Beatles - Let It Be (1990)
|
List Price: Our Price: $17.67 You Save: $1.31 (7%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.25 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Let It Be (1990)
Free Music Review: I DIG IT.
Hit: 5 Stars
LET IT BE in my opinion is one of the better BEATLE albums. Its an easy album to listen to. I don't know why people would knock on it, other than LONG AND WINDING ROAD. I can't stand that song, one of the worst.
HOWEVER as far as the rest goes; I have the vinyl from 1970. On the back it reads something like "This is a new phase BEATLE album." Maybe thats what it was, however I think it was just marketing. I'm pretty sure the Beatles were aware that this was the LAST phase. They originally didn't want to even release this album.
PHIL SPECTOR was hired to take the tapes, actually recorded for a film LET IT BE, and make them into an album. What you get is a very different sounding BEATLES. A new phase? Whatever, its still good. I like this album more than others for sure. Its earthy, bluesy, a little more raw. At least not as polished as everything else.
TWO OF US acoustic guitar and harmonies between John and Paul, nice. I DIG A PONY is a little strange, but cool, garage/beatle feeling. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a great song, one of Johns best hippie songs, I ME MINE is one of Georges best, DIG IT and MAGGIE MAY are just some juvenile kiddery that surround the title track. This is all good to me, I enjoy hearing them in the studio goofing around, and chattin'. You get a lot of that here. The goofin won't be found on LET IT BE NAKED the new version of this album. Anyway... I GOT A FEELING is one of the strongest tracks here, very good, ONE AFTER 909 is one of my faves. A raw sounding recording of a song these guys used to mess around with before they were big. There are much earlier recordings of this on ANTHOLOGY ONE. This one rocks out though.
LONG AND WINDING is rubbish as far as I'm concerned. It was a hit single though so you might like it. The last two are the strongest cuts, FOR YOU BLUE, a nice bluesy one from George and the country style GET BACK, which was recorded on top of a rooftop in front of a bunch of people. A "live" performance, that fans had been waiting four years for, it was a spur of the moment thing which made it huge news in the day. At the end John says "Thank you and I hope we passed the audition," and everybody laughs and laughs. This closed the door on THE BEATLES for good. Let it be, was the message. One of the best in the BEATLES back log. Dig it.
Free Music Review: An Underrated Gem - Defy The Conventional Wisdom!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Argon78 Tape #1b - Recorded on January 2, 1985This was the last album released by the Beatles (Abbey Road was recorded last, but released before this one) and, over the years, has received quite a bad rap from the fans and, at times, from the Beatles themselves. (Paul McCartney hated Phil Spector's production, especially on "The Long and Winding Road", and John Lennon, in defending Spector, derided the musical quality of the songs from the "Get Back" sessions).
I personally feel that the criticism surrounding this album is rather unwarranted. Perhaps it's not the Beatles best album, or even one of their better ones. However, taken in a vacuum, most of the songs on this album are very, very good. It's only because the Beatles set such high standards that an album that might qualify as one of their worst (or least good?) can be considered a very good, if not great album.
My favorite songs on this album are: "Two of Us", with the beautiful two-part duet harmonizing by John and Paul and pretty acoustic guitar picking (by Paul?), John's beautiful "Across the Universe" with it's pretty lyric and equally poignant melody (I actually like the version on Rarities better - the one with the birds and gazelles at the beginning...), "Let It Be" is a highlight in the career of many highlights for Paul McCartney...beautifully played and sung with incredible lyrics; "I've Got A Feeling" makes me feel good, and I love the vocal interplay between John and Paul and even the drumming by Ringo; "Get Back" just plain rocks out with great guitar playing, a driving beat and Billy Preston playing a terrific electric piano solo (I just love the sound of the electric piano...); and "For You Blue" is a really nice George Harrison blues song in the style of Elmore James (to whom he actually refers during one of the solos...) There are some other songs on this album - most of which are good, just not favorites, and a couple of which are a bit weak. So, what do you give an album with 6 great, great songs, 4 or so very good ones and a couple of not so great? I would give it 4 1/2 stars, and in this case, round it up to 5 because it's the Beatles and they're my favorite...so there!
Free Music Review: SO WHAT IF IT'S UNEVEN LET IT BE!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
In early 1969 the Beatles began to record what would supposedly be their final album. However this "live performance" album was recorded than eventually shelved due to band disagreements and simply the fact that they never put their hearts into the recording sessions. The group then went on to record the much stronger "Abbey Road" and released it as the bands final effort. In early 1970 the Beatles had basically stopped working together when John Lennon decided to salvage Let It Be and have Phil Spector clean it up. Therefore in May 1970 the Beatles final album relased (not recorded) hit stores.Now it's no secret that Let It Be has been bashed for years and years after it origianl release and it unfortunetly still does get trashed today. However the album is not as bad as everyone says. It's actually pretty nice despite it wildly uneven feel but it is nowhere near the best Beatles album.
