During the break between the rehearsals at Twickenham and the sessions at Apple, other Beatles business matters would continue.
January 17 saw the official release in the U.K. of the soundtrack of the film
Yellow Submarine.
The film had premiered on July 17, 1968, at the London Pavilion in Soho. The release of the soundtrack was held up to avoid any conflict with the release of
The White Album.
(As it turned out,
The White Album
was not actually released until November 22, 1968, in the U.K. and November 25 in the U.S.) On January 18, John Lennon gave an interview to Ray Coleman in the offices of Apple, during which he said, “Apple’s losing money every week … if it carries on like this, all of us will bebroke in the next six months.” The quote, which appeared in
Disc and Music Echo,
only further antagonized George Harrison.
Apple, 3 Savile Row, Mayfair, London
Apple Studios was located in the basement of Apple’s headquarters. By January 1, 1969, all Apple business was primarily conducted out of that building, which was situated in a posh section of Mayfair, just off Regent Street, in a neighborhood filled with some of London’s finest tailors. Since 1956, the bandleader Jack Hylton had run his theatrical management firm from the Georgian building. The building came complete with a huge fireplace and oak beams. After Apple moved in, thick, apple-green carpet was installed throughout the building. While the fireplace remained, the oak beams were covered over with cheap, clinical-looking polystyrene. There was also a reversible wall in the studio, with carpet on one side and metal on the other.
One of the first releases from Apple was “Sour Milk Sea” by Jackie Lomax. The song was written and produced by George Harrison. Together with “Hey Jude,” “Those Were the Days” by Mary Hopkin, and the Black Dyke Mills Band’s “Thingumybob,” it constituted what was called
Our First Four,
a set of Apple’s first four singles, released on August 26, 1968.
Lomax later had two more singles released by Apple, and his full-length album,
Is This What You Want?,
was released by the label on May 19, 1969. He spoke about the early promise of Apple. “In the first year there was a tremendous atmosphere there—a creative, drivingforce atmosphere,” he stated. “Things could happen, dreams could be met; optimism.” For Lomax that early excitement didn’t last long. “Then, after the first year,” he recalled, “they (the Beatles) sort of figured out how much they spent—and it was a lot—on different projects. I think they just reversed momentum so much that they went the other way into ‘Let’s stop it all.’ That’s what happened when Allen Klein got there.” Lomax couldn’t help but come back wistfully to how it was at first. “It was nice. It was relaxed. It was easy,” he recalled.
Neil Aspinall was the managing director
For the time being and through the release of the final
Let It Be
album, 223 rolls of corresponding film and audio recorded over 10 days and amounting to nearly 60 hours of film and synched sound would be left almost completely unused. The Beatles had played over 200 different songs and innumerable jams and improvisations during the Twickenham filming.
Chapter Three
We’re on Our Way Home
The Beatles would now move to their Apple headquarters to make a proper album. During the break between the rehearsals at Twickenham and the sessions at Apple, other Beatles business matters would continue.
January 17 saw the official release in the U.K. of the soundtrack of the film
Yellow Submarine.
The film had premiered on July 17, 1968, at the London Pavilion in Soho. The release of the soundtrack was held up to avoid any conflict with the release of
The White Album.
(As it turned out,
The White Album
was not actually released until November 22, 1968, in the U.K. and November 25 in the U.S.) On January 18, John Lennon gave an interview to Ray Coleman in the offices of Apple, during which he said, “Apple’s losing money every week … if it carries on like this, all of us will bebroke in the next six months.” The quote, which appeared in
Disc and Music Echo,
only further antagonized George Harrison.
Apple, 3 Savile Row, Mayfair, London
Apple Studios was located in the basement of Apple’s headquarters. By January 1, 1969, all Apple business was primarily conducted out of that building, which was situated in a posh section of Mayfair, just off Regent Street, in a neighborhood filled with some of London’s finest tailors. Since 1956, the bandleader Jack Hylton had run his theatrical management firm from the Georgian building. The building came complete with a huge fireplace and oak beams. After Apple moved in, thick, apple-green carpet was installed throughout the building. While the fireplace remained, the oak beams were covered over with cheap, clinical-looking polystyrene. There was also a reversible wall in the studio, with carpet on one side and metal on the other.
One of the first releases from Apple was “Sour Milk Sea” by Jackie Lomax. The song was written and produced by George Harrison. Together with “Hey Jude,” “Those Were the Days” by Mary Hopkin, and the Black Dyke Mills Band’s “Thingumybob,” it constituted what was called
Our First Four,
a set of Apple’s first four singles, released on August 26, 1968.
Lomax later had two more singles released by Apple, and his full-length album,
Is This What You Want?,
was released by the label on May 19, 1969. He spoke about the early promise of Apple. “In the first year there was a tremendous atmosphere there—a creative, drivingforce atmosphere,” he stated. “Things could happen, dreams could be met; optimism.” For Lomax that early excitement didn’t last long. “Then, after the first year,” he recalled, “they (the Beatles) sort of figured out how much they spent—and it was a lot—on different projects. I think they just reversed momentum so much that they went the other way into ‘Let’s stop it all.’ That’s what happened when Allen Klein got there.” Lomax couldn’t help but come back wistfully to how it was at first. “It was nice. It was relaxed. It was easy,” he recalled.
Neil Aspinall was the managing director
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