TrackList:
- Two Of Us (Lennon - Mccartney)
- Dig A Pony (Lennon - Mccartney)
- Across The Universe (Lennon - Mccartney)
- I Me Mine (Harrison)
- Dig It (Lennon - Mccartney)
- Let It Be (Lennon - Mccartney)
- Maggie Mae (Trad)
- I've Got A Feeling (Lennon - Mccartney)
- One After 909 (Lennon - Mccartney)
- The Long And Winding Road (Lennon - Mccartney)
- For You Blue (Harrison)
- Get Back (Lennon - Mccartney)
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The Beatles thirteenth and FINAL official album release, which was the "soundtrack" to their fourth film.
In the U.K. the Let It Be album was first issued as a Box Set ONLY - six months BEFORE being released as a single album with a catalogue number of PXS 1, although this number does NOT appear on the package anywhere. The box set contained the L.P. plus a paperback book called "The Beatles Get Back", which contained stills and dialogue from the film (some of it unused in the final print). The paperback is large and glossy at 11 inches by 8 and a half with 164 pages, but is quite delicate and is prone to fall apart if one is not careful.The photographs are by Ethan A. Russell, and the text is by Jonathan Cott and David Dalton.
The book is NOT available separately, and the box set is no longer available, making it quite collectable and currently worth about £200.
Of course, the way this release was put out, initially affected advance orders which were nowhere near as high as previous releases, but still it went straight to number 1.
In the U.S. though, this release had the highest advance orders for any album in the history of the American recording industry (at that time) with 3,700,000 orders !!
With a cost of $7 this represented a gross retail sale of over 25,000,000 dollars !!
(U.K. price was £2:19s:11d)
Worldwide sales are now estimated at a little over 5 million.
The story behind the conception and recording of "Let It Be" is long and complex, and I will not enter into it here. There are many articles and books on the subject ... buy one !
But basically, The Beatles intended to be filmed practising, rehearsing, recording and finally performing new songs. With the project starting at the end of 1968, and this album not being released until mid-1970, the songs recorded went through many changes and also became the most bootlegged songs in history !
But, the project did give us The Beatles last ever live performance on 30th January 1969 on top of the Apple building in Saville Row which was captured on film, and some of those tracks also appear here.
The original L.P. was "finished" at the end of May 1969 and entitled "Get Back - with Let It Be and 11 other songs", this version was rejected by the Beatles, even though they even prepared the cover. This included recreating the "Please Please Me" pose on the E.M.I. balcony, which wasn't a wasted shoot, as this was eventually used on the 1973 compilation "Red" and "Blue" albums.
Seven months later, on 5th January 1970, Glyn Johns prepared a a second version of the album "Get Back", but this too was rejected and remains unreleased officially, but it can be seen and heard on the Vigotone bootleg Get Back - The Glyn Johns Final Compilation.
By March 1970 Phil Spector was brought in, and it was he who produced the final official release, "Let It Be".
The rear of the cover has the following note :
This is a new phase BEATLES album ... essential to the content of the film, LET IT BE was that they performed live for many of the tracks; in comes the warmth and the freshness of a live performance; as reproduced for disc by PHIL SPECTOR
Of course, this is far from the truth ! The original Glyn Johns production, although rough and raw, did have that live feel, but the Spector version added orchestration and a female choir which altered (and ruined ?) the whole concept, and makes the grammatically incorrect sleeve note totally out of step !
The package was designed by John Kosh, and with hindsight is a fitting epitaph with it's black and sombre feel for the last Beatles album.
The album was also part of "The Beatles Collection" 13 album box set (see Beatles Collection).
On 19th October 1987 this album had it's first release on C.D. which was published in stereo, with a catalogue number of CDP 7 46447 2
And on the same day, the record shop H.M.V. produced a special 12" numbered CD Box Set Comprising:
The C.D. of "Let It Be"
+ A badge
+ Colour photos
+ A booklet
This set had a catalogue number of BEA CD 25/8, and was in a limited edition of 10,000 copies.
The C.D. was also part of "The Beatles Box" 15 C.D. box set (see Beatles C.D. Box).
09/09/09 (Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine) - the album was re-released as part of the Beatles In Stereo Remasters collection.
13th September 2009 it re-entered the chart again at number 49 in the twelfth highest position of SEVENTEEN chart positions The Beatles captured in one amazing week.
(see the box set detail for the chart position of all 17 titles together)
20th September 2009 - dropped eight places down to number 63.
27th September 2009 - dropped out of the Top 100 completely.
Tape Media
The album was also released on cassette tape (1⅞ ips) - Catalogue number - TC-PCS 7096
The album was also available on 4" reel-to-reel tape in, very surprisingly, two different formats,
Catalogue number TA-PMC 7096 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape) - in a "jewel" box.
Catalogue number TD-PCS 7096 (3¾ ips 4-track stereo) - in a "jewel" box.
The album was also released on 8-track stereo continuous play cartridge (3¾ ips) - catalogue no. 8X-PCS 7096
The album was re-released on cassette tape in November 1987 - Catalogue number - TC-PCS 7096
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