Let it be (The Beatles) (LP 539 - 541)

The Beatles Let It Be (Vinyl/ CD, Apple Records, 1970) ***** 

The Beatles Let It Be...Naked (Vinyl/ CD, Apple Records, 2003) ****

The Beatles Love (CD, Apple Records, 2006) ****

Genre: Beatles pop/ rock 

Places I remember: Many places - DJ's Records in Otahuhu for the original Let It Be album and Get Back book (no box sadly); Kings Recording in Abu Dhabi for digitally remastered CD, Warehouse for original CD; LIB...Naked is from Marbecks for the vinyl and CD; Love CD is from JB Hi-Fi.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Don't Let Me Down from Naked is my favourite Beatle song and Let It Be from the original album is the best version of an amazing song  (regardless of what Lennon thought of it) with great guitar solos from George.

Gear costume: Two Of Us (like many, I initially presumed that this was about Lennon and McCartney but it makes more sense to learn it's about Paul and Linda) 

Active compensatory factors: One of my memories of 1970 is desperately wanting to see the Let It Be movie when it arrived in Auckland but I didn't get there. I do remember the movie posters and the promo that appeared before a movie I saw for my birthday.

I really like the original album. It's The Beatles so - there's that. But even so, this is superior to 90% of everyone else's music in 1970.

Naked is a McCartney vanity project - Long And Winding Road sounds terrible in its nakedness - I'll have the Phil Spector version every time thanks. The rest of the songs sound exactly like the original album to my ears. The added on Fly on the Wall CD of studio stuff and nonsense is only for Beatle completists (and therefore of virtually zero interest to the general public).

Love is a weird one. You could argue it's a compilation so shouldn't be here at all, or you could say it's a new imagining of songs and therefore stands alone. At best it's an interesting creative mash up of Beatle classics, but at worst it's a cynical and messy mash up of Beatle classics. I don't listen to it much - I head instead to the original songs.

Where do they all belong? Wow - okay. That's it for Beatle albums in the collection countdown. It's into the solo albums now - George is first up.