Beatles - Let It Be (1990)
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Free Music Notes for Let It Be (1990)
Free Music Review: Raw and Cookin'
Hit: 5 Stars
You all know the history to this little gem; so I won't go into that.Some people think LET IT BE is too unpolished and raw in some places,overpolished in others.To me the last released Beatles album is that wild,unpredictable Beatles jam session that we always wanted to sit in on.We also have the sparce(for him)Phil Spector prescence,touching up a few of the bare tunes with sweeteners that never fail to entice.It's a pity that Ringo did not have any tracks to himself on this album,but them's the breaks.To quote John Lennon,"When I heard it,I didn't puke"(although Paul apparently did).
TWO OF US - Straight after digging a pygmy,we have the country rock duo of Lennon and McCartney.The lyrics sum up their friendship in a direct,yet precise way.The dual harmonies are spellbinding.Fades off into:
DIG A PONY - Rolling rocker with hard chords and that unique Lennon wordplay."Dig a Moondog" is a sly reference to one of the names the Beatles went under in their pre-Hamburg days,Johnnie And The Moondogs.Great screaming backup vocals from McCartney.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE - A Lennon discard dating back from India;attempted several times unsucessfully,and given to a wildlife conservation appeal album(called "Nothing's Gonna Change Our World").Spector unearthed it and put female backup singers and bird soundeffects into the mix.A spiritual lyric and vocal;John sounds at peace with himself.
I ME MINE - George Harrison's comment on Apple Board meetings. Part ballad,part rocker;all memorable.
DIG IT - An informal jam session captured on tape.Billy Preston rolls in on keyboard,and John keeps playing the word association game.Apparently,there is a much longer version of this in the vaults;I for one want to hear it.
LET IT BE - After a mocking aside from John,we have Paul's hymn to his long departed mother.The Spector-added choir turn this track into an almost religious experience.George adds some guts to the gospel(so to speak)with an emotionally charged guitar solo.
MAGGIE MAE - The boys jam on a traditional Liverpool sea ditty about a "scrubber". Wish it was longer.
I'VE GOT A FEELING - Two ideas mixed into one;typical McCartney screamer combined with Lennon wordplay.
ONE AFTER 909 - Unusual rockabilly treatment of a pre-Hamburg Lennon/McCartney effort;this track was attempted in 1963,but not released.The boys sound energised on this track.
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD - The version that made Paul see red.
An unassuming,flat ballad when first recorded;Spector added orchestra and choir to make this timeless.Unfortunately,
McCartney was not consulted on the changes;the rest they say is history.
FOR YOU BLUE - George "gets loose' on this jaunty,bouncing bluesy number.Check out his "Elmore James" quip in the middle of the song.LOL!
GET BACK - Or is it the story of sweet Loretta Phart who thought she was a tailor?Unforgettable Beatles rocker with playful keyboard solo by Billy Preston and a classic Lennon "thankyou" to wrap up the loose ends and the show.
Free Music Review: Simply Great Songs
Hit: 5 Stars
After uncovering this CD in my large collection a few days ago and popping into my computer, I remembered again why I once worshiped this
album, and this great band in general. Although I don't listen to The Beatles as much as i used to, there music is still as fresh as it ever was.
Despite plenty of recongniton years after its release (Rolling Stone couldn't help but include this as one of the many Bratles albums to make the cut for 500 greatest albums) "Let it Be" seems to be the forgotten Beatles album. This is not suprsing considering it was released after the band broke up, and its entire existence only seems to remind fans of the Beatles great demise in those finaly two or three years.
For those who have seen the Beatles Documentaries, they know that this album was recorded for a documentary and that during the recording, things were quite tulmutous between the fab four. The Recording sessions took place in a hot stuffy room, and a lot of the stuff was recorded live. This is all greatly reflected on this album, as certain songs (Two of Us, Dig a Pony, Ive Got A Feeling, MAgge Mae) lack that squeeky clean sound that the majority of The Beatles' catalog contains. Still it is these songs that makes "Let it Be" the album that it is. For modern fans of The Beatles, looking to buy this album, they known that most of the other songs are classic singles already accesible on various Compilation albums. Not to put down songs like Get Back, The Long and Whinding Road, or the title track, but for the consumer who's looking to buy this product, be aware these are not the songs you should be looking to buy this album for.