The opening track TWO OF US is a nice tune with some impressive acoustic guitar. DIG A PONY is a great rocker. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is downright beautiful. I ME MINE is another great rocker by George Harrison. The title track LET IT BE is a rock 'n roll anthem of exceptional beauty. I'VE GOT A FEELING is very alternative rock feeling and some great vocals by McCartney. ONE AFTER 909 is a very fun catchy rocker. THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD is a pretty song but I find it greatly depressing sort of an "end of the Beatles" feel to it. FOR YOU BLUE is another Harrison gem with a blues feel. And finally the closing track GET BACK is an awesome Beatles tune. The other two tracks MAGGIE MAE and DIG IT are little junky forty/fifty second dialouge pieces that seem to bog the album down a bit.
With the release of LET IT BE the Beatles had long stopped working together by the time of it's pressing and they announced their break up immidiately after its release.
In conclusion Let It Be is a very underrated effort by the Beatles. If you boil away all the bad history that surrounds this record you have a nice little album that is actually quite listenable. I also hope that sooner or later they release the film Let It Be but right now it's out of print! Anyway I highly recommend this album there are some great songs here! Highly recommended!
Free Music Review: (Almost) Their Last Hurrah
Hit: 5 Stars
Technically their next to last album, "Let It Be" was released after "Abbey Road", one of those little marketing quirks that followed the Beatles throughout most of their career; most of the U.S. editions being quite different than the British editions. "Let It Be" was all about getting back to basics and away from the glorious studio experimentations that I'm most fond of. But the band had to keep growing and changing and I can't fault them for that. This disc is certainly unique in that there is arguably more 'filler' compared with their output from "Rubber Soul" to "Magical Mystery Tour" and to some degree "The Beatles" aka "The White Album". The songs that fail to move me in any way include the traditional "Maggie Mae", George's bland "For You Blue", the aimless "Dig It" and "One After 909", the last a composition from their very early years. That said, their harmonies on "One After 909" come off as carefree and charming.
There are quite a few gems here. Lyrically, much of the Beatles' latter output was concerned with the past, their childhoods, and other forms of nostalgic manifestations. This is certainly true of "Two Of Us" (intimate folksy pop) and both of Paul's majestic ballads "Let It Be" and "The Long And Winding Road", three of eight of the best songs to be found here. Speaking of majestic, John's "Across The Universe" is both lyrically and musically one of the most inventive songs to ever grace a Beatles record. I've heard artists as diverse as David Bowie, Alanis Morisette, and Rufus Wainwright do cover versions of "Universe" and each version is wonderful though none can truly compare to the original. The set is rounded out by "Dig A Pony", "Universe"'s lyrical sister, the soulful "I've Got A Feeling", George's witty take on egotism "I Me Mine" and of course, the rootsy "Get Back", the template and manifesto for this disc.
One more remark on "Let It Be"- if you find yourself cringing at the production of the songs with orchestration on them (courtesy of Phil Spector), you should check out the somewhat recently released "Let It Be...Naked" which does away with said arguably distracting production and reorders the songs in the manner in which they were originally intended to be listened to.
Free Music Review: Good and Raw. The Flipside of 'Abbey Road.'
Hit: 5 Stars
Recorded before but released after 'Abbey Road,' 'Let It Be' is truly the flipside. While they were trying to make this "back to good old rock and roll" concept movie, there were rough clashes between personalities (The Beatles Anthology captures Paul and George bickering over George's lead guitar part - Paul tells George to play it a certain way, and George responds he'll play it the way Paul wants it or he doesn't even have to play at all). John hung back mostly but Yoko emerged at his side, annoying the other Beatles. And Ringo...well Ringo was just Ringo.
Unlike the carefully crafted harmony of 'Abbey Road', the raw emotional real-life effect of constantly being on camera of 'Let It Be' produced a rawer sound. As one reviewer put it, "There's not even an ounce of psychedelia on Let It Be, but it's not a return to their early guitar sound either. It's something new. Something scuzzy and raw and long-haired and pot-smoking and dirty".
Some people complain that this album is poorly produced (The Beatles chose Phil Spector to produce this album instead of their mainstay producer, George Martin). I think the slightly different sound, not just in production, but in the music as well and the overall different feel make it a digestible alternative to some of the Beatles' more produced albums.
"Dig a Pony" is a great John Lennon song, with an melodic line that seems to expand upon itself. "Across the Universe" is one of John's best and most lasting songs, starting with a simple guitar riff which introduces a beautiful melody with great lyrics.
Of course, there are the classic songs Paul songs, too, "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road," which contain heavy vocal and instrumental harmonies, respecively. "Two of Us" is another Paul song as beautiful as some 'Abbey Road' material, but features a less produced, more live sound.
I would argue that if the Beatles stayed together, the sound would have derived more from this than from Abbey Road. While 'Abbey Road' is more a culmination of their '60s stuff, I think 'Let it Be' marks the doomed start of their '70s sound. Just imagine what could have been.