Let It Be (album)
Album |
Name = Let It Be |
Type =
Album | Artist =
The Beatles |
Cover = LetItBe.jpg |
Background = Orange |
Released =
May 8 1970 | Recorded =
Twickenham Film Studios,
Savile RowJanuary 2-
January 31 1969January 3-
January 4 1970March 23-
April 1,
1970(overdubs) | Genre =
Rock |
Length = 35:13 |
Label =
Apple,
Parlophone,
EMI | Producer =
George Martin,
Phil Spector | Reviews =
*
All Music Guide linkQ magazine Rolling Stone (not rated)
link| Last album =
Abbey Road(1969) | This album =
Let It Be(1970) | Next album =
The Beatles' Christmas Album(1970) |}}
Let It Be is the twelfth and final album by
The Beatles, released on
May 8,
1970 by the band's own
Apple Records label.
Much of what became
Let It Be was recorded in early 1969, with production by
George Martin, before the release of the album
Abbey Road. However, The Beatles were unhappy with the album and it was temporarily shelved.
Let It Be was later 're-produced' (some critics have said
overproduced) by
Phil Spector and, in 1970, it became The
Beatles' final release.
Let It Be is often seen as one of the Beatles' weaker albums, though, as critic
Richie Unterberger notes, 'a substandard Beatles record is better than almost any other group's best work'.
[www.allmusic.com]The album which became
Let It Be was originally titled
Get Back, and was planned to be a return to the Beatles' roots. McCartney in particular was eager for the Beatles to perform in public again, over two years after they abandoned touring. The other band members, especially Lennon, were resistant to this idea. After increasing use of
overdubs and multi-layered recordings on recent albums, there was a general consensus to record the new album live in the studio, just as they had done for their first albums in the early 1960s. In keeping with the concept, the cover artwork was planned to be an update of the cover of their first album,
Please Please Me, with the band looking down the stairwell of
EMI's headquarters office block in
Manchester Square, London. The photograph was later used on the compilation album
The Beatles 1967-1970 (aka "The Blue Album").
There were discussions during the January 1969 rehearsals at
Twickenham Studios about recording the album completely live during a televised concert performance - in fact the music press excitedly announced that the Beatles had booked the Roundhouse in London for the show. When this didn't happen, McCartney talked of performing in an Roman amphitheatre or on a cruise ship (or as Lennon sarcastically suggested, "an insane asylum") In the end, the live performance took place on the rooftop of The Beatles'
Apple Building at 3
Savile Row in front of a small audience of friends and employees. The performance was cut short by the police after complaints about noise. Several of the songs recorded during the rooftop concert made it onto the final album, and the complete concert has circulated amongst
bootleg collectors for many years.
Hundreds of songs were rehearsed during the
Get Back sessions at Twickenham, including covers of "
Stand By Me", "
Ain't She Sweet", "
Maggie Mae", "
Words Of Love", "
Blue Suede Shoes", as well as original songs that would eventually end up on
Abbey Road, including "
Mean Mr. Mustard", "
Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "
Oh! Darling", "
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "
Golden Slumbers". A number of early versions of songs that would eventually end up on Beatles solo albums were also rehearsed, including Lennon's "
Jealous Guy" (called "Child Of Nature" at the time and originally written and rehearsed for the
White Album) and "
Imagine", Harrison's "
All Things Must Pass" and "Hear Me Lord", and McCartney's "
Teddy Boy" and "
Junk" (originally written for the
White Album). The recording sessions were filmed and form the basis of the Beatles' film also called
Let It Be.
Everyone involved in the sessions considered them to be disastrous, and it is clear that the band was disintegrating. Lennon's growing two-year dissatisfaction with being in the Beatles was coming to a head, and at the time he was engulfed in a
heroin addiction. He was eager to explore his career outside the band, and the constant presence of his companion and artistic partner
Yoko Ono at the sessions was a source of major tension. McCartney's attempts to hold the band together and rally spirits came across as controlling. This escalated tensions, especially with Harrison, who walked out at one point. The presence of film cameras, and the cold, unfamiliar settings of Twickenham Studios and the new Apple Studios also contributed to the ill feelings. Things were so bad the producer George Martin was reluctant to work with the band on their next album
Abbey Road, until assured it would be a better experience.
Engineer
Glyn Johns put together a rough version of
Get Back in March 1969, which included many of the same songs that made the final cut, plus McCartney's "Teddy Boy". Johns played the
acetate for the Beatles, who were not really interested in the project anymore. At least one copy of the acetate made its way to
America and was aired on local radio stations in
Buffalo, New York and
Boston in September.
The first Get Back album
In March 1969 John and Paul called Glynn Johns into EMI and offered hime free rein to produce an album from the 'Get Back recordings
[Lewisohn, Mark (1996). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Chancellor Press. ISBN 0-7607-0327-2.]. Glyn booked time at
Olympic Sound Studios and between
3 April and
28 May to mix the album and presented the final banded master tape on to the group on
28 May. The track listing was:
|
Cover of the aborted Get Back album. Mirroring the cover of the band's first album, Please Please Me, was John Lennon's idea. |
|
The Get Back album photo was later used for the 1973 greatest hits release 1967-1970. |
Side A:#"
One After 909"#"Rocker (Instrumental)"#"
Save the Last Dance for Me"#"
Don't Let Me Down"#"
Dig a Pony"#"
I've Got a Feeling"#"
Get Back"
Side B:#"
For You Blue"#"
Teddy Boy"#"
Two of Us"#"
Maggie Mae"#"
Dig It"#"
Let It Be"#"
The Long and Winding Road"#"Get Back (Reprise)" Ref:
[Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN 0-600-55784-7.]The
Get Back album was intended for release in July 1969, but the album was pushed back to September, to coincide with the planned television special and
theatrical film about the making of the album. In September the album's release was pushed back to December, because The Beatles had just recorded
Abbey Road and wanted to release that album instead. By December the album had been shelved.
The second Get Back album
On
15 December The Beatles again approached
Glyn Johns to produce an album from the 'Get Back' tapes but this time with the instruction that the songs must match those included in the as yet unreleased
Get Back film. Between
15 December 1969 and
8 January new mixes were prepared. The track listing is:
Side A:#"One After 909"#"Rocker (Instrumental)"#"Save The Last Dance For Me"#"Don't Let Me Down"#"Dig A Pony"#"I've Got A Feeling"#"
Get Back"#"Let It Be"
Side B:#"For You Blue"#"Two Of Us"#"Maggie Mae"#"Dig It"#"The Long And Winding Road"#"I Me Mine"#"
Across The Universe"#"Get Back (Reprise)"Ref:
Johns' new mix omitted "Teddy Boy" as the song did not appear in the film (and also likely due to the fact that McCartney had indicated to Johns that he had re-recorded the song for his upcoming
McCartney album). It also added "Across The Universe" (in an edit of the 1968 studio version) and a newly-recorded version of "I Me Mine," on which only McCartney, Harrison and Starr performed. The Beatles once again rejected the album.
In March and April of 1970 the session tapes were given to American producer
Phil Spector, with McCartney's reluctant agreement. Spector worked on the tracks, and compiled the eventually released album - now entitled
Let It Be. The album and the
film with the same name were released on
May 8, 1970; the Beatles had already broken up by that time. The movie captured on film the critical tensions within the band, and also included footage from the rooftop concert. The rooftop performance closed with the song "Get Back", and afterwards John Lennon remarked, "I'd like to say 'thank you' on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." The joke was added to the studio version of the song that appeared on the album.
Several songs from the recording sessions have had official releases in versions different to those on the
Let It Be album. The original versions of "Get Back" and "Let It Be" were released as singles, while the original version of "The Long And Winding Road" was released in 1996 on
The Beatles Anthology 3.
Across the Universe, an unreleased Lennon composition from a master track recorded in February 1968, was added to pad out his spare contributions to the album; just before this it was also released in alternate form as part of a wildlife charity album.
