On Beatles Pedantry

I have seven different versions of the song “Let It Be” on my hard drive.

And for some reason I’ve been comparing the George Harrison guitar solo in all seven versions.

Harrison, at various times, recorded new guitar solos for the song, as the whole project was worked on by various producers between January 1969 and April 1970.

My favorite is, clearly, the guitar solo from the Let It Be album. It’s fuzz-toned. And there’s a cathartic quality to it.

What’s interesting is that Harrison’s earlier, bluesier guitar solo is underneath the album solo in the sound mix. It’s still there, and if you know what you’re listening for you can hear it.

The guitar solo from the single is superficially the same as the solo from the album, but they were actually recorded on different days. Same sort of sound, but a completely different texture, if that makes any sort of sense.

Pedantic, isn’t it? That the guitar solo on a single song could make any sort of difference? But isn’t that what fandom is about — pointless pedantry? 😆

Album, people. I like the album “Let it Be” best. 🙂

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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