Let It Be (Dr. Ebbett DBM-005)
Two Of Us, Dig A Pony, Across The Universe, I Me Mine, Dig It, Let It Be, Maggie Mae, I Got A Feeling, One After 909, The Long And Winding Road, For You Blue, Get Back
The final Beatles album Let It Be was first released on compact disc in 1987 by EMI / Parlophone CDP 7 46447 2 along with the rest of the other albums in the catalogue. The number of needle drops of this album is fewer than the others because there is no difference between the UK and US versions. Although the “blue box” is said to have all of the albums in stereo, this version of Let It Be is in crisp mono. Among the many vinyl transfers of this album are two copies from the 1982 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab version, one in 2000 (MFSL 1-109) and three years later in 2003 (DLH-1-109), the same year as McCartney’s version Let It Be…Naked was released.
Millennium Remasters did better and have released this album three separate times. The first was in 2002 (MFSL 1-109) sourced from the MFSL 1982 box set. The label used an audiophile quality, unplayed and declicked LP. Two years label the released two more editions. The first is from the U.K. Collection BM-1/BC-13 (PCS 7096), a clean transfer from the rare mono BM1 black box set released in 1982 and also from the 1978 UK “blue box.” The other Let It Be on this label is sourced from the “Japan Red Collection” (EAS 80561).
Dr. Ebbett have issued this album four times before this one. The first two were in 2000 with the original UK release (PCS 7096). The only difference between these two is the cover artwork: one replicates the original cover and the other has the original Get Back photo. Also in 2000 Dr. Ebbett issued a transfer from the 1982 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab box set (MFSL-1-109) with minimal sound reduction used in the remaster. The fourth version came out last year, a transfer from the blue box (PCS 7096). All of the previous versions by this label were on cd-r, but the DBM version is a silver pressed disc with artwork inspired by the MFSL.
Along with the other transfer in this series, it is a flawless piece of work with no hints of its vinyl source. Unlike the other albums in this Dr. Ebbetts series this is in mono and not stereo. It is strange since it says UK stereo on the back label and the album was only released in the mono format in Brazil. All of the vinyl releases and the other CD transfers use the stereo making this version unique. There are small hints of distortion in the cymbals, most obvious in “One After 909.” There are many collectors who were not impressed with Let It Be…Naked and who prefer Spector’s version, and this is a very good needle drop edition of the vinyl and is worth having.
N.B. The Dr. Ebbett label have repressed this release with a flawless stereo transfer of the LP. If you have the mistaken mono version, you can exchange it from your vendor.
