The Beatles "Let It Be"

The "final" release of The Beatles career. This album was a gift from my mom I think in 2002 or so. As many already know and as I mentioned in my last post this was recorded before "Abbey Road" but released after it in 1970. Originally intended as a large concept album that would coincide with a movie documentary. The idea of the album, originally titled "Get Back," was to capture the Beatles in studio rehearsing and recording. The original album was supposed to be a mix of demos, dialogue, rehearsals and finished songs. The theory seems similar to their "Anthology" albums that were released in the 1990s.

The "Let it Be/Get Back" recording sessions collapsed under its own weight and the Fab Four were barely speaking to each other. They had days of music recorded but none of them wanted to deal with it, so they gave all the recordings to super producer Phil Spector, a friend of Lennon and Harrison, to try and make an album out of it.

He eventually created the "Let It Be" album as we know it. Spector has received a lot of grief over the album but really he was not working with the best Beatles material, the title track, "Get Back" and "Two of Us" are some of their best songs but the majority of the album is not up to par; "Dig it" and "Maggie Mae" are just outtakes and in a way these throw away songs coincide with the original idea of having demos and rehearsals mixed with finished songs. The only song Spector really changed was "The Long and Winding Road," by adding an orchestra and choir over Paul's vocals. Paul complained about this version until the original was released in the 1990s. Also the version of the song "Let it Be" as it appears on this album is different from the single version. The guitar he is much more pronounced and much more raw sounding.

Most people interested in The Beatles will have this album and there is some great music on it but it is one of their more scattered and lesser works.