The Beatles would always have struggled to release an album to conclude the worldwide phenomenon they had started in the early 1960s. It is understandable, then, that Let It Be, released after the band’s 1970 split, is potentially the band’s most unassuming project. An idiosyncratic rock album that marries the simplicity of Please Please Me with the self-indulgence of The White Album, it was met by an anticlimatic shrug from critics on release.
Envisaged as a rootsy return to the band’s original sound, outside factors conspired to pull Let It Be away from this brief. Though ‘Dig A Pony’, ‘For You Blue’, and the aptly-named ‘Get Back’ reflect this concept, the album’s most enduring tracks showcased for the last time the Beatles’ skills as soft-rock balladeers. ‘The Long and Winding Road’ and the title track demonstrate that, to the end, the Beatles could surprise even themselves.
Listen to the album’s title track below:
