Let It Be is the Beatles’ twelfth and final studio album. On 8 May 1970, nearly a month after the group’s public break-up, the album was released along with the documentary of the same name. Having experienced recent friction within the band, Paul McCartney had envisioned the project as a way to reinvigorate the group by returning to simpler rock ‘n roll arrangements. In spite of topping the charts in many countries, including the UK and the US, Let It Be was considered one of the most controversial rock albums in history due to its critical failure at the time. The general response has since improved considerably.

Twickenham Film Studios held the infamous rehearsals for the album in January 1969 for a planned television documentary about the Beatles’ return to live performance. In the filmed rehearsals, there was ill feeling, which led to George Harrison’s temporary departure of the group. For his return, the members reconvened at their own Apple Studio, and invited guest keyboardist Billy Preston. Three of the album’s tracks were taken from a famous rooftop concert held 30 January on the studio’s roof.

After the Beatles released their lead single “Get Back” in April 1969 (backed by “Don’t Let Me Down“), engineer Glyn Johns created and submitted mixes of the album, titled Get Back, which were eventually rejected by the group. The project then lay in limbo as they moved on to the recording of Abbey Road, which was released in September. Following John Lennon’s departure in January 1970, the remaining Beatles completed “Let It Be” and recorded the song “I Me Mine“. The former was issued as the second single from the album in March 1970, and like all the albums recording to this point, was produced by George Martin.

When the documentary film was resurrected for a cinema release as Let It Be, Lennon and Harrison commissioned Phil Spector to produce the accompanying album. Spector added orchestral and choral overdubs to three tracks, including a 1968 take of “Across the Universe“. This offended McCartney, particularly on “The Long and Winding Road,” the album’s final track. In 2003, McCartney spearheaded Let It Be… Naked, an alternative mixed version of Let It Be that removes Spector’s embellishments and alters the tracklist. A remixed and expanded edition of Let It Be was released in 2021, coinciding with The Beatles: Get Back, an eight-hour documentary series covering the January 1969 sessions.

• Artist: The Beatles
• Release date: May 8, 1970
• Genres: Rock, Blues, Rhythm and blues, Glam rock
• Movie: Let It Be
• Awards: NME Award for British Album
• Label: EMI Catalogue

Let It Be tracklist

SIDE A

1. Two of Us
   (Lennon/McCartney)
2. Dig a Pony
   (Lennon/McCartney)
3. Across the Universe
   (Lennon/McCartney)
4. I Me Mine
   (Harrison)
5. Dig It
   (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)
6. Let It Be
   (Lennon/McCartney)
7. Maggie Mae
   (Traditional; arranged by Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)

SIDE B

1. I’ve Got a Feeling
   (Lennon/McCartney)
2. One After 909
   (Lennon/McCartney)
3. The Long and Winding Road
   (Lennon/McCartney)
4. For You Blue
   (Harrison)
5. Get Back
   (Lennon/McCartney)

With the Beatles is the second studio album by the Fab Four. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band’s debut Please Please Me. Produced by George Martin, the album features eight original compositions (seven by Lennon–McCartney and “Don’t Bother Me“, George Harrison’s first recorded solo composition and his first released on a Beatles album) and six covers (mostly of rock and roll and Motown R&B hits). The sessions also yielded the non-album single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” backed by “This Boy“. The cover photograph was taken by the fashion photographer Robert Freeman and has since been mimicked by several music groups over the years. A different cover was used for the Australian release of the album, which the Beatles were displeased with.

In the United States, the album’s tracks were unevenly split over the group’s first two albums released on Capitol Records: Meet the Beatles! and The Beatles’ Second Album. It was also released in Canada under the name Beatlemania! With the Beatles. The album was ranked number 420 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, and was included in Robert Dimery’s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2010). It was also voted number 275 in the third edition of English writer Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

• Release date: November 22, 1963
• Genres: Rock, Pop music, Rock and roll, Pop rock, Rhythm and blues, Beat music, Blues rock
• Label: Odeon Records

With the Beatles tracklist

SIDE A

1. It Won’t Be Long
   (Lennon/McCartney)
2. All I’ve Got to Do
   (Lennon/McCartney)
3. All My Loving
   (Lennon/McCartney)
4. Don’t Bother Me
   (Harrison)
5. Little Child
   (Lennon/McCartney)
6. Till There Was You
   (Wilson)
7. Please Mr. Postman
   (Dobbins/Garrett/Gorman/Holland/Bateman)

SIDE B

1. Roll Over Beethoven
   (C. Berry)
2. Hold Me Tight
   (Lennon/McCartney)
3. You Really Got a Hold on Me
   (Robinson)
4. I Wanna Be Your Man
   (Lennon/McCartney)
5. Devil in Her Heart
   (Drapkin)
6. Not a Second Time
   (Lennon/McCartney)
7. Money (That’s What I Want)
   (Bradford/Gordy)

In 1964, the Beatles released their first studio album, Please Please Me, which was their debut studio album. The record was produced by George Martin and released in the United Kingdom on 22 March 1963 by EMI’s Parlophone label following the success of the band’s first two singles, “Love Me Do“, which reached the number 17 spot on the Record Retailer Chart, and “Please Please Me“, which reached the number 1 position on the NME and Melody Maker charts. At that time, the album was the top selling LP on Record Retailer’s chart for 30 consecutive weeks, an unprecedented achievement for a pop album.

After originally being planned as a live album by Martin in November 1962, the recording was moved to the studio in January 1963, but the album was intended to capture the sound of the Beatles’ live performances, which took place in Liverpool Cavern Club and other venues like that. Please Please Me was recorded at EMI Studios in a long recording session on 11 February 1963, and apart from the singles that were already released, the Beatles recorded most of the album on the same day, though Martin later added overdubs to “Misery” and “Baby It’s You” nine days later.

The album consists of fourteen songs, eight of which were written by the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (originally credited “McCartney-Lennon”). Rolling Stone magazine later cited these original compositions as early evidence of the Beatles’ “invention of the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments”.

Please Please Me was voted 39th on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (2012), and number 622 in the third edition of Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

• Release date: March 22, 1963
• Label: Parlophone
• Genres: Rock, Pop music, Rock and roll, Pop rock, Rhythm and blues, Beat music, Blues rock
• Length: 31:59
• Studio: EMI, London

Please Please Me tracklist

SIDE A

1. I Saw Her Standing There
   (Lennon/McCartney)
2. Misery
   (Lennon/McCartney)
3. Anna (Go To Him)
   (Arthur Alexander)
4. Chains
   (Gerry Goffin/Carole King)
5. Boys
   (Luther Dixon/Wes Farrell)
6. Ask Me Why
   (Lennon/McCartney)
7. Please Please Me
   (Lennon/McCartney)

SIDE B

1. Love Me Do
   (Lennon/McCartney)
2. P.S. I Love You
   (Lennon/McCartney)
3. Baby It’s You
   (David/Williams/Bacharach)
4. Do You Want to Know a Secret
   (Lennon/McCartney)
5. A Taste of Honey
   (Scott/Marlow)
6. There’s A Place
   (Lennon/McCartney)
7. Twist and Shout
   (Medley/Russell)