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From Booklist
As the brouhaha over Paul McCartney's reworking of the last album the Beatles recorded together suggested, Let It Be has quite a history. The raw edges of the Fab Four's devolution, completely betrayed in the movie Michael Lindsay-Hogg made of the recording sessions, showed through aurally in inconsistent song quality. To McCartney's later consternation, Phil Spector was brought in to add finishing production touches. Matteo takes us into the process of the album's creation, fully attending to the minute negotiations and forced compromises that characterized the Beatles' last stab at full collaboration. In the closing pages Matteo rather gently assesses the 2003 re-release, Let It Be . . . Naked, and the planned re-release of the film. Despite Matteo's rather tepid critical attitude, the book's compact yet comprehensive account of the album is worthwhile. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"For such a little book, it sure does pack a big wallop. Just when you thought the ill-fated Let It Be sessions had been researched to death, Steve Matteo's recently released book sheds new light on the subject with the proper perspective of hindsight....Matteo's book...should stand as the definitive account of these historic sessions." -Marshall Terrill, DayTrippin' No. 28 (Fall 2004/Winter 2005 issue) (Marshall Terrill )
"I applaud the author for taking up such a daunting task and condensing a sometimes-confusing story into a mer 136 pages of enjoyable text. Hopefully there will be more Beatles-related books of this calibre in the 33 1/3 series!" -Ronnie, Ear Candy, January 2005 issue
"33 1/3 is a fabulous series written with passion by an equally fabulous cross-secton of today's best music journalists. This series is a must for every serious record nerd out there! And I know the nerds agree with me cause I'm having trouble keeping them on the shelves." -Edmund LeStrange, Book Buyer for Waterloo Records
"As the brouhaha over Paul McCartney's reworking of the last album the Beatles recorded together suggested, Let It Be has quite a history. The raw edges of the Fab Four's devolution, completely betrayed in the movie Michael Lindsay-Hogg made of the recording sessions, showed through aurally in inconsistent song quality. To McCartney's later consternation, Phil Spector was brought in to add finishing production touches. Matteo takes us into the process of the album's creation, fully attending to the minute negotiations and forced compromises that characterized the Beatles' last stab at full collaboration. In the closing pages Matteo rather gently assesses the 2003 re-release, Let It Be...Naked, and the planned re-release of the film. Despite Matteo's rather tepid critical attitude, the book's compact yet comprehensible account of the album is worthwhile. Reviewed by Mike Tribby in Booklist.
"Matteo faithfully details the most fascinating month in Beatles history and its endlessly bootlegged afterlife." -Austin American-Statesman, 10/17/04
"Matteo takes us into the process of the album's creation, fully attending to the minute negotiations and forced compromises that characterized the Beatles' last stab at full collaboration....the book's compact yet comprehensive account of the album is worthwhile." -Mike Tribby, Booklist, September 15, 2004
"I applaud the author for taking up such a daunting task and condensing a sometimes-confusing story into a mer 136 pages of enjoyable text. Hopefully there will be more Beatles-related books of this calibre in the 33 1/3 series!" -Ronnie, Ear Candy, January 2005 issue
"33 1/3 is a fabulous series written with passion by an equally fabulous cross-secton of today's best music journalists. This series is a must for every serious record nerd out there! And I know the nerds agree with me cause I'm having trouble keeping them on the shelves." -Edmund LeStrange, Book Buyer for Waterloo Records
"As the brouhaha over Paul McCartney's reworking of the last album the Beatles recorded together suggested, Let It Be has quite a history. The raw edges of the Fab Four's devolution, completely betrayed in the movie Michael Lindsay-Hogg made of the recording sessions, showed through aurally in inconsistent song quality. To McCartney's later consternation, Phil Spector was brought in to add finishing production touches. Matteo takes us into the process of the album's creation, fully attending to the minute negotiations and forced compromises that characterized the Beatles' last stab at full collaboration. In the closing pages Matteo rather gently assesses the 2003 re-release, Let It Be...Naked, and the planned re-release of the film. Despite Matteo's rather tepid critical attitude, the book's compact yet comprehensible account of the album is worthwhile. Reviewed by Mike Tribby in Booklist.
