The Beatles Let It Be (Special Edition) Super Deluxe Half-Speed Mastered 180g 4LP & 45rpm 12" Vinyl EP Box Set

Analog Planet's Top LPs of 2022: The Best Archival Releases - Rated 9/10!

The Let It Be album has been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell. All the new Let It Be releases feature the new stereo mix of the album as guided by the original "reproduced for disc" version by Phil Spector and sourced directly from the original session and rooftop performance eight-track tapes.

The Super Deluxe Edition includes 27 unreleased session recordings, a 4-track Let It Be EP, the 1969 unreleased 14-track "Get Back" stereo LP mix by Glyn Johns, and a 100-page hardback book with an intro by Paul McCartney, track-by-track recording information, and many unseen photos, notes, and more. A slipcase box set houses the 4 LPs, 12" EP, and hardbound book.

The Super Deluxe beautiful book features Paul McCartney's foreword; an introduction by Giles Martin; a remembrance by Glyn Johns; insightful chapters and detailed track notes by Beatles historian, author, and radio producer Kevin Howlett; and an essay by journalist and author John Harris exploring the sessions' myths vs. their reality. The book is illustrated, scrapbook style, with rare and previously unpublished photos by Ethan A. Russell and Linda McCartney, as well as never before published images of handwritten lyrics, session notes, sketches, Beatles correspondence, tape boxes, film frames, and more.

While the goal was an album of recorded live tracks with no overdubs, that didn't happen and what did happen is a long, complicated story sorted out with great efficiency in the outstanding annotation included in both of the recently released digital and vinyl disc Let It Be sets... Overall I think this is among the most successful stereo mixes of the entire series, in part because there was less (if any) 'moving around' and/or 'fixing' to do. The recording was originally to 8 tracks and there was minimal overdubbing, which was the original intent. As with the previous mixes, the timbral balance is midrange-rich, bottom end strong and top end 'reticent' compared to original pressings (I like more 'snap' to snares and 'sizzle' to cymbals as can be found on the original U.K. pressing) but the minor 'in the pocket' balance updates produce insightful and enjoyable improvements on just about every tune... If this is the end of the Beatles reissue remix road, it's a fitting place to stop...

For me, the big piece of wonderment in this set is the first official release of Glyn Johns' original raw mix of the Get Back album. Widely bootlegged back in the day after a tape leaked out and was played on U.S. radio stations on the East Coast, the long-overdue official release of this album feels like a gift from The Beatles. It is an imperfect but magical time capsule of those infamous sessions, and what the Get Back album might have been like in its original concept form. Listening to this 180g LP gives fresh flip-side perspective to Phil Spector's lush production of the 1970-released Let It Be album. Listening to Glyn Johns' mix in best-ever quality, I gained a new appreciation for the choices that prompted Phil Spector's decision to add orchestral strings and additional musical parts to the original, final release. Get Back is an essential puzzle piece, if you are a deep Beatle fan.