Please, Please, Please,
Let it Be.
by jep clayton
Let It Be - the Beatles', not the Replacements' - is a contested album, frequently described as second-rate, albeit by a first-rate group. The last album of new material ever released by The Beatles, Let It Be was actually recorded second-last, and was but one of a series of records by an injured and probably dying band. After the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, which followed hard on the heels of the Sergeant Pepper's storm, the Beatles fell apart pretty hard. Everything thereafter contained hints of the end: The Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (The White Album), Yellow Submarine, Let It Be and Abbey Road are all the work of a band coming apart, although the members were more or less aware of this at different times.
With Let It Be, however, the disintegration was all-pervasive. The project itself remained undefined even as it was being created, and never really formed into anything definitive. By all accounts, it was McCartney's hope that going back to basics (an idea also enjoyed by Lennon) would re-solidify the band; internal power-struggles and unfocussed bickering blew the whole thing apart, leaving a bare-bones pile of recordings that were shelved by the band.
An early album was compiled by session engineer Glyn Johns, and titled Get Back. It was rejected, but not until acetates of it were leaked to radio stations. The result was possibly the most bootlegged album in rock and roll history.
Then, after Lennon had announced his resignation and McCartney had retired to Scotland to nurse his wounds, the project was given to Phil Spector to salvage. The results were the LP Let It Be, as we've known it since, the final release of new material by the Beatles (until the Anthology's two frankenstein-singles in the 90's). Unfortunately, McCartney loathed the production job. Strings and choirs fleshed out songs like Across the Universe and The Long and Winding Road in a gaudy fashion never before heard on a Beatles record. Although it was a success, it also cited as an affront in the lawsuit by McCartney which legally broke up the band.
The Let It Be record itself is not, by any stretch, abhorrent. It may not be what it could have been - but it also may not have existed at all without the Spectorization; and it may not have been standard Beatles, but as time passed, it became merely another phase in a career based on explorations. The songs on it were great, and at least four great classics were added to the canon through it.
Get Back, the bootleg, spread widely, and is worth picking up; on the upside, one can hear some unreleased tunes, telling banter, and the songs as McCartney, at least, wanted them heard. On the downside, there's plenty of tape-hiss, some half-assed takes, and shitty packaging.
Together, the whole thing served as a monumental reminder that The Beatles were the world' best band; even in the midst of their breakup, they were capable of writing and playing that surpassed the work of most other bands. The film that accompanied was an insightful peek into the band's end and a great film for anyone curious about rehearsals and songwriting (the film also contains the final concert of the band, on the roof of Apple headquarters).
But the project, in its many forms, also created an ongoing debate: how much did the band hate each other during the recording of Let It Be? Newspapers speculated on possible fisticuffs; the band denied it. Small bickerings between members were extrapolated into legends; band and studio personnel tried to downplay the negativity. A full book was written analysing tapes of the sessions, called Get Back: The Unauthorised Chronicle of The Beatles' Let It Be Disaster, which is only worth reading if you are a person who must read all of the Beatles books.
Let It Be … Naked
This month saw the release of Let It Be… Naked, a non-Spectored version of the album, made possible by new production techniques and possibly - it hasn't been made clear - due to the recovery of 500 reels of tape from the sessions last January (2003). The question of the tone of the sessions is revisited again - and spun again towards showing the band as more happy than unhappy during the sessions - in the liner notes and on an added 20-minute CD of snippets from the sessions called Fly On The Wall.
But what about the record itself? It works. Much of it is not significantly different from the versions we've known for thirty years: Get Back, Dig A Pony, I've Got a Feeling, I Me Mine are pretty familiar. They're better versions than the Get Back bootlegs, which is nice. But the ballads, which suffered the most embelishment under Spector, benefit greatly: The Long and Winding Road (which was available unembelished on the Anthology) has its best version on Let It Be…Naked, as does Let It Be. Across the Universe, naked, is a little strange; the Spector version slowed down Lennon's voice, which always benefitted from manipulation (ie. Strawberry Fields Forever), and the backround vocals worked well for some reason. But the spare version is enjoyable; I'll wait on forming an opinion.
The track order has been changed, and the in-between snippets have been removed, which I think is unfortunate: the Lennon quips were funny, especially the falsetto "…now we'd like to play Hark the Angels Come…" that preceded Let It Be on the original album. Don't Let Me Down is included (only available as a single when the record first came out), but isn't necessarily an improvement over the tastefully produced original. The Dig It and Maggie Mae interludes are also gone, although both show up as snippets on Fly On The Wall.
Finally, the package itself is marred by a few things. Not to be over-picky, but the title sucks, especially the elipses… The cover looks like a bootleg, and begs the question, What was wrong with the original Get Back cover? And the project has the corporate McCartney slickness that all Beatles projects have borne since Anthology was released.
And it is the first record I've bought that boasts the copy-proof technology, which is funny considering the degree to which this music has already been bootlegged; in fact, it is probably the bootlegging that created the demand for this release. Love them as I do, I think the Beatles have made all the money they can ever use from their work; their CDs at list price have been consistently unaffordable, and their "definitive" bio is one of the few Beatles books I won't buy, as even the paperback is over fifty bucks. Primarily, I'm pissed that I won't be able to include this new version of "Let It Be" on any compilations I make for friends this xmas.
Overall, this is worth having for any Beatles fan. For the full story, though, the same fan should also own the original, and hopefully a Get Back bootleg too.
Looking forward to the film's rerelease, whenever that happens.