Let It Be

1969年的「Let It Be」原本是个叫做「Get Back」的计划，是1969年的披头四想重觅最初那个甫出道时披头四四人编制的简单绝对。当时「Get Back」计划内容是将披头四为睽违3年的演唱会彩排的排练过程侧拍下来，当作一部纪录片在电视上播放，而演唱会所录下的一切便当作一张「Get Back」现场专辑发行；但，由于此时的披头四感情已不睦、经常为了小事吵架，最后甚至大家连演唱会的地点都无法达成共识(如大家在影片上所见)，最后，搞得团员们都相当沮丧之余，四人在这期间录制好的母带便被搁置一旁无人处理。甚至到最后，其实比较后录的「Abbey Road」专辑都已经在1969年就发行问世，从「Get Back」改名为叫「Let It Be」的专辑却迟迟下落不明。 在这个场面紊乱之余，列侬悄悄地瞒著其他团员，将「Let It Be」专辑母带送交给素有「编曲曲风走华丽澎湃路线/Wall-of-Sound」的製作人Phil Spector处理，于是，原本一身素雅的「Let It Be」让Phil经过管弦乐、女声合唱等“巧手”后变得十分华丽。 这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第86位。 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 mixing and overdubs, but he did not work with the band as a unit. 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 treatment. The main problem was that the material wasn't uniformly strong, and that the Beatles themselves were in fairly lousy moods due to intergroup tension. All that said, the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a substandard Beatles record is better than almost any other group's best work. McCartney in particular offers several gems: the gospel-ish "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 Spector's heavy-handed overdubs. The folky "Two of Us," with John and 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 the Beatles were in top form here, they were as good as ever. [In November 2003, the Beatles released an alternate version of Let It Be called Let It Be... Naked, which mixed out Spector's contributions and deleted snippets of conversation scattered throughout the album. "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" were cut from the record in favor of "Don't Let Me Down," which was placed in the middle of an album that now had a considerably different sequencing than the originally released version of Let It Be.]