LET IT BE

Here we address the question of whether The Beatles were a prog or proto-prog band in their latest albums. The first time I listened to Let it be may date back to the 2000s, 'long time ago for me. I was always captivated by the melodious rock tunes the band lined up on this ill-fated album, with a sort of mourning crape that was highly premonitory.

Most of my memories of this opus were dark, lacrimal, or grim. It's true to remember that a few songs, and not the least significant, are a truly sore to the heart, a pure beauty musically tho I mean Across the universe, I me mine and Let it be. Those 3 songs make this record quite dismal.

But it is no way to forget some vivid tracks that are actually the ultimate heights of the Fab Four. I think of Dig a Pony, I've got a feeling, One after 909 and of course Get Back!

It is often said, and I was sharing the popular belief, that Let it be sessions were a tough moment for the band, only that. But it can't be that true, at least we tended to give too many credits to this version of the history (most probably because of the documentary film of Michael Lindsay logan), the sessions (named the GET BACK SESSIONS) were aside from these real moments of pain a period of great emulation for the band also, with sometimes moments of togetherness.

We also forget that 12 songs got out from these sessions whilst The Beatles rehearsed and played HUNDREDS! Some covers, some outtakes of previous Beatles songs, some originals. And I think that in this vast set of records (probably more than a hundred hours of records in January and February 1969), there were some jam sessions, improvisations, or demos that took after a progressive structure or jazzy records, to some extent.

Hence, Let it be is not the best extract of the full catalog of songs recorded by The Beatles at that time according to rock prog standards, many of them are pure rock and roll songs, but if you take a look at the list of songs played during those sessions and look them up on Youtube, I'm sure you can kinda compose your own Let It Be that will sound a bit more progressive. (i think of The Castle of the king of birds in particular).

LET IT BE cannot be considered as a prog album per se, I rate it "only" 4 stars for that purpose, it's a magnificent swan song, an unfairly underrated album of The Beatles, a classic of the '70s (released in May 1970), an energic and final back to the root's rock, but not a prog album or proto-prog album in the way I define it. To rate it clearly as a proto-prog album, one would need to pick some of the improvisations and numerous outtakes rehearsed during the productive GET BACK SESSIONS, the original release ain't representative of a "prog mood".

I can get the idea it is on this forum because somewhat, a band of such a magnitude, who contributed so much to the History of Music throughout all its albums, brought rock and pop (and prog as well) to a new stage of modernity. Only for that reason, I accept Let it be as a prog-related album.