THE BEATLES

Let It Be

LP Box Set

Apple Label STEREO PCS 7096. Matrix nos. YEX 773-2U / YEX 774-2U

Purchased on original release date: 8th May 1970 in the UK

CONDITION

Outer box sleeve in VERY GOOD CONDITION Top sealed edge shows slight signs of shelf wear

LP Sleeve in VERY GOOD CONDITION Thin spine edition. Good, clean shiny laminated surface. RED Apple logo on  reverse

LP & protective paper sleeve in VERY GOOD CONDITION Spindle marks from repeated plays all those years ago...Some surface marks noticeable on inspection under spotlight especially Side 2, Tr. 4

From memory, it played OK  on my trusty old 'Garrard SP25 Mk III' record deck but I converted to CDs over 25 yrs ago ( and now look what's happened!) and haven't played it since...

Inner box tray also in VERY GOOD CONDITION. These have a habit of easily falling apart due to their flimsy design but apart from slight shelf wear on the outer edges in VGC considering its age !

'Get Back' BOOK is in EXCELLENT condition.I realised on its release that this was to be a COLLECTORS item and have treated it with the respect it deserves ever since.

Some well-thumbed copies will suffer from loose/detached pages due to poorly-designed book-binding, but this copy is in NEAR MINT condition and remains the centrepiece of this box set

AN EXCELLENT COLLECTORS ITEM FOR ANY BEATLE FAN !!!

Detail : The Beatles thirteenth and FINAL official album release, which was the "soundtrack" to their fourth film.

In the U.K. the Let It Be album was first issued as a Box Set ONLY - six months BEFORE being released as a single album with a catalogue number of PXS 1, although this number does NOT appear on the package anywhere. The box set contained the L.P. plus a paperback book called "The Beatles Get Back", which contained stills and dialogue from the film (some of it unused in the final print). The paperback is large and glossy at 11 inches by 8 and a half with 164 pages, but is quite delicate and is prone to fall apart if one is not careful.
The photographs are by Ethan A. Russell, and the text is by Jonathan Cott and David Dalton.
The book is NOT available separately, and the box set is no longer available, making it quite collectable and currently worth about £200+.
Of course, the way this release was put out, initially affected advance orders which were nowhere near as high as previous releases, but still it went straight to number 1.
In the U.S. though, this release had the highest advance orders for any album in the history of the American recording industry (at that time) with 3,700,000 orders !!
With a cost of $7 this represented a gross retail sale of over 25,000,000 dollars !!
(U.K. price was £2:19s:11d)
Worldwide sales are now estimated at a little over 5 million.

The story behind the conception and recording of "Let It Be" is long and complex, and I will not enter into it here. There are many articles and books on the subject ... buy one !
But basically, The Beatles intended to be filmed practising, rehearsing, recording and finally performing new songs. With the project starting at the end of 1968, and this album not being released until mid-1970, the songs recorded went through many changes and also became the most bootlegged songs in history !
But, the project did give us The Beatles last ever live performance on 30th January 1969 on top of the Apple building in Saville Row which was captured on film, and some of those tracks also appear here.

The original L.P. was "finished" at the end of May 1969 and entitled "Get Back - with Let It Be and 11 other songs", this version was rejected by the Beatles, even though they even prepared the cover. This included recreating the "Please Please Me" pose on the E.M.I. balcony, which wasn't a wasted shoot, as this was eventually used on the 1973 compilation "Red" and "Blue" albums.
Seven months later, on 5th January 1970, Glyn Johns prepared a a second version of the album "Get Back", but this too was rejected and remains unreleased officially, but it can be seen and heard on the Vigotone bootleg Get Back - The Glyn Johns Final Compilation.
By March 1970 Phil Spector was brought in, and it was he who produced the final official release, "Let It Be".

The rear of the cover has the following note :
This is a new phase BEATLES album ... essential to the content of the film, LET IT BE was that they performed live for many of the tracks; in comes the warmth and the freshness of a live performance; as reproduced for disc by PHIL SPECTOR
Of course, this is far from the truth ! The original Glyn Johns production, although rough and raw, did have that live feel, but the Spector version added orchestration and a female choir which altered (and ruined ?) the whole concept, and makes the grammatically incorrect sleeve note totally out of step !

The package was designed by John Kosh, and with hindsight is a fitting epitaph with it's black and sombre feel for the last Beatles album.

Side 1

Note: For explanation of "DDSI" numbers see DDSI - An explanation (The numbers below are from the 2007 edition)

Side 2

Released Versions

Again, this L.P. was released in Stereo ONLY.

First pressings (1970)