by
The Beatles
- Record Label: Capitol
- Release Date: Oct 15, 2021
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Oct 15, 2021Taken as a whole, the Let It Be box is an essential addition to any collector’s library, a collection that documents a critical time in the final stages of the Beatles’ existence. Few albums were accompanied by such sad circumstances, but now, visited anew, the joy and jubilation are evident after all.
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Oct 15, 2021At no points does the listener throw up their arms and shout, “My God! Let It Be is the greatest Beatles album ever made!” but this larger, panoramic overview does wonders for the record, giving us a bird’s-eye view of the sessions. Buy it and you’ll play it a lot. [Nov 2021, p.82]
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MojoOct 19, 2021Let It Be might be the runt of The Beatles litter but it's half of a very good album. ... The outtakes discs are very much works in progress, as The Beatles chat and work their way through new songs: an eavesdrop into their process. ... What comes through is how true The Beatles were to the idea of going back to their youthful inspirations. [Dec 2021, p.99]
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Oct 18, 2021The truth about the 2021 manifestation of Let It Be is that Martin and his engineer Sam Okell haven’t really cracked the code either. It still feels like the awkward, intermittently exciting, sometimes deeply-moving collection of misfit toys it has always been. ... So much of the material included on the extra discs—the rehearsals, the outtakes, and the jams—is uncomfortable and fascinating. You see and hear their future together and then you feel it slipping away.
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Oct 15, 2021The result is a raw quality with a sound akin to Bob Dylan and the Band’s Basement Tapes — an album that undoubtedly influenced these sessions (George Harrison, having recently hung out with the Band in Woodstock, describes his early take of “All Things Must Pass” as ‘Band-y’.) The mix also includes “Don’t Let Me Down,” tragically left off the original album but now in its rightful place, nuzzled between a loose, rowdy medley and the gem “Dig a Pony.”
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Oct 20, 2021The disc is fleshed out with studio chatter and intriguing early versions of songs that would appear on Abbey Road, the last album they recorded. Across the 57 tracks, we hear the band exploring music that would become timeless. Although “Get Back” is the only song that met the original criterion of being created from scratch to finish, there is much to enjoy.
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Oct 15, 2021A refreshingly concise distillation of the best outtakes from the weeks of sessions, which were essentially rehearsals. ... Even half a century later, the group’s sterling quality control remains, and if this lavish, multi-part treatment of the Beatles’ swan song is truly the last dance, they’ve made the most of it. ... [Paraphrasing] Paul McCartney’s response to criticism of the “White Album” in the 1990s “Beatles Anthology” series: “It was great, it sold, it’s the bloody Beatles — shut up!”
User score distribution:
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Positive: 20 out of 23
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Mixed: 1 out of 23
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Negative: 2 out of 23
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Oct 15, 2021
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Oct 19, 2021
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Jul 17, 2023