McCartney was deeply dissatisfied with Spector's treatment of some songs, particularly "The Long and Winding Road", and unsuccessfully attempted to halt release of Spector's version of the song. His bitterness over this was a contributing factor to his public announcement that he was leaving the Beatles shortly thereafter. Despite the criticisms leveled at Spector over the years for his handling of the material, Lennon defended him in his famous
Playboy magazine interview ten years later, saying "He took the shittiest pile of shit and
made something of it."
In Great Britain, the album was originally issued by Apple (and distributed by Parlophone) in a lavish boxed set that also included a book featuring stills from the
Let It Be film. Several months later, the album was reissued in Great Britain in a standard LP jacket, sans book. In America, the
Let It Be album was issued in a standard jacket, without the book. The American release was also originally issued by Apple Records, but because United Artists distributed the film of the same name, United Artists also held the rights to distribute the record in America. (Capitol, which held the Beatles' record contract, had simultaneous rights to the music on the album, and could distribute the songs on various singles and compilation albums. Capitol, however, did not have the rights to release or distribute the actual album.) To indicate that
Let It Be was not distributed by Capitol Records, the original record label in America sported a red apple, rather than the Beatles' usual green granny smith apple. In early 1976, when the Beatles' Apple Record contract expired, most of the group's catalog in the United States transferred from Apple to Capitol;
Let It Be, however, went out-of-print in America. In the late 1970s, Capitol purchased United Artists Records. With this acquisition, Capitol acquired the rights to two Beatles albums previously distributed in the United States by United Artists,
Let It Be, and the soundtrack album
A Hard Day's Night. (As
A Hard Day's Night had never been issued by Apple in the United States, it remained in-print in America under the United Artists label when the Apple contract expired in 1976.) Shortly after acquiring United Artists Records, Capitol re-issued both Beatles albums under the Capitol imprint.
All songs by
Lennon-McCartney unless notes otherwise
Side one
#"
Two of Us"#"
Dig a Pony"#"
Across the Universe"#"
I Me Mine" (
Harrison)#"
Dig It" (Lennon-McCartney-
Starkey-Harrison)#"
Let It Be"#"
Maggie Mae" (Traditional arr. Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
Side two
#"
I've Got a Feeling"#"
One After 909"#"
The Long and Winding Road"#"
For You Blue" (Harrison) #"
Get Back"
*
Bill Withers covered
Let It Be for his
Just As I Am LP in 1971.
*
David Bowie included a cover of "Across the Universe" on his 1975 album,
Young Americans. John Lennon played guitar on Bowie's version of the song.
*In 1988
Slovenian band
Laibach released their own
Let It Be album - covering all the original tracks bar the title track.
*In 1998 Singer-songwriter
Fiona Apple had a hit with her version (and accompanying video) for
Across the Universe.
* For the
soundtrack of the movie
I Am Sam,
Rufus Wainwright covered "Across the Universe"; with
Aimee Mann &
Michael Penn duetted on a cover of "Two Of Us"; and
Nick Cave covered "Let It Be." "Don't Let Me Down," also recorded during the
Get Back sessions, is covered by the
Stereophonics on the album, and by
Billy Corgan's
Zwan on almost every show of band's career.
* In 2004, the Australian band the
John Butler Trio covered Across the Universe on their release
What You Want EP* Live bootlegs from singer/songwriter
Elliott Smith playing "I Me Mine".
* The band
Maroon Five covered the song "Don't Let Me Down" during the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.
* The fictional band BECK, from the popular anime
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, showed one of the main characters (followed later by his other bandmates) playing "I've got a feeling", in a longer 6 minute version.
Main article: Let It Be… Naked
At the same time the film's re-release was announced, McCartney announced plans to release a new version of the album that is closer to what the band had originally intended for the project. McCartney was particularly upset about the "
Wall of Sound" treatment Spector had given to "The Long and Winding Road", and had previously rerecorded it on the solo album
Give My Regards to Broad Street. The new collection, entitled
Let It Be... Naked was released on
November 17,
2003.
*The Beatles' film
Let It Be*The song "
Let It Be"
*
Album Lyrics*
The Lost Beatle Tapes / The Making of Let It Be*
Beatles comments on each of the songs*
Recording data and notes* One of
bootleg releases
