The recording sessions for Let It Be were actually
begun as rehearsals for a proposed return to live stage
work for the Beatles, to be inaugurated in a concert at
a Roman amphitheatre in Tunisia. Here, Steve Matteo
delves deep into the complex history of these recording
sessions. He talks to many of the people involved in the
recording of these songs, and the accompanying
documentary. And he also looks at the Spector-less
version of the album released in 2003. 33 1/3 is a
series of short books about critically acclaimed and
much-loved albums of the last 40 years. Focusing on one
album rather than an artist's entire output, the books
dispense with the standard biographical background that
fans know already, and cut to the heart of the music on
each album. The authors provide fresh, original
perspectives, often through their access to and
relationships with the key figures involved in the
recording of these albums. By turns obsessive,
passionate, creative, and informed, the books in this
series demonstrate many different ways of writing about
music. (A task that can be, as Elvis Costello famously
observed, as tricky as dancing about architecture.)What
binds this series together, and what brings it to life,
is that all of the authors - musicians, scholars, and
writers - are deeply in love with the album they have
chosen. Previous titles in this now well-established
series have beaten sales expectations and received
excellent review coverage - the third batch is sure to
continue this success. More titles follow in the spring
of 2005. |
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