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 work, but did not work with the band as a unit, as
George Martin
and
Glyn Johns
had on the sessions themselves;
Spector's
work was limited to mixing and some overdubs. 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 layers of strings and female choruses. Although most of the album, then, has a live-in-the-studio feel, the main problem was that the material wasn't uniformly strong, and that
the Beatles
themselves were in fairly lousy moods due to inter-group tension. All that said, the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a sub-standard
record is better than almost any other group's best work.
McCartney
in particular offers several gems: the gospelish "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
heavy-handed overdubs (the superior string-less, choir-less version was finally released on
Anthology Vol. 3
). The folky "Two of Us," with
John
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
were in top form here, they were as good as ever. ~ Richie Unterberger