LET IT BE 315
Company: Wizardo Records
Matrix Number: WRMB-315-A / WRMB 315-B (stereo version) -- WRMB 315 A / WRMB 315 B (mono version)
Release date: late summer 1975
Country: USA
SIDE A
1. I'M READY/JAM (incomplete) 0:31
2. chat SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME/DON'T LET ME DOWN 0:49
3. dialogue, riffs & count-in DON'T LET ME DOWN (false start) dialogue, riffs & count-in DON'T LET ME DOWN 3:43
4. dialogue, riffs & count-in DIG A PONY (false start) count-in DIG A PONY 3:54
5. I'VE GOT A FEELING 2:50 dialogue
6. GET BACK 3:23
7. dialogue & count-in ONE AFTER 909 2:51
SIDE B
8. dialogue & guitar riffs FOR YOU BLUE (2 false starts) FOR YOU BLUE 2:33 dialogue
9. TEDDY BOY 3:48 dialogue
10. TWO OF US 3:33 dialogue
11. MAGGIE MAE 0:39
12. DIG IT 4:01 dialogue & organ riffs
13. dialogue LET IT BE 4:08
14. dialogue THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD 4:01 piano riffs
15. GET BACK (reprise) 0:40
Sound Quality: EX-stereo (slow, 1st set of masters) / VG mono (slow, 2nd set of masters)
Source:
The original Get Back acetate.
1 to 3: Apple Studios, January 22, 1969
4, 5, 9 to 11: Apple Studios, January 24, 1969
6: original released version (single version)
7: Apple rooftop performance, January 30, 1969
8: Apple Studios, January 25,1969
12: Apple Studios, January 26, 1969
13: Apple Studios, January 31, 1969 & EMI Studios, April 30, 1969 (overdubs)
14: Apple Studios, January 31, 1969
15: Apple Studios, January 28,1969 (reprise of track 6)
COMMENTS
This is an essential record, probably the most important of all the Wizardo's Beatles titles. We finally have the original (pre-Spector) version of LET IT BE, then called GET BACK, from an acetate cut on May 28, 1969, six years after its scheduled release. This is quite different from the tape that was the source of KUM BACK and derived bootlegs, taken from a reference acetate cut around January 30. Unfortuntaly it plays rather slow. Here is what Mr. Wizardo told us about the source of this record: "The WRMB 315 version of the Let It Be acetate was sourced from a BASF 1/4 track reel to reel tape that L. [NOTE. We do not publish here the names of the producers] got from some collector in England. I remember it had the Beatles stuff on one side and a Roxy Music concert on the other side. I had a girlfriend at the time who didn't like the original track order, so I changed it to her satisfaction when I re-mastered it for the boot. I don't remember exactly what I changed, but I think I swapped the first and last song.". Indeed, compared with the correct sequence of the acetate, Wizardo moved One After 909 from the beginning to the end of Side A.
THE STEREO RELEASES
This record had two different sets of masters done, the first was stereo and was used for pressings with dark blue (late 1975) and light blue (early 1976) labels. It had hyphens separating WRMB from 315 and 315 from A on side A, and 315 from B on side B (see photo here below). The stereo records were usually pressed at the Rainbo plants (small ring at 33 mm from the spindle hole), but one batch of records from the early 1976 repressings was realized at the Virgo plant (ring at 12 mm from the hole), which Wizardo used when he had some special orders for an old title and/or Rainbo could not work fast enough.
1. Late summer 1975 (photo below the title). The first pressing had an insert with a black-and-white photo and a small rubber-stamped title that was impressed on the white part of the dresses, usually on Paul's trousers, sometimes on his jacket, and in some copies on George's shirt. The label was the usual dark blue Wizardo, replaced with the light blue Wizardo for the records produced in early 1976 with the same insert and pressed at the Virgo plant.
Early 1976. In early 1976 new inserts were made. This was a normal habit for the company, and Mr. Wizardo explained to us the reason why: "As far as the different titles WRMB 315 was released under, well, there's a bunch of reasons for this. At this time I was record partners with J. Although we worked as a team, when it came to manufacturing, we tended to handle sales independently. As a result, we had separate order forms that sometimes listed the same records with different titles. Once, J. was putting together a new sales catalog and rang me up: "Hey, Wizardo baby, what's the title of the new Paul McCartney record we're pressing next week?" "Haven't got it, yet", I replied. Meaning, I hadn't come up with one yet. So of course J.'s new order form listed a "new" Paul McCartney record with the title 'Paul McCartney - Haven't Got It Yet - 1976 American Tour'. (It's real name ended up 'Laser Beams'). Yeah.".
These inserts were made for discs with the light blue generic Wizardo label. Two of them are quite common; one, in reduced size, is titled A B SINGLE ACETATE.
The second common insert has a b/w rooftop photo and is titled THE ORIGINAL "GET BACK" ACETATE IN REAL STEREO (see photo below, under MONO RELEASES). Both inserts were used for records pressed at the Rainbo plants, with the light blue labels, or also the red / blue "Wizardo Rekords Collector's Recordings" for the second insert, as well as for mono records pressed at the Lewis plants (see below).
Two more inserts are known, and these are very scarce, they were probably realized for repressings of a small number of records with the light blue label. One has a photo of the Beatles in concert, with the number 315 on the top left and the title LET IT BE ACETATE on the bottom. The other one is a combination of the photos of the two more common inserts previously cited, with the addition of another photo, and is titled 1970.
THE MONO RELEASES
Starting in mid 1976 several batches of records were pressed at the Lewis plants (deep 2 mm-wide groove at 31 mm from the spindle hole). This pressing plant apparently did not have facilities for stereo records, so a new set of mono masters was cut, with the same WRMB 315 A / WRMB 315 B numbers, wich differ from the stereo masters by the absence of hyphens between numbers and letters. The sound quality is much diminished, not only because it is mono, but also because it is quite unbalanced, with an excess of high frequencies.
The majority of the mono records pressed at the Lewis plant had the insert titled THE ORIGINAL "GET BACK" ACETATE IN REAL STEREO. They had the "Cat 'n' Dog" labels, or the red / blue "Wizardo Rekords Collector's Recordings". Very few copies had the A B SINGLE ACETATE insert, with the "Wizardo Rekords Collector's Recordings" labels, or blank labels. No releases on colored vinyl from the WRMB 315 record were made.
INTEREST. This was an absolutely essential record when it appeared, so the first pressing, on blue label, is indispensable for collectors (***). The repressing from the stereo stampers are anyway valuable, whereas those from the mono stampers are only of interest to completists (**/*).
NOTE. The stereo master was used by Wizardo for a 2-LP set titled THE BEATLES FOUR, that will have its own entry.
The Get Back acetate was copied in a large number of other bootlegs. We prefer to limit the discussion here to the Wizardo release; all the other records will have their own entry. The "Get Back acetate" reappeared in perfect quality and correct speed in the eighties.