1. Two Of Us

2. Dig A Pony

3. Across The Universe

4. I Me Mine

5. Dig It

6. Let It Be

7. Maggie Mae

8. I've Got A Feeling

9. One After 909

10. Long And Winding Road

11. For You Blue

12. Get Back

 

Rolling Stone

To those who found their work since the white album as emotionally vapid as it was technically breathtaking, the news that the Beatles were about to bestow on us an album full of gems they'd never gotten around to polishing beyond recognition was most encouraging. Who among us, after all, wouldn't have preferred a good old slipshod "Save The Last Dance For Me" to the self-conscious and lifeless "Oh! Darlin'" they'd been dealing in?

Well, it was too good to be true—somebody apparently just couldn't Let It Be, with the result that they put the load on their new friend P. Spector, who in turn whipped out his orchestra and choir and proceeded to turn several of the rough gems on the best Beatle album in ages into costume jewelry.

Granted that he would have preferred to have been in on the project from its inception rather than having it all handed to him eight months after its announced release date (in which case we would never have been led to expect spontaneity and his reputation would still be intact), one can't help but wonder why he involved himself at all, and wonder also, how he came to the conclusion that lavish decoration of several of the tracks would enhance the straightforwardness of the album.

To Phil Spector, stinging slaps on both wrists.

He's rendered "The Long and Winding Road," for instance, virtually unlistenable with hideously cloying strings and a ridiculous choir that serve only to accentuate the listlessness of Paul's vocal and the song's potential for further mutilation at the hands of the countless schlock-mongers who will undoubtedly trip all over one another in their haste to cover it. A slightly lesser chapter in the ongoing story of McCartney as facile romanticist, it might have eventually begun to grow on one as unassumingly charming, had not Spector felt compelled to transform an apparently early take into an extravaganza of oppressive mush. Sure, he was just trying to help it along, but Spectorized it evokes nothing so much as deweyeyed little Mark Lester warbling his waif's heart out amidst the assembled Oliver orchestra and choir.

"I Me Mine," the waltz sections of which reminds one very definitely of something from one of The Al Jolson Story's more maudlin moments, almost benefits from such treatment—it would have been fully as hilarious as "Good Night," after all, had Spector obscured its raunchy guitar with the gooey strings he's so generously lavished on the rest of it. As he's left it, though, it, like " Winding Road ," is funny enough to find cloying but not funny enough to enjoy laughing at.

Elsewhere, Spector compounds his mush fixation with an inability to choose the right take (it is said that nothing on the "official album" comes from the actual film sessions, mind you). Inexplicably dissatisfied with the single version of "Let It Be," for instance, he hunted up a take in which some jagged guitar and absurdly inappropriate percussion almost capsize the whole affair, decided that it might be real Class to orchestrally embellish the vocal, and thus dubbed in—yes!—brass. Here the effect isn't even humorous—Spector was apparently too intent on remembering how the horns went on "Hey Jude" to listen closely enough to this one to realize that they're about as appropriate here as piccoloes would have been on "Helter Skeltre."

Happily though, he didn't impose himself too offensively on anything else, and much of what remains is splendid indeed:

Like John's "All Across The Universe," which, like "Julia," is dreamy, childlike, and dramatic all at once and contains both an unusually inventive melody and tender devotional vocal.

Like the two rough-honed rockers, the crudely revival-ish "I've Got A Feeling" and "One After 909," both of which are as much fun to listen to as they apparently were to make. "C'mon, baby, don't be cold as ice" may be at once the most ridiculous and magnificent line Lennon-McCartney ever wrote.

Like John's crossword-puzzlish "Dig a Pony," which features an urgent old rocker's vocal and, being very much in the same vein as such earlier Lennonisms as "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," nearly makes up for the absence of "Don't Let Me Down" and "The Last Dance." And especially like everyone's two favorites, "Two of Us." which is at once infectiously rhythmic and irresistibly lilting in the grand tradition of "I'll Follow the Sun," and the magnificent chunky, thumping, and subtly skiffly "Get Back," which here lacks an ending but still contains delightful comping by John and Billy Preston.

All of these are, of course, available on the bootleg versions of the album, a further advantage of which is their pure unSpectoredness and the presence of various goodies that didn't quite make it to the official release.

Musically, boys, you passed the audition. In terms of having the judgment to avoid either over-producing yourselves or casting the fate of your get-back statement to the most notorious of all over-producers, you didn't. Which somehow doesn't seem to matter much any more anyway.

All Music

The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. First off, several facts need to be explained: although released in May 1970, this was not their final album, but largely recorded in early 1969, way before Abbey Road. Phil Spector was enlisted in early 1970 to do some post-production mixing and overdubs, but he did not work with the band as a unit. And, although his use of strings has generated much criticism, by and large he left the original performances to stand as is: only "The Long and Winding Road" and (to a lesser degree) "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine" get the Wall of Sound treatment. The main problem was that the material wasn't uniformly strong, and that the Beatles themselves were in fairly lousy moods due to intergroup tension. All that said, the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a substandard Beatles record is better than almost any other group's best work. McCartney in particular offers several gems: the gospel-ish "Let It Be," which has some of his best lyrics; "Get Back," one of his hardest rockers; and the melodic "The Long and Winding Road," ruined by Spector's heavy-handed overdubs. The folky "Two of Us," with John and Paul harmonizing together, was also a highlight. Most of the rest of the material, by contrast, was going through the motions to some degree, although there are some good moments of straight hard rock in "I've Got a Feeling" and "Dig a Pony." As flawed and bumpy as it is, it's an album well worth having, as when the Beatles were in top form here, they were as good as ever. [In November 2003, the Beatles released an alternate version of Let It Be called Let It Be... Naked, which mixed out Spector's contributions and deleted snippets of conversation scattered throughout the album. "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" were cut from the record in favor of "Don't Let Me Down," which was placed in the middle of an album that now had a considerably different sequencing than the originally released version of Let It Be.]

Adrian’s Album Reviews

An album on which The Beatles reveal themselves to be human after all. The funny thing is, this mis-match of assorted material performed live and 'reproduced for disc by Phil Spector' actually just sounds very warming. There is little of the soaring ambition of 'normal' Beatles records. The rear of the album has the phrase 'a new phase Beatles album'. It received some of the worst reviews of their career, but then, it was released post split. 'Two Of Us' is the sound of 'Let It Be' personified for me. A semi-acoustic number. The performance isn't straining to impress anybody perhaps but it remains impressive all the same. Simplicity is the key. It's very warm sounding, very melodic and I can listen to this over and over. 'Dig A Pony' is a bluesy number from John. He's all over the start of this album as his 'Across The Universe' follows. A haunting song but spoilt by the production effects. The unadorned version on 'Past Masters Vol 2' is much better. George Harrison's main contribution to this in terms of song writing is the wonderfully charming 'I Me Mine'. A weird effect on his voice. The icing on top by Phil Spector works well on the verses. The chorus parts move into a rock n roll number with guitar noticeable. Alternating in this way it makes you smile more and more as it goes along - a good song. 'Dig It' a short group 'Jam' certainly isn't. And then?

Well, Paul's contributions to this album are very Paul and display none of the collective spirit the other songs display. Having said that, what songs! We have the title song of course. A wonderful spiritual thing of wonder. Nobody but Paul McCartney could have done that song. His vocal is beautifully judged - a good group performance musically and certainly an all time classic song. No doubt about that at all, and it helps me when I’m feeling low. It's an obvious thing to say, but it's true. Thanks Paul. 'Maggie Mae' is another short linking track. 'The Long And Winding Road' is decent of course! And 'Get Back' along with 'I've Got A Feeling' are the best rock numbers here. 'One After 909' and 'For You Blue' are hardly highlights - they don't sound polished, but then, a lot of this album doesn't sound polished. They recorded a lot of stuff for the 'Let It Be' process, much of it too poor to be released at the time under The Beatles name. Still, if judged not as a Beatles album, but just as 'an album' 'Let It Be' works more than well. Besides, 'Two Of Us' really is a favourite of mine.