Beatles Announce ‘Let It Be’ Special Edition Box Set
The Beatles have announced an expanded box set of Let It Be.
The "Special Edition (Super Deluxe)" version of the set will include 57 tracks spread over five CDs and one Blu-ray. The discs will include a new stereo mix of the original 1970 album; two discs of sessions for Get Back, the album's original title; the 1969 Get Back album mixed by Glyn Johns that was scrapped and shelved; and an EP featuring four additional unreleased tracks and new mixes.
Like previous special-edition reissues of Beatles albums, the upcoming Let It Be was overseen by Giles Martin, son of the group's producer George Martin.
You can watch a trailer for the set – due to arrive Oct. 15 – below.
“I had always thought the original film Let It Be was pretty sad as it dealt with the break-up of our band, but the new film shows the camaraderie and love the four of us had between us,” Paul McCartney writes in a book included in the set that will include essays, photos and detailed session notes. “It also shows the wonderful times we had together, and combined with the newly remastered Let It Be album, stands as a powerful reminder of this time. It’s how I want to remember the Beatles.”
There will also be two-disc and one-disc versions of the sets available.
You can see the track listing for the "Super Deluxe" edition below along with three songs from the set: “Let It Be” (2021 Stereo Mix), "Don’t Let Me Down” (first rooftop performance) and "For You Blue” (Get Back LP Mix).
Originally released on May 