Some Really Great Songs
I'm not sure why so many people consider this to be The Beatles' one sub-par album. Can I point out how great the songs "Across The Universe," "Get Back," "I Me Mine," "Dig A Pony," and "Let It Be" are? "I Me Mine" is probably my favorite of Harrison's songs, melodic and angst-y and full of meaning. "Across The Universe" is one of Lennon's best (I think "A Day In The Life" is the only one I like better). Also, "Two Of Us" is pretty good, and "The Long And Winding Road" is a major hit (though not one of my favorites).

So I'm not understanding where this album fails. Like every Beatles album, this album has more than it's share of greatness and winning songs.

A fine Beatles album
Many reviews go over the context of this album, with the band beginning to come apart at the seams, the production work of Phil Spector, and so on. Since that has been dealt with at considerable length, I'll just focus on my responses to the music.

The start of this is so quirky! I always enjoyed it. If I have it right:

"'I dig a pygmy,'
By Charles Hawtrey and the DefAids.
Part 1,
In which Doris gets her oats."

I haven't the faintest clue what it means, but it is a good humored introduction. Then, into the first song--"Two of Us." This is one of the "smaller" songs on this CD, but still a bunch of fun! The instrumental work is clean and spare and nice to listen to. Indeed, there are a number of other lesser known works, a number of which are interesting and fun (e.g., "Dig a Pony" or "I've Got a Feeling").

One of the finest of the Beatles songs--"Let It Be." This is one of my personal favorites from their body of work. Neat line:

"When I find myself in trouble,
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom,
'Let it be.'"

The piano and organ backing is rather spare and effective.

"Long and Winding Road." I enjoy the song, even though it is--in my view--way overdone (Phil Spector gone mad!). Still, it is an effective work (it's interesting to compare this version with a "stripped down" version available elsewhere, as per other reviews).

Another of my favorites--"Get Back." There is an enjoyable start, with the Beatles bantering. Then, the familiar opening music leading into a wonderful song, well sung.

So, not the best of the Beatles. But, I think, underrated by many. Still worth a listen.

What else can be said....?
Okay, let's face it this is The Beatles last studio recording and it still holds up today!
The truth about this group is that for those who actually saw them or even heard them during their short but triumphant time in the music biz there has never been a group that can hold a candle to them, they changed the music industry and the sound of modern day music for the best!
While music that is being produced today (some) is very inventive it is still eons behind The Beatles contributions.
There are many songs that we still hear today that many of us still know all of the words to and usually sing them with great fortitude.
There are very few "Beatles" releases that are not worth the price being asked and this is not one of them....

The last Beatle album
Often reviewed as a sloppy album it nevertheless is historic for the fact that they split up after this album. I am a Beatle lover, so I like most of their songs, but "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road", and "I Me Mine" ( from George) are classics. It's a must have for Beatle fans.

Document of a divorce
Having been informed that they still owed United Artists a third motion picture (the cartoon "Yellow Submarine" didn't count), the Beatles assembled on a cold Twickenham Studios soundstage on the day after New Years', 1969, to begin work on "Get Back", a documentary of recording sessions, to be directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Paul McCartney had wanted the band to perform live again, something it hadn't done in two-and-a-half years, and these sessions were to be rehearsals. Magic was expected to be summoned up on cue; it didn't happen. The Fab Four had grown far apart, both personally and professionally. The film well illustrates this: George Harrison bristles at Paul McCartney's lectures on how to perform; Yoko Ono sits in on the sessions, her presence unwanted; and the list goes on. Musically, John and Paul reach deep into their songbag for sparks of inspiration; they perform "One After 909", one of the earliest songs they wrote together, and the old Liverpool singalong "Maggie Mae". Paul gets poignant on "The Long And Winding Road" (an interestingly different version is available on "Let It Be...Naked") and the hymnlike "Let It Be", which eventually became the title for the project. John and Paul team up for "Two Of Us", and trade leads on "I've Got A Feeling".
But all the forced camaraderie ultimately proved less than successful. To jump-start its creative engine, the group went up onto the roof of their Apple headquarters building in Savile Row, where they had moved the sessions, and started jamming in an impromptu lunchtime concert featuring "Get Back", which was promptly ended by the police.
Thoroughly disappointed with the results of "Let It Be", and having moved on to other things, the group, for the first time, deemed an entire project unworthy of release; the tapes were given to legendary producer Phil Spector to see if he could improve them. Spector, if his overdubbing is compared to the original material available on "Let It Be...Naked", actually did not alter the sessions radically, though Paul McCartney in particular expressed much dissatisfaction with what he had done (e.g., the female chorus on "The Long And Winding Road"). (Later in 1969 the Fab Four got back together to make a final proper album without the intrusion of motion-picture cameras--"Abbey Road".) "Let It Be" was finally released in the spring of 1970 in a lavish box set, heavily edited down from hours upon hours of studio time. (It was padded out, as well: a studio-altered version of John Lennon's previously-released "Across The Universe" was included, reflecting a lower level of concern with offering the public new material with every release.) By this time, the fatal litigation had begun; the Fab Four were no more.