LET IT BE

Let It Be, the last Beatles album, released in 1970, posthumously, is not a good ending: the Lps from 1967 onwards are clearly superior to him. Moreover, as is well known, it was the penultimate album to be recorded (early 1969), to then be cassated; it was Lennon who wanted him out posthumously, asking for the help of Phil Spector, who put the orchestral overdubs on it. The album is therefore, on the one hand the most spontaneous and immediate, having been recorded almost all in direct, with Billy Preston on the keyboards, on the other hand it is the most artifact, given that only after, and without the approval of the Beatles , orchestral arrangements have been added. Anyway, it remains a more than good record, and Spector's work was excellent in my opinion.

It starts with Two of Us, a song by Paul, sung in unison with John in the verses, and by Macca in the bridge. Beautiful arpeggio of acoustic guitar, pleasant rhythm and melody, reassuring tone. Cute, but without panache or parts that stand out. Dig a Pony, recorded live, is an excellent John rockblues that joins those of the White Album and Abbey Road. Nice singing, nice tour of electric guitars. Simple but effective. Across the Universe, very famous, is a song that starts with a beautiful sung melody, a nice phrasing of acoustic guitar, a sad tone, but continues in a way too monotonous and low-key, in fact it is a missed masterpiece, perhaps for the lack of originality arrangement and too much repetitiveness. I Me Mine instead thanks to Spector's orchestral arrangement becomes the most original song on the album, with a waltz verse, a hard rock refrain, and an orchestral crescendo that makes it epic, however short. Dig It is a meaningless musical fragment, which closes with an absurd, high-pitched voice, which has the only result of presenting Let It Be as a mockery.

Lennon wanted to insert Let It Be (which he hated, considered it unsuitable for a Beatles LP, as too much as a solo author) between this piece of song and the even shorter (and ramshackle) Maggie May, with the result of ruining the first side. Difficult to evaluate these two short sections but at least one vote must be given, to point out that in fact the end of the side has been a bit ruined. On the contrary, Let It Be is the great masterpiece of the album. Beautiful piano start, warm and well-groomed voice, crescendo rock with electric piano, organ, drums and Harrison's splendid hardrock electric guitar solo, certainly his best solo in the Beatles. Third verse of the rock ballad with a paroxysmal ending between Macca's voice and Harrison's hypnotic guitar, with Spector's trumpets creating greater pathos. The version in this LP is much better than that of the single, in which the guitar solo is very bad and not in evidence.

Two of Us 7+; 2. Dig a Pony 8; 3. Across the Universe 7,5/8; 4. I Me Mine 8; 5. Dig It 5,5; 6. Let it Be 9+; 7. Maggie May.

The second side opens with the rock of I've Got a Feeling by Macca, which dusts the perhaps heavier metal guitar sound of all Beatlesian discography. An angry song, then melodic again, and insertion of a second section by Lennon, on the rhythm of one of his songs which is superimposed on the basic rhythm of Macca. Very characteristic and in its own way remarkable song. One After 909, written by John with the collaboration of Paul, is a rocky divertissement, with good rhythm, and Lennon's bridge. Lightens the disc. Long and Winding Road, Macca's slow piano, becomes an orchestral piece of strings with Spector's arrangement covering the incomplete and sparse initial arrangement. Pumping, meatloaf, however, would have seemed only sketchy if it had been performed naked, as in Let It Be ... Naked. It has a nice melody in the bridge, but otherwise it's a rhetorical and pretentious piece, which ends up being boring. You get to For You Blue which is a light and carefree acoustic blues piece, with an almost Hawaiian sound and with Harrison inciting Lennon in the guitar solo. Simple, unpretentious, but very pleasant track. The second side, inferior to the first in its 5 main songs, ends with Get Back, recorded on the roof of Apple. Good rock and roll by McCartney, which ends without the tail in the 45 rpm version.

8. I've Got a Feeling 8; 9. One After 909 7,5; 10. Long and Winding Road 6,5; 11. For you Blue 7+; 12. Get Back 7,5/8.

Overall, Let It Be is a good record featuring a masterpiece song, a gospel piano ballad with rock arrangement, and at least 5 well-made rock / blues songs, plus 4 nice but weak acoustic ballads; it has a unique sound in the Beatles discography because it resembles that of a studio concert. The basic instruments are those of a rock quintet: vocals, rhythm guitar, solo guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, to which they are added in the background (Across the Universe, Let It Be) or in the foreground (I Me Mine, Long And Winding Road) the orchestral overdubs by Phil Spector. In fact, consisting of only 10 songs (a pity for the presence of the two clips and the absence of Don't Let Me Down), the Beatles album remains less cared for in the recordings, closer to a concert played by a rock group in horse between the Sixties and the Seventies.

Medium quality of the songs: 7,52: Rating: 8+. It reaches four stars.