Beatles – Let It Be (Deluxe Widescreen Stereo Edition)

Let It Be is a filmed documentary of the Beatles rehearsing and recording their new album in 1969.  The film culminated with a concert by the group set on the rooftop on their own Apple office building in London’s west end.  Paul McCartney’s concept for the album and film was that it wasn’t going to have studio trickery like overdubs and effects.  It was “back to the roots” with the Beatles performing the songs in a natural way.  The film and it’s accompanying soundtrack was delayed while the Beatles recorded and released their final album “Abbey Road”.  It was eventually released in 1970 and received an Academy Award for it’s title song.

For the Beatles completist and serious fans, the biggest frustration has been in not finding the “Beatles – Let It Be” in a complete, uncropped, great quality version. The reason for this is quite interesting. The original film was shot in 16mm (standard TV 4×3 format).  However, when the film was released, they cropped the 16mm print by chopping off parts of the top and bottom and blew it up to 35mm widescreen. I myself wondered in the 70’s why the picture quality was so mediocre right in the movie theatre!  Now we all know why.  So even in the theatre, one did NOT get to see the full picture that was filmed.

Then to add insult to injury, when Let It Be was released in the 1980’s on Beta and VHS videotape and on Laserdisc (all in standard TV 4×3 format), the manufacturers did NOT go back to the original 16mm film that was shot in the same format. INSTEAD, they sourced it from the 35mm widescreen theatre print and CHOPPED it AGAIN!, this time from the sides. So anyone purchasing previous Beta, VHS and Laserdisc versions of Let It Be, now got to see even LESS!, since it has now been chopped on all 4 sides.

This recent WIDESCREEN, STEREO import DVD release rectifies a lot of the problems.  For anyone that saw the film in the theatres in the 70’s, it is great now to be able to see the original theatrical release, in stereo AND in much improved quality, including clearer picture and more natural colours.  However, as enjoyable as this version is (which would satisfy most collectors), it still is missing the top and bottom portions from the originally shot 16mm film version.

Setlist:
1.  Peter And Michael Intro
2.  Piano Theme
3.  Don’t Let Me Down
4.  Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
5.  Two Of Us
6.  I’ve Got A Feeling
7.  Oh! Darling / Just Fun
8.  One After 909
9.  Piano Boogie / Two Of Us
10.  Paul And George
11.  Across The Universe
12.  Dig A Pony
13.  Suzy Parker
14.  I Me Mine
15.  For You Blue
16.  Besame Mucho
17.  Octopus’s Garden
18.  You Really Got A Hold On Me
19.  The Long and Winding Road
20.  Oldies Jam:  Shake Rattle and Roll / Kansas City / Miss Ann / Lawdy Miss Clawdy
21.  Dig It
22.  Two Of Us
23.  Let It Be
24.  The Long and Winding Road

Rooftop Concert (January 30th, 1969)
25.  Get Back
26.  Don’t Let Me Down
27.  I’ve Got A Feeling
28.  One After 909
29.  Dig A Pony
30.  Get Back

Quality:  Considering the source quality as described above, very good VHS type quality, about an 8.5 (using our quality rating table located on our website).  Audio quality is very good to excellent and now mainly in STEREO!

Running Length:  80 minutes

Disc Format:  1 DVD-R disc.