"Matteo faithfully details the most fascinating month in Beatles history and its endlessly bootlegged afterlife." -Austin American-Statesman, 10/17/04
"Matteo takes us into the process of the album's creation, fully attending to the minute negotiations and forced compromises that characterized the Beatles' last stab at full collaboration....the book's compact yet comprehensive account of the album is worthwhile." -Mike Tribby, Booklist, September 15, 2004
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3.2 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well researched and written story on the Beatle's penultimate act, July 12 2007
By Siriam - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Beatles' Let It Be (Paperback)
This book differs from nearly all of the other first eleven in this series in that instead of involving a detailed look at the songs and the music involved, given the artistes involved here are the Beatles, the author wisely focuses on the history around the recordings instead.In so doing, Matteo has produced a little gem. Working chronologically he covers how and why the recordings occurred starting with the sessions at the Twickenham sound stage and the possible idea of a live concert at a site in North Africa to follow, progressing to the subsequent recordings made at the new Apple Studios aimed at avoiding the controls of Abbey Road, and the final Saville Row rooftop concert. The book closes with the consequences of how under different producers the incomplete recordings fell into limbo to be "rescued" by Phil Spector and the subsequent history of numerous bootleg tapes from the sessions, culminating in the release of "Let it be...Naked", a missed opportunity in the author's eyes.
What Matteo does in this story telling is include a lot of factual evidence from the thorough research he has done through interviews for the book (but it seems with none of the Beatles) and technical data garnered from many other books. But more importantly he also demyths a lot of prior held mis-perceptions along the way. His covering of the growing disillusionment of Harrison and Martin as the sessions devolve into chaos offsets the more well known stories of Ono and McCartney outbursts. From all the evidence presented, the different sessions were not the gloom and doom often conveyed subsequently especially through the released film and individual Beatles retrospective comments. Despite the growing apart that had started when recording the White Album amongst band members and Lennon's growing drug problems, a high level of fun and the sheer level of songs recorded and tested, including many that surfaced later on "Abbey Road" and solo albums is testament to the creativity that was still occurring.
The two biggest new truths for me after reading the book, are that the maligning of Allen Klein due to his business practices may have been warranted in part but are offset by the simple fact that the financial disciplines he introduced at Apple probably saved the Beatles from individual financial ruin, and that given all the hard evidence on show that this group would not stay together, the subsequent Abbey Road" recording stands as a truly iconic finale and group effort.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not A Bad Read, Oct 26 2004
By P. Serilla "Gorilla" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Beatles' Let It Be (Paperback)
The 33 1/3 series is really a great idea, functionally however many of the books merely rehash old articles and interviews.The Let It Be volume, however is a noble attempt to bring together information from many sources about the recording of the album, the mood of the Beatles and their collaborators, a decent degree of technical information and the situation surrounding the album's initial shelving, it's place as the best band in the world's swan song, the re-release of the alternate version in 2003 and the upcoming re-release of the movie which has been under wraps for way too long. Definitely worth a read by any Beatles fan.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A nice look at the end of a great epoch..............., Nov 28 2006
By S. Hirsch "ennui buster" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Beatles' Let It Be (Paperback)
This booklet is about much more than just the making of Let It Be. Instead the author immerses us in the post White Ablum rehersals, recordings, and interpersonal dynamics of the group and in so doing exposes the myth of an acrimonious implosion of one of the most phenomenal cultural forces ever to have enhtralled an entire generation. To me, it is no coincidence that the 60's truly ended, not with the tragdy of ALtamont, but when Jhon Lennon annonced "the dream is over". Anyway, this book documents how productive the group was during the last stages of it's career (which obviously comes through on Abbey Road). A welcome addition to the 33 1/3 series!
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