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Let It Be, 50 years ago the latest Beatles album

2020-05-06T12:00:36.542Z


Final worth of an unrepeatable story, a month before the band broke up (ANSA)


For the Beatles fans, April and May are two dramatic months: on April 10, 1970, in a now famous interview, Paul McCartney announced his exit from the group, making the end of the Fab Four official. A week later his first solo album was released. A month later, on May 8, 1970, "Let It Be" was released, the last official act of the band that changed the world and took leave by simultaneously also releasing a documentary, directed by Michael Lindsay Hogg, which told the sessions of recording, including the legendary rooftop concert at Savile Row's Apple Records headquarters in London.

In this regard, it should be remembered that Peter Jackson, the Oscar-winning director for "The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King", is working on a new edition of this documentary: thanks to the collaboration of Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, 55 hours of unused footage were made available to Jackson: an authentic treasure that, apparently, seems destined to give a new reading on the final stage of the Beatles and to guarantee fans a precious gift. "Let It Be" is the product of a band that at the time was well beyond the crisis: Paul was pushing to resume playing concerts, George, increasingly frustrated by the limited space that was given to his compositions, was the proudest opponent on returning to live. After a furious quarrel with John he had left the band. Lennon for his part did not hide his desire to go alone and his impatience with the choices of Paul who increasingly sought to take on the role of leader. To mend the tears, it was Ringo, naturally devoted by nature to mediation. The situation was so complicated that eventually the tapes from the recording sessions were left in the closets.

To complete the job, a tutelary deity was called, Phil Spector, the legendary producer of the Wall of Sound who is now serving a 19-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. It was Lennon and Harrison who convinced him to get his hands on those tapes: and he did it in his own way, intervening in editing and adding orchestral parts and choirs. The most famous of these interventions is represented by the arches of "The Long and Winding Road" inserted without the knowledge of McCartney who has never digested this choice, so much so that in 2003 the "naked" version was naked. Spector will also produce the solo rehearsals of Lennon and Harrison, two masterpieces: "Platic Ono Band" and "All Things Must Pass".

In fact, over the years a debate has developed on what the last authentic Beatles album is: many believe that the last act is "Abbey Road", despite being released in September 1969: in fact Paul, John, George and Ringo had actually worked on the "Let It Be" project before recording "Abbey Road" which without discussion is "a Beatles album" more than the 1970 album and represents the true spiritual testament. The fact that "Let It Be" had been discarded demonstrates the incomparable greatness of the Fab Four who, after having recorded, with the help of keyboardist Billy Preston, songs like "Let It Be", "Don't Let Me Down" , "Get Back", "The Long and Winding Road" had left the tapes in a closet to devote themselves to another album. At the time, despite the commercial success, "Let It Be" was dismissed by critics: even today, that project that was actually wrecked among the quarrels is not up to masterpieces such as "Revolver", "Sgt. Pepper", the "White Album" or "Abbey Road". But it also makes us laugh to think that the production of songs such as those mentioned a few lines ago can be considered "minor", songs that remain among the most beautiful ever recorded.

The truth is that despite the fact that fifty years have passed since that traumatic dissolution, it still seems that the Beatles have never stopped playing. It is the effect of a great magic that has never stopped exercising its irresistible charm. A pop epic that has crossed the boundaries of time and that has incredibly lasted just under eight years. The chronicle tells us that the last Beatles album was released fifty years ago: all that remains is to wait for the release of the new Peter Jackson film to start dreaming again as if it were possible to start all over again.

Source: ansa

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