The Beatles: Let It Be - 1970
"There was no punch-up. We just fell out" - George Harrison
"This is a new phase Beatles album....", the rear cover notes informed us. Actually, a lot of it was recorded in some fractious sessions in 1969 before, and alongside the Abbey Road album sessions. This was, in all but its chronological release date, The Beatles' penultimate album.
It is generally accepted by most as being a patchy one and nowhere near as good as its predecessors, The Beatles (The White Album) or Abbey Road.
The negative feelings towards it do it a tiny bit of a disservice, however painful and chaotic its genesis. Most of the tracks were recorded for the album to be known as Get Back. That project got shelved and the better tracks that ensued subsequently became Abbey Road. Therefore, the impression that these tracks were a bunch of rejected ones recorded by a tetchy, bickering group in its final, painful throes has followed it around for evermore. The opinion that you could almost feel the group breaking up while listening to this album is therefore a bit of a misnomer, though, because after recording and rejecting this batch of songs, they subsequently went and came up with the inspired Abbey Road material.
Up we go to the rooftop.....
The muscular, bluesy rock of Dig A Pony - a very Lennon song - is, for me, every bit as good as the rock stuff on the first side of Abbey Road. Lennon, of course, loathed it, dismissing it as garbage, as he did with so many of his own songs. It was probably one of those "back to basics" blues rock numbers he was encouraged to do my McCartney, who (quite reasonably) liked the idea of sorting out their problems simply by playing the blues in the studio. Once more, I'm a fan of it.
Furthermore, I have never quite understood the opprobrium often thrown at Across The Universe. I find it most atmospheric and haunting. Give me that over Rocky fucking Raccoon or Martha My Dear any day you care to name. David Bowie did a fine cover of it on his 1975 Young Americans album too, another one that I seem to be alone in liking! There was, though, an earlier incarnation of the song dating from 1968 that Lennon wanted releasing as a single but it was rightly rejected in favour of Lady Madonna. The original version is weak and lacking in any real cohesion. This is definitely a song that Phil Spector's production improved immeasurably.
I Me Mine - This fetching George Harrison number has some searing guitar on it and a catchy vocal from him too. It has that typically George quiet-ish appeal and is very much the sort of thing that would appear on his subsequent seventies albums. It took all four band members to "compose" the throwaway piece of "witty" nonsense, Dig It! Give it a rest, eh, lads?
Back to some positives - I have always enjoyed the more raw, edgy cut of Let It Be used on this album, with its muscular guitar solo and infectious percussion. It is far more of a rock song as presented on here as opposed to a maudlin hands in the air anthem. Over-sentimental it may often be accused of being, but I can't help but get a tingle down my spine whenever I hear it. It makes me emotional every time, so there you go. It works, whatever Lennon thought (he hated it, of course).
Another enjoyable country-blues-rock 'n' roll style rocker was One After 909, done in the Carl Perkins style. It was a revisit to an old song they wrote dating back to as early as 1961, it is said. Sure, it is nothing special but in some ways, when one assesses The Beatles' credibility as a "rock band" - something I have always had a problem with - this cut and most of the other material on this album is as rocking as they ever did. I really like it.
A lot was made of the supposedly malign post-recording influence of resident session nutcase Phil Spector, who basically put some strings on a few of the songs after The Beatles had recorded them. However, his touch was only really felt on The Long And Winding Road, I Me Mine and Across The Universe and, personally, I don't mind their presence at all. I feel his apparent negative effect has been over-exaggerated. For me, I love the plaintiveness of The Long And Winding Road, always have done and, as I said earlier, I have no problem with the strings. They are beautiful, as is the song - I don't get the criticism of it. It is a truly great one, let's be honest. McCartney still plays it in concert and everyone loves it, don't they? It would be in my top ten Beatles songs, so there you go. I like the brass orchestration in it too.
Harrison's appealing, tuneful country blues, For You Blue, is another good one, worthy of better than simply more curt dismissal. It is another that I like quite a bit, especially as time passes, where I am finding that I appreciate it a lot more.
Nobody can really argue with Get Back as a copper-bottomed rocker either, particularly with regard to the totally barnstorming version that appears on this album. It is possibly The Beatles' best ever true rock song. Only right at the very end of their career did they start properly rocking.
There is a perfectly valid case for this album being The Beatles best collection of "rock" songs. Notably, there is no McCartney "whimsy" present either, no twee "music hall" style "ditties", thank goodness. Add Don't Let Me Down, Old Brown Shoe and The Ballad Of John & Yoko and you would have a pretty credible rock album, wouldn't you? The wonders of digital technology allow you to do that and yes, it makes for a convincing offering. So, let's have a bit of a belated shout out for this one.
Let It Be Naked
This release takes the original recordings from the fractious 1969 sessions that spawned the Beatles' swan song album and removes the Phil Spector-added lush string and brass instrumentation, stripping the songs down to their original, raw, rock roots. The two pointless fillers, Dig It and Maggie Mae are not included, and instead the powerful Don't Let Me Down quite rightly makes a deserved appearance.
Get Back is a good rocking start, although it is cut considerably shorter that either the album or single version. Dig A Pony is ok, but I actually prefer the version that appeared on the eventual album. The sound of the guitar near the end is brought to the fore, however. For You Blue sounds very similar, to me.
Now, I like the Spector-produced The Long And Winding Road as it happens, but I have to admit that here it sounds wonderful - evocative and simply beautiful. McCartney's voice seems to have more resonance than on the original album version. Listening to it, one concentrates more on his vocal, as opposed to the massive, dramatic orchestration.
Two Of Us doesn't seem to change much, but I've Got A Feeling was a composite edit from two takes from the legendary "rooftop concert". One After 909 is remixed from the same concert. It sounds a bit bassier to me, but maybe I am just imagining it.
Don't Let Me Down is another composite from the rooftop takes, not the version that appeared as a single. I Me Mine removes some of Spector's orchestration and sounds more bluesy and guitar-driven. Lennon's Across The Universe has no backing vocals, maracas or Spector's sound effects in it. It is a far starker, more atmospheric track as a result. Let It Be is different from both the single and album version. I like it. The cymbals on this are crystal clear, as are Starr's drums overall and McCartney's vocals are emotive and melodic. There is, I think, a different, more rhythmic bass line on it too.
In conclusion, this is an interesting, enjoyable listen that throws a different light on this often-maligned album.
