Beatles - Let It Be (1990)
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Free Music Notes for Let It Be (1990)
Free Music Review: Passing The Audition
Hit: 5 Stars
This may not be The Beatles greatest album,but it holds up very well despite all the bashing its gotten over the years.The original idea of the Get Back project was to record an album aux natural with as little of the production values that has graced their previous albums.Unfortunately the tedious task of sifting through the many hours of tape,along with the recording of Abbey Road left this project on the shelf.Nearly a year later it was unshelfed and attempted to be mixed by Glyns Johns,which proved unsucessful.Enter Phil Spector who went against the "live in the studio" concept and made a presentable album.Retitled Let It Be,it prove to be a fitting title as The Beatles disbanded a month before the release date.As for the album itself,Spector's touches gave these recordings a much needed polish especially after listening to the outtakes on Anthology 3,would be a bit rough on listeners ears.A great song in its raw form,The Long And Winding Road,although a bit overproduced,is very stirring,while Across The Universe is transformed into a classic slice of pop music making.The title song works better in its single mix,due to the Spector overproduction of the song seems stiffling .George Harrison's two compositions,I Me Mine and For You Blue are strong indications of his later work on Abbey Road and his own All Things Must Pass.I Dig A Pony,I've Got A Feeling and One After 909,although rough show the group in fine form.And Two Of Us shows for one last time,the classic chemestry between Lennon And McCartney.The "rooftop" performance of Get Back ends the album with John Lennon stating"I hope we passed the audition".And though many criticize this album for what its not(SGT Pepper,Abbey Road),it show the group as they are at the time,fragmenting,yet still making great music.Free Music Review: Let it Be: An Underrated Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
Arguably the most underrated album of the Beatles career. Songs such as Let it Be and Get Back are every bit as good as the two best songs off Sgt. Pepper. As a whole, Let it Be doesn't quite measure up with the Beatles later day albums. But it comes close in spite of all the internal bickering which was going on at the time of this record. By this time, McCartney had clearly taken over the reigns of the band. Lennon was little more than a semi-interested on looker and Harrison was growing tired of his junior role within the group. McCartney's dominance shows in that the albums four best songs were written by him: Let it Be, Get Back, Long & Winding Road, and Two of Us. Lennon does offer some quality with Dig a Pony and Across the Universe, but of all Beatles albums this is by far his weakest creatively. Still an average Beatles album is better than the best efforts of most groups and despite the internal friction, Let it Be offers a unique blend of rock and roll as nature intended(i.e. Get Back, One after 909) and what could be construed as the beginnings of gospel rock. (Long & Winding Road, Across the Universe, Let it Be, I Me Mine) Over the years, much criticism has been directed at Phil Spector for overproducing the album. However, listening to the sparse instrumentation of the Long & Winding Road and the erratic harmonies of Let it Be on the Anthology shows that Spector was justified in his actions. Many of the tracks on the album were actually recorded live proving that even at their worst, the Beatles could still perform without overdubs. Perhaps the only bad thing about the album, other than Lennon's lack of creativity, is the fact that Dig it and Maggie Mae were even included. These songs undermine the album's overall underrated qualityFree Music Review: A Great Album, but not for the Beatles' novice
Hit: 5 Stars
Without a question one of the Beatles' best, I can only explain its unpopularity by proposing the following idea: Let It Be is not an album for someone unfamiliar with a majority of the song catalogue. It is raw, and at times curiously put together. John's high pitched introductions, particularly his labelling of Let It Be as "ark the angels come," may raise a few eyebrows, yet, looking past the idiocy, they give listeners an idea of how contemptuous the Beatles were growing of one another at this point. As for the music, you'd be hard pressed to find a better collection of songs on a single album. For anyone still stuck on the tragedy of Lennon-McCartney, Two of Us can be an extremely therapeutic experience. If you ignore the fact that Paul wrote it to describe his relationship with Linda, and not John, you will come away feeling really happy. Across the Universe, despite its inclusion on the Blue Album, is a song that many Beatles fans come to later in their experience. It requires several spins before it really sinks in, yet without a doubt deserves strong consideration for Lennon's Greatest. Dig a Pony, while lyrically odd, conveys a warmth that few songs can. John really comes through on this one. I've Got a Feeling is a pet favorite of mine, because it demonstrates why Lennon/McCartney were so great: Paul's good song has become a masterpeice with John's input - everybody had a hard year etc. Let it Be needs no praise; perhaps it should not have titled the album, but that's purely speculative. Across the Universe, anyone? Interesting note: One after the nine o nine, or whatever its called, while one of the weaker songs on the album, had its roots in the 50's. From what I've read, John wrote the body of the song when he was a teenager back in Liverpool. Awesome!Free Music Review: The soundtrack of a generation comes to a close
Hit: 5 Stars
The Beatles' break up in 1970 was headline news all over the world. The boys had been working nonstop for 8 years straight, producing number one albums one after another and maintaining the title of the most important band in the world. However, the abrupt breakup left an album worth of songs unfinished in Apple studios. Producer Phil Spector took the job to complete what was to become the Beatles' final album Let It Be, released in the spring that year.
Let It Be is unique in that it is, after all, the last album by The Beatles. You sense a lack of chemistry especially between Paul and John on the first track I Got A Feeling, where Paul is singing the chorus and John enters with "everybody had a hard year..." which sounds like a completely different song altogether. However, the Beatles succeed in revisiting their sound from the early 60's in One After 909, a song that can fit well on A Hard Day's Night, while Paul and John seem to put away their differences and settle down on Two Of Us, an incredible duet between the two most famous songwriting partners in history. Individually, three of the Beatles offer their traditional dosage of tunes. Lennon offers Across The Universe, which has become one of his greatest contributions to the Beatles catalogue. Harrison rocks it out good on I Me Mine. McCartney, on the other hand, gives the album the theme song Let It Be, which became a soundtrack song of the generation, The Long And Winding Road, and the awesome rocker Get Back.
With Let It Be, the world lost their most gifted rock band forever (the murder of Lennon in 1980 drew the curtain on the possibility of the fab four ever getting back together), and the soundtrack of an entire generation came to a close.
Recommended
A
Free Music Review: Much better than some would have you believe
Hit: 5 Stars
By normal standards, this is a brilliant album. By Beatles standards, this is a weak album, simply because they had recorded so many outstanding albums before they did this one. Nevertheless, there are some outstanding songs here.
My favorite song here is Long and winding road, a song apparently inspired by a road in the Mull of Kintyre. Paul McCartney originally offered the song to Tom Jones, who had previously covered some other Beatles songs, but Tom politely declined thinking the song was not likely to be a big hit. Tom regretted his decision after seeing the Beatles take it to number one in America. In Britain, the Beatles did not release their version as a single so it became a minor hit (and the only hit) for Ray Morgan, about whom I know nothing else.
Get back and the title track were both huge Beatles hit on both sides of the Atlantic and, like Long and winding road, are well up to the standard expected of the Beatles. Of the other songs, I particularly like Across the universe (the only other track here to make it on to the Blue album 1967 to 1970), One after 909 (which I didn't really appreciate until I heard Willie Nelson's cover - and I still prefer that to the original), Two of us (the opening track) and the traditional Maggie Mae. The other songs are fine but not as brilliant as we'd come to expect from the Beatles.
If, by some fluke, this is the first Beatles album you hear, you'll be wondering how anybody could criticize it. If, on the other hand, you've heard some of their other albums, this one may come as a huge disappointment. The reality is that it's definitely worth a listen (indeed, several listens), but if you haven't got the other Beatles albums buy them first.