All of the songs i've mentioned so far fall into the endless list of Beatle classics, in my opinion."Dig a Pony" and "I'Ve GOt a Feeling" both have a unique gritty rock and roll sound that cant be found in any other BEatles Song. Harrison also provides two of his best and least well known tracks with "For YOu Blue" and "I me MIne". Then of course there are the hits, which are slightly different from the single versions many others are more more familiar with. FIrst of all, this album contains the far superior version of Across the Universe, as opposed to the B -side version available on PAst Masters 2. Also, i am partial to the slightly modified guitar solo in the album version of "Let it Be", featured here, which is also about 20 seconds longer then single version. If i'm not mistaken, the "Get Back" version here is actually slightly shorter then the single, but it really doesn't make a difference.
LEt it Be is an essential to any Beatles collection, as it features some of their less known rock out tunes still with a WHite Album-esque attitude. Let it Be is simply another one of the many classics this amazing band put out.
Free Music Review: Few gripes with Let It Be
Hit: 5 Stars
This has always been a favorite of mine. I have always liked the melancholy vibe of this CD. Unlike "Sgt. Pepper," "The White Album," or "Abby Road," there is a certain bittersweetness, sadness and longing in the songs. It's as though it were destined to be the Beatles final album. But the songs are not overly depressing. "Let It Be" while morose, at the same time possesses humor (mostly due to Lennon).
A lot of fans have a bone to pick with "Let It Be," the band's second to last recording, and final album to be released. There is very little criticism that I can give this album, apart from its version of "The Long and Winding Road." Any kind of flaw or "sloppiness" people complain of, I see as part of the album's charm. As much as I love "Abby Road" and "Sgt. Pepper," must every Beatles album be as perfectly produced and crafted? "Let it Be" has a hand-crafted, organic feel. I like the sloppiness of this album. I also think Phil Spector did a good job with the production (except for TLAWR). Spector helped give the album a little polish, but didn't go over-the-top with it. As for "Let it Be...Naked," I am also fond of that album, but the original is better. It's too late to paint eyebrows on the Mona Lisa. I hope someday the REAL "Get Back" sessions will be released--with no added anything. Just these songs, in their proper chronological order.
The album starts with the bittersweet "Two of Us," which is Lennon and McCartney's finest duet. Lennon and McCarney's overlapping vocals are some of rocks finest hour. The ballsy mid-tempo "I dig a Pony" is an underrated Lennon classic. "Across the Universe" is beautiful and enchanting. "I Me Mine" is an errie but melodic Harrison number. Although some would say "Dig it" is just filler, it actually is important to the album because it gives the album a little humor and it flows in perfectly with the beautiful "Let it Be." One of the things lacking with "Let it Be...Naked" is the absence of that song. The same is true of the "filler" song "Maggie Mae" which is actually important to the overall sound of the album. "One After 909" is a cool, oldies sounding song, that gives the album a little variety. My one and only complaint with this album is its version of "The Long and Winding Road." I actually am quite fond of this song--but the version here is not the best one available. Phil Spector's orchestration ruins it. The stripped-down version on "Anthology 3" and "Let it Be...Naked" sound MUCH better. "For you Blue" is another excellent Harrison song. The offbeat riff is quite cool. "Get Back" is a cool rocker that is an excellent way to close the album.
In conclusion, I don't think the Beatles wrote one bad song together. EVERY song they wrote was terrific, every album was brilliant. "Let it Be" is no exception.
Free Music Review: Was already Spector-proof?
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not sure I get the re-release of "Let it Be" in de-Spectorized form. (Maybe Paul just didn't like Phil Spector? Or maybe "Let It Be" has other origins than I might think- was it something they kept saying to Phil while he sat at the mixing board until Paul came back with the song of that name?). This couldn't have been the only album from the 60s & 70s to be suspected of being overproduced (understatement of decade), are they going to go back and fix them all? - But it's history, it's the way it was released, and I've been listening to this for so long now that if I notice changes in the re-release, it's likely to sound uncomfortably strange, and... "Let It Be" as in, "don't change it," would be probably fine with me.To tell the truth, I never could never really hear the Phil Spector in it, it had to have been overpowered by the Beatles' own writing and presence, just as it would be hard to deny they seemed to want to "Get Back" to a certain raw, live, more spontaneous, less "canned in the studio" sound, and they got it here so successfully that it's always getting wrongly accused of being rough and sloppy, rather than the "stuck in a blender with reverb, sacharine & strings" (well, okay, but "The Long and Winding Road" is begging for orchestration and it works, well) that might instantly come to mind with the word "overproduced".
I'm not even sure I like the idea of track changes. "Don't Let Me Down" is a great song that's worth of album space, but ditching "Maggie May" and "Dig It" may not be so much removing the fingerprints of Phil Spector, as the fingerprints of something else the Beatles might have wanted to "Get Back" to here, which is just plain having a not-so-stuffy good time. They're such short numbers I can't imagine their omission making so much room that they shouldn't have been included too.
That must sound like making much out of little, but I always thought there was an idea, a philosophy, with "Get Back". I am a little confused where it's going to think the least slick & serious stuff is going out the window even for what short numbers they were, and I can't quite picture what "Let It Be"- and its spirit- is going to become (Not a lot of point even talking about the songs because it's hard to think of a bad song the Beatles, as the Beatles, wrote, starting clear back at Revolver), but whatever this album turns into, you may just want this, too, for what it was, and is. I could try to be more critical, but in all these years there hasn't really ever been anything I'd have actually asked them to change, and the "Let It Be That Is," was plenty.
Free Music Review: On and On, Across the Universe...
Hit: 5 Stars
You know the story: by 1969 the Beatles were on the verge of a meltdown as the musical, personal, and business differences that had grown between them since Brian Epstein's death in late '67 came to a head. So in a last-ditch attempt to rescue what had really become HIS band Paul McCartney devised the Get Back project: the Beatles "getting back" to basic, straight-up rock & roll, live in the studio (and once on a rooftop) without overdubs. Ultimately this only served to erode even further a "marriage" that was already on the rocks, but it did produce some mighty fine music - as captured on 1970's "posthumous" Let It Be.
Neither John nor George had much interest in the group at the time and their contributions (Across the Universe, one of John's best ballads, notwithstanding) may seem rather slight. So it's a bearded, scruffy Paul that takes the reins and steals the show, throwing off anthemic ballads and classic rockers as easily as if he wasn't even trying. And there are two moments (primarily Paul songs though they both are) that showcase the Lennon-McCartney partnership one last time, as bold and as poignant as ever. It's hard to believe that these two were anything but the dearest of brothers after listening to their intertwined parts on I've Got a Feeling, or their loving duet on the stunning Two of Us. The performances themselves are bereft of all the studio trickery that had transformed rock & roll on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's - just the Fab Four (and keyboard legend Billy Preston, enlisted to ease the tension and beef up the sound), ragged but oh so right.
Of course, in such an atmosphere as Let It Be was created in, there are bound to be a few rough spots - a few unfinished ideas here, a little sloppy musicianship there. Not to mention the personal arguments, as chronicled (in part) on the documentary of the same name. But the most glaring is (surprise, surprise) Phil Spector, who was called in to salvage the project at the last minute and whose typcial over-the-top "Wall of Sound" production was heaped on several cuts (most notably Let It Be and The Long & Winding Road, much to McCartney's chagrin). Thank goodness the songs are strong enough to withstand it.
Of all the Beatles' albums, Let It Be has been most sorely mistreated. It may be the fact that after the grandiose swansong of Abbey Road, the rough-hewn epilogue of Let It Be seemed out of place. It may be that as the Beatles disintegrated critics felt the need to give them just one panning before their reign ended. I don't know. All I know is, it doesn't really deserve it, and is as direct, as human, and as classic a record as the Beatles ever released.