Written by: Paul Gleason
To call Steve Matteo a music expert is definitely an understatement. He’s written for every major music magazine of which you can think – including Rolling Stone, Blender, and All Music Guide – and edited the music sections of Update and Nightlife magazines. He’s also worked in radio and written Dylan, a biography of Bob Dylan, and lectured at The School for Social Research in New York. He’s even worked for Pete Townshend’s Left Field Services in various capacities.
Matteo currently is the Music Editor of Pulse Magazine and often appears on radio and television to discuss music.
Matteo’s book on The Beatles’ Let It Be album is one of the finest pieces of writing that we’ve read on the subject, and it was an honor to sit down with him for an in-depth discussion of the album and film.
SE: Thanks for chatting with us today, Steve. Please tell us about when you first heard The Beatles and what grabbed you about their music.
SM: Let’s just say that I heard The Beatles a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. The significance of their music resonated with me almost immediately and at a very young age. Then, poof, like a cloud of smoke, it was over. Long after the breakup, I continued to listen to their music and dig deeper and deeper into the albums and the mythology. The first book on the group that I read and comprehended was probably Hunter Davies’ authorized biography. While the original book is a bit whitewashed and doesn’t cover their entire career, it gives a wonderful flavor of life in Liverpool and London in the 60s. I loved the initial pop of Beatlemania, but then graduated to the wonderful complexity of their Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper albums. The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) remains my favorite, although I have probably listened to Abbey Road and Let It Be the most.
SE: What drew you to the Let It Be album and why did you write a book about it?
SM: Let It Be is a very underrated and raw album, but that is part of its charm. Any album with “Get Back,” “Let It Be,” “The Long and Winding Road,” “Two of Us,” “Across the Universe,” and “I Me Mine” is not a bad album. I was drawn to the album as the subject of a book because Let It Be was a film and an album, which represented the beginning of the end of the group and, in many ways, is a metaphor for the end of the 60s. There are also so many hours of audio and film to pour over that there is no other period in the group’s career that was more documented. Also, when I set out to write the book, three events took place that brought the story into the present. The first two events were that Apple announced they would be releasing Let It Be…Naked, a re-formatted version of the album and almost simultaneously, stories were circulating of a bust of a bootlegger who had hundreds of hours of tapes of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Finally, the entire Phil Spector murder case was unfolding.
SE: Most Beatles’ book describe the Get Back/Let It Be sessions as being fraught with animosity among the band. In fact, at one point during the sessions, George Harrison left the band. But, while dealing with the animosity, your book tells a different story – namely that The Beatles a lot of fun in the sessions. Would you please elaborate on this point?
SM: The sessions were dreary in many respects and were fraught with problems. There were also hours and hours of four guys (and in some cases more), having fun playing songs they loved, mugging for the cameras, and creating some of their most beloved songs. It’s the film that focuses on the tension and chaos of the recording sessions and filming that becomes the focus for many. Tension is drama, and drama makes for good filmmaking.
SE: Many people tend to forget that the Let It Be album came from sessions that were intended to be rehearsals for a live show. What songs were The Beatles rehearsing?
SM: In the beginning The Beatles didn’t really know what songs they were going to play, so at first they just jammed on whatever they felt like playing along with new songs they were working on. After a few weeks they realized there wasn’t going to be any “concert,” so they started focusing on new songs to record. It is at this point that they tried using their own new studios at Apple.
SE: During the sessions, The Beatles took initial stabs at some of the songs that would eventually appeared on Abbey Road. What were some of these songs and why didn’t they get beyond their initial stages?
SM: They worked on “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” “Sun King,” “Polythene Pam,” “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” “Something,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Oh! Darling,” “Octopus’s Garden,” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy.)” Abbey Road was completely different from Let It Be. Abbey Road was intended to be produced by George Martin and have the clean, produced sound the group had exhibited in the past. Some of the “songs” were really just fragments that would end up as part of the Abbey Road suite on side two. “Something” probably didn’t happen because Harrison already had two songs and two co-writes on Let It Be. Even Ringo had two co-writes on Let It Be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd0FpsC87Y8
SE: When I read your book, I was also interested to learn that The Beatles worked on tracks that would later appear on solo albums by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. What were some of these tracks and do you think that they would have worked as Beatles’ songs?
