And in the end...

Let It Be. Four and a half stars.

Iconic, isn't it?

It's my pet theory that 1970 was a dismal capstone to the public who'd been through the golden era of the 60s. New talent was rising everywhere you turned, yet many of the "old gaurd" as it were, failed to make it through. Woodstock had already failed to change the world, or even the music festival, as the recent Isle of Wight indicated. The Stones had lost Brian Jones. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix were both casualties of the rock lifestyle and it must have looked like Eric Clapton was following suit. Dylan had turned his back on everyone, releasing the outrageous Self Portrait. Even the endearing team Simon and Garfunkel, who were at the peak of success and had just won a Grammy, couldn't keep it together.

Then there were the Beatles. The beloved Fab Four who had started it all. And they broke up amidst much public rancor. It was common knowledge that McCartney was suing his former band mates, Lennon was busy exorcising his demons and Harrison was assembling a regular rock orchestra in preparation to blow everyone's mind with a triple LP success. Amidst all of this, Let It Be was released.

Let it Be is a curiously maligned Beatle disc, perhaps because everyone heard it after the production marvel of Abbey Road, though it was actually recorded first. It was designed to sound rough - their intent was to distance themselves from the tricked out studio releases of the past few years. So there's a lot of studio chatter (provided by John Lennon) and a lot of throwaway tunes.

Unfortunately these plans went awry and Phil Spector got his hands on the tapes and did overdubs, leaving the record to swerve between overproduction and simple roots rock.

John opens the record with a mock intro, then Two of Us kicks off. It's one of Let It Be's crowning achievements; a lovely acoustic duet (impeccably harmonized) between John and Paul. It's got a beautiful refrain from Paul and a laid-back, almost pastoral feel.

One false start later and Dig a Pony starts. It's a guitar dominated rock tune, with a lyric that John later dismissed as rubbish. You can see why. It's such nonsense it might have been written in a day. That doesn't stop it from being enjoyable, of course. It has a rough charm to it.

Across the Universe is a classic, despite the Spector treatment it gets. From this era, it is Lennon's signature tune. Has an out-there lyric and an haunting delivery. It sticks with you.

I Me Mine is a Harrison contribution. Considering what he had in storage, this is a curiously light offering. I've never been a fan of the chorus, but the plaintive verses about human self-centeredness ring true. It's only two minutes long, but that's an epic compared to the next one.

Dig It is a tiny excerpt from a massive jam. It fades in with John leading the charge, so to speak, and then fades out at less than 50 seconds... It adds character to the album, of course.

Let It Be is a masterpiece. Paul's finest moment for the foreseeable future. Spector doesn't damage it, as the sweep and grandeur of the song smothers him, not the other way around (See The Long and Winding Road). It sounds religious, but it isn't at all. Listen to it when you're down. You'll feel better.

Maggie May is a traditional song. Lennon adopts a thick accent and proceeds to knock out about thirty seconds of it. Impossibly, it's shorter than Dig It. Again, character...

I've Got a Feeling is an interesting experiment. It starts as a McCartney throwaway, a not quite finished heavy rocker. Then, without missing a beat, it morphs into an even more incomplete Lennon bit. They'd done this sort of thing before (notably A Day in the Life), but never quite like this.

Another experiment is unveiled with One After 909, a song written in the early years of the Beatles, then brought out and dusted off for inclusion on this disc. Were they short of material? Perhaps. But the end result is a success.

The Long and Winding Road, a sad piano ballad from McCartney's pen, is next. It's awful. Spector finally saps the Beatles. Any emotional power it might have had is smothered underneath strings and a choir. Paul was furious, and damn, I don't blame him at all. Where was Martin when you needed him?

For You Blue is another Harrison throwaway. It's memorable for the woozy slide guitar. I Me Mine is the better contribution. It bears repeated listening better. Not that this is a bad song, especially if you like George.

So...the last track it the adored Get Back, a bouncy, instantly catchy little number which for some strange reason I have never warmed up to. It's a foot stomper, roots rock in action...I just don't like it very much.

Lennon ends the record with another bit of tongue in cheek mockery. Really, more than ever, you can hear the group splintering on this record. It's a constant tug of war between John and Paul, with George sticking his nose in when he can and Ringo minding his own business behind the drum kit. None of the rampant dislike going on behind the scenes makes it onto the record, but just viewing all the throwaway songs included, and the cover, where each of the four gets their own solitary portrait, and it's plain to see that as a band, things were over between them.

That they shelved this admirably messy LP and set aside their differences long enough to craft a cohesive swansong is another story. For what it's worth, I have always liked Let It Be, warts and all, far better than Abbey Road.