LET IT BE

Talking about THE BEATLES is always problematic, because we are probably reviewing one of the most versatile bands in history, they were able to evolve from simple Pop works to real icons of the Rock culture in the 60's. But even if you talk about the irrelevant (IMHO of course) "Meet the Beatles" you need to show some respect, because this guys revolution the perception of music along their whole history and evolution.

Now it's the turn for the usually maligned "Let It Be", the last release of the fabulous four even when recorded almost two year before their rupture. The main problem with this album is the perception of the public, after the highly overrated "Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club's Band" and the almost perfect "Abbey Road", they had placed the bar too high even for them, yes they were genius, but seems that the limit had been reached, and "Let it Be" was received with certain indifference of the public who couldn't forgive them being limited humans as all of us.

But I always felt something special for this album, sure they don't have an almost perfect one side epic as "Abbey Road" or was so ambitious as "Sgt Peppers", but they knew what they wanted, they were conscious of their limits and exploited them, offering a melancholic combination of Blues, Rock, Psych, Folk and their own special brand of Pop, as if they were telling all of us "This is all guys, we will play everything for everybody".

This also caused a problem in the fans, both "Sgt Peppers" and "Abbey Road" had been cohesive albums, almost conceptual and "Let it Be" is more a collection of great tracks with very little in common between there, so people saw it as if it was disorganized and chaotic, but I believe that an album that has at least 7 or 8 essential songs, has to be seen as good.

I wanted to talk only about my favourite tracks, but after re listening it, I found that I like almost all the songs, so will try to reduce ,my selection even more.

The album starts with the rhythmic acoustic folksy ballad "Two of Us", don't ask me why, I simply love this song, the subtle changes and George Harrison making the bass line with electric guitar, make of this track something special.

Another of my favourites is "Across the Universe", a delightful Psychedelic ballad that has everything, great choirs, nice orchestration and one of John's best performances, a solid evidence that the band kept making experiments even when the end was near.

The title track of course is an icon of the band, Mc'Cartney singing and playing the majestic piano gives one of his most honest performances, the guy really feels what he says, if we add Billy Preston's killer organ and the guitar solo, may sound simple, but I believe it's the closer they are to Prog in the album.

No review would be complete without "Get Back", another Mc'Cartney goal, yes, it's just Blues based Rock, but the interplay between the band is incredibly tight for the difficult moments they were passing, Lennon does good guitar solos and Ringo strangely keeps a perfect timing, great closer.

"Let it Be" may not be the most experimental or ambitious BEATLES album, but despite the internal problems they focus in the music and do their job which was to produce great tracks.

After "Abbey Road", my favourite BEATLES release, no less than 4 stars.