SM: It’s interesting that songs that John, George and Paul were working on during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions would become some of their best-loved solo songs. John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and “Gimme Some Truth,” and George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” “Isn’t It a Pity,” “Let It Down,” and “Hear Me Lord” were all very raw. “Jealous Guy” was actually originally entitled “Child of Nature.” All of these songs, ironically, would be produced by Phil Spector. The Lennon stuff was so simple and very un-Spector-like when they were released on Imagine, although “Gimme Some Truth” really rocks. The work that Spector did on the All Things Must Pass album is maybe the best work he did after his original wall-of-sound work. The album also may be the best Beatles solo album. I’m glad The Beatles didn’t record these songs. This is Harrison at his best. Paul McCartney’s “Another Day,” “Teddy Boy,” “Back Seat of My Car,” and “Junk” are not as far from the Get Back/Let It Be demos, although “Another Day” is very produced and was a big hit. “Junk” is one of McCartney’s most underrated songs, and the production was really unique for him for that period.
SE: What did Billy Preston add to the project?
SM: The Beatles knew Billy Preston since their very early days and first encountered him when he was playing with Ray Charles. It was very casual how he ended up playing on Let It Be. He was in London, dropped by Apple, and George Harrison asked him to join in and play. Billy’s wonderful personality and having a “guest” in their midst while playing and recording put them on their best behavior and eased some of the tension. Billy’s amazing playing has worked well with such British artists as The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. I’ve interviewed Billy and spent time with him, and he’s the sweetest guy – his infectious joy and smile just makes everyone he’s around happy. He’s sorely missed. He brought a more rollicking and funky groove to the groups sound on “Get Back” and the church on “Let It Be.” He is the only musical artist credited on a Beatles album, other than The Beatles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-liwDGzaw
SE: What’s the significance of the rooftop concert and which songs from the set do you think are the strongest?
SM: The rooftop concert proved that even on a cold day in January on the roof of a building in London in the middle of the day, there is a magic about seeing these four guys play together. John really came alive during the performance, and Ringo proves what a vastly underrated drummer he is. All the performances are good, albeit under-rehearsed and a little sloppy in spots, including Lennon forgetting the lyrics, but they really rawk on “Get Back” and “I Got A Feeling.”
SE: What do you make of Let It Be as a film?
SM: There’s no way to sum the film in a few sentences (you’ll have to read the book)! The book really is just as much about the film as it is about the album. Anyone who hasn’t seen the film needs to come to it with their heart and mind open. It’s wonderful just seeing them play on the roof and seeing shots of a people walking around a London street in the late 60s. Some of the performances in the studio and soundstage are wonderful. Part of the sadness of watching the film is that it very much feel likes the end of The Beatles and the end of the 60s. Any of the fun is tinged with melancholy over the end of two things people loved so much and which still influence us so profoundly today.
SE: Please discuss the film’s status as an official release. Will there ever be a DVD?
SM: When I wrote the book, the film’s director Michael Lyndsay-Hogg said a DVD of the film would be coming out soon with lots of extras. Here we are many years later, and it’s still not out. George hated the film, so that could have been one of the reasons keeping it out of official circulation. It will see the light of day eventually I’m sure, but Apple keeps putting the music out in endless formats and configurations. They also keep putting the other films out on Blu-ray.
SE: In your opinion, did Lennon and Harrison make the right move in handing over the session tapes to Phil Spector and asking him to produce?
SM: This is a very complex question and again, I think you would have to read the book and draw your own conclusion. Personally, I like the first official version of the album. For example, I like the over-produced “The Long and Winding Road” and “Across the Universe.” I don’t know how the album would really have turned out if it were a George Martin production from start to finish. I have mixed feeling about Let It Be…Naked, although I don’t think that is how Let It Be would have sounded for sure if Spector weren’t involved.
SE: Finally, where do you think Let It Be rates in The Beatles’ discography?
SM: I don’t know exactly where Let It Be rates. It’s not Rubber Soul or Sgt. Pepper, and it obviously lacks the energy and freshness of A Hard Day’s Night. I think it’s underrated. It has some of their best songs, but the final tracks could have been much better. Great trousers, though!
