This was the end. Probably not the greatest anniversary in the history of music, but this week marked the 40th year since the release of Let It Be, the Beatles last album. Of course no one outside of the band knew it at the time, especially me since I wasn't born yet. I guess you could say it was a bittersweet moment as the Fab Four would never again unite as one, only to continue their careers as solo artists, albeit successful ones. The Beatles originally intended for this album to be a live-in-studio recording that would be filmed for a coinciding movie in 1969, but due to discord between the band they abandoned the project and recorded Abbey Road. It really was the beginning of the end. Disputes over songwriting, disagreements over management and the crumbling of their own Apple Record label caused this once fluid band to fall apart at the seams. John disliked the attention Paul garnered and felt that since he had started the band it was his to lead with George and Ringo standing by his side. Paul to his credit just wanted the band to continue and to succeed even with the creative differences erupting all around. A final dispute over who would manage the band was their undoing and they parted ways. Let It Be, for what it's worth, was one of their most successful albums with some of the Beatles most iconic hits like: The Long and Winding Road, Get Back, Across the Universe and of course Let It Be. However the band was unhappy with the production work on the album by none other than Phil Spector, but because of the break-up nothing was ever done about it. Then in 2003 Paul McCartney spearheaded the re-release called Let It Be...Naked, a stripped down version of the original release much as the Beatles initially intended. Also of note, to me, is it's classic album cover and the still warm feelings that the Beatles can garner after all these years.
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