Beatles - Let It Be (1990)
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Free Music Notes for Let It Be (1990)
Free Music Review: Let It Be--the perfect swansong for the Beatles
Hit: 5 Stars
The final album by the Fab Four, originally a mess of recordings abandoned before Paul asked George Martin to make Abbey Road for them, and salvaged by Phil Spector, As Malcolm McDowell said in his narration of The Compleat Beatles documentary, this album was what it was meant to be--the Beatles' swansong.Simplistic without any of the studio tricks of Sgt Peppers, Let It Be is a more mellower album, as if the Beatles have gone back to their rock roots. "Two Of Us" features Paul and John on lead together. At least they were still barely able to work together.
The whistling at the end is the same as the "hello helloa" at the end of "Hello Goodbye"
Plain old rock-and-roll tunes include "I Dig A Pony", "I Me Mine", which seems to be just George and Ringo plus Phil Spector's sounds (love that electric guitar!), and one of the Beatles' earliest songs from the Quarrymen days, "One After 909".
Paul's contributions here rank as among the best--the three here being the title track, "The Long And Winding Road", and "I Got A Feeling."
The opening piano, George's guitar solo, Phil Spector's added electric organ and brass, and the way Ringo's drumming is mixed with echo makes "Let It Be" a perennial favorite.
"The Long And Winding Road" is one of those tearjerkers with that symphonic Phil Spector wall of sound. Comparing this with the version on Paul McCartney's Give My Regards To Broadstreet soundtrack, I don't know--I like both, although this would have been a better album closer than "Get Back".
"I've Got A Feeling", shows that Paul's rock vocal is still blistering with power. John's "everybody had a hard year", which seems to refer to the whole group, seems to have been added later, and I wouldn't have been surprised if Paul did his bit first and John came along with his vocals and Spector melded them together.
George Harrison's "For You Blue" is a nice blues tune, with him complimenting John Lennon's guitar playing over Elmore James.
At the end of "Get Back", which is the live, sung on the Apple rooftop version, John can be heard saying, "I'd like to say 'thank you' on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hoped we passed the audition." Poignant and true. Well, you guys passed with flying colours.
In the end, the Beatles more or less realized that their time had come and it was time to "let it be." so they could "shine on till tomorrow."
Free Music Review: Flawed, but well that's what i like...
Hit: 5 Stars
Okay, well this album really tends to be considered one of if not the worst Beatles album. It lacks the beautiful cohesion of "Sgt. Peppers" and "Abbey Road". You don't find the perfectly eclectic collection of songs you do on the White Album. And a lot of people will tell you that you don't find the Beatles performing at their best here. I'll admit that, at 16 and not a musician, I am not necessarily a trustworthy judge of musical performance, but for all the infighting that was going on, I don't notice the Beatles sounding any worse than their normally brilliant selves.
The other big issue people seem to have with this album is the prouction job by Phil Spector, especially on McCartney's "Long and Winding Road," using his wall of sound technique. Before I heard people talk about it, I never even noticed it, but I'll admit that the Let it be...naked solo version is better. The other majorly altered track is "Across the Universe." I have Past Masters Vol. 2, which has all of the a and b sides from the latter part of their career that aren't on the albums. The original "Across the Universe" that's on there is significantly faster and has "nature" sounds in the background. Now, Spector's "Universe" might very well be my favorite song ever, rivaled only by the White Album's "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and Pink Floyd's "Dogs." But the original version isn't even close. Spector defintitely got it right here.
The other things that McCartney changed on the "...Naked" release (other than changing the track order) were to remove "Dig it" and "Maggie Mae" and add the brilliant "Don't Let Me Down," and remove the banter in between tracks. While the addition of "Don't Let Me Down" was obviously the right move, the quirky "Dig it," "Maggie Mae" and talking were some of my favorite parts of the album. Trying to figure what John is saying in the opening of "Two of Us" has happily troubled me for a long time.
Anyway, the actual songs are fantastic, and except for "One after 909," which John and Paul wrote before they were even the Beatles, everything is pretty much at the level you'd expect from the greatest band that ever existed. My personal favorites are "Across the Universe" (obviously) "I've Got a Feeling" (an amalgam of two separate songs written by John and Paul that works perfectly), "Let it Be," "For You Blue" and "Dig a Pony" (which of course John dismisses as "rubbish"). Buy it. You won't regret it.
Free Music Review: The Beatles Bow Out At The Top
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the final album the Beatles put out, although the bulk of it was recorded before it's predecessor "Abbey Road" was in stores, with titles such as "The Long And Winding Road" and "Let It Be" it's the definitive swan song from the greatest band of all-time.
While their original intention of "back to basics" in this album, was more evident in Abbey Road, that's not to say it failed completly. Songs like "Two of us" and "One after 909" sound much like their earlier work.
Infact "One after 909" was written in the early 1960s put not put on an album until this one (it's a live performance from the famous Roof-top concert in London, that also included "Get Back").
"Two of us", a country song, was written by McCartney about his wife, Linda, after they went on a drive together, but the lyrics also fit in well with his relationship with Lennon, which is probably why people have wrongly assumed, even to this day, that he wrote it about his fellow Beatle.
"Across The Universe" is regarded by several to be the album's greatest moment and is the final psyedelic / flower power song the Beatles recorded (and the only one on this album) but I personally think the title cut "Let It Be" is the albums peak, regarded by many as The Beatles greatest single, this album version is even better, with a wonderful guitar solo by Harrison.
Three hit singles are included here "Get Back", "The Long and Winding Road" and "Let It be" (although both "get back and "let it be" are slightly different versions to the ones that were singles). All 3 hit #1 in the Billboard sales charts, as did the album.
Philip Spector, one of music's most successful producers, was brought in to re-mix most of the recordings on this set, much to the disapproval of Paul McCartney and the groups regular producer, George Martin (who had produced the origanal tapes).
One or two people have knocked this album and referred to it as The Beatles worst, however, with such strong songs such as "let it be", "I Me Mine" and "One After 909" this just isn't the case.
This album proves that, while the band was falling apart, while the four men in the band grew further and further apart musically and personally, that as a group The Beatles remained the greatest.
"Let it be" is, quite simply, one of The Beatles finest collection of songs.
Free Music Review: Unjustly gets a bad rap
Hit: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Beatles album ever, and I have heard all of them. In my opinion this album represents the Beatles in one last stage, that being a complete transformation out of pop and into rock. Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper were rock-driven, but many of the songs (see: Drive My Car, In My Life, When Im 64) were downright popish. But on this album and on Abbey Road (reocorded later but released earlier, as you all certainly know)the Beatles are straight-up, 100 proof, no exceptions, ROCK. This album contains 2 of Paul's best and lyrically deepest ballads ever: "Let it Be" and "The Long and Winding Road." A listen at "Across the Universe" and "Dig a Pony" shows that John was no slouch when it came to down to penning a good song with meaning and performing it. George shows his sensitive side with the heartfelt "For You Blue." And The Beatles, despite reality, sound like a real, together, BAND in "Two of Us" "Get Back" and "I've got a Feeling." Without the media, who would have known John and Paul were all but split seperate directions?Track by track rating 1-5 stars
1. Two Of Us * * * * * Beautiful and absolutely perfect acoustic number with John and Paul crooning together
2. Dig A Pony * * * * * John in all of his brilliant madness
3. Across The Universe * * * * * Has become a hippie/acid anthem. Often covered, but none resemble John's exquisite pitches
4. I Me Mine * * * * * Only bad thing about this track is how short it is. Lyrically, George seems to have taken a hint from John, but its his vocals that make it haunting.
5. Dig It * * * Funny, clever, but under a minute long. A sort of interlude.
6. Let It Be * * * * * What can I say, sometimes even I'm a sucker for Paul's simple, great-sounding ballads.
7. Maggie Mae * * * Catchy; could have been something but it fades into nothing in about a minute.
8. I've Got A Feeling * * * * * Love Paul's lead vocals and John's fill-ins near the end.
9. One After 909 * * * * A step below the other full-length tracks here, but still a nice inclusion on any CD.
10. Long And Winding Road * * * * * A little sappy at times but overall a nice ballad that grows on you and is tearful at the end.
11. For You Blue * * * * * Simple, exquisite. Godspeed, George.
12. Get Back * * * * Kind of like a twisted, rocking version of "Ob La Dee Ob La Da" minus the keyboards. Great recording.
Free Music Review: The Beatles Passed the Audition
Hit: 5 Stars
The "Let It Be" Project wanted to show the world how a band made an LP. This was an excellent concept. Unfortunately, Apple Management (eh, the Beatles) should have featured a band like Badfinger. Face it, by 1969, the Beatles weren't the same bunch of loveable mop-tops that they were in 1964. Instead of a solid, cohesive unit; the Beatles were very much into their own genre. Sadly, by 1969, the Beatles were only a "pro forma" band. The movie "Let It Be" clearly shows a tired, confused, and; at times, annoyed band trying to recapture past glories. "Let it Be" is a very sad movie -- It not only shows the end of the Beatles. But, more importantly, it shows the end of a friendship. This now takes us to the Let It Be music. The story goes that John Lennon was so thrilled about the work Phil Spector did on his solo LP, that he gave Spector the tapes for the "Let It Be / Get Back" sessions. Phil Spector took some liberties with the LP. However, most of the tracks are still pretty much unaltered by Spector's orchestral music. The fact that the Beatles weren't in the best of moods during these sessions is a testimony to there greatness -- they managed to put together a fairly decent LP amidst all the controversy.
The opening track, two of us, is the last time John and Paul harmonized together. This, in itself, is a piece of Beatles history. George's offerings, "I, Me, Mine" and "For You Blue" further show's Harrison's maturity as a song writer. "I, Me, Mine" is a bit of a rock-waltz. "For You Blue" is British Blues that would make John Mayall take notice. My favorite track on the whole CD, however, is Get Back. This track features a good rock beat, solid performances by all -- especially Billy Preston, and John's final comment: ". . . .I Hope We Passed the Audition." These words will live on forever as a bit of rock-n-roll irony.
All right, granted, some of the music on this CD was nonsense -- such as One After 909 (I always hated that song). But, for the most part, this is a worthwhile CD. No, this is not a "Cardboard Tombstone" for a great band. In many respects, "Let it Be" was a new beginning -- a rebirth -- for John, Paul, Ringo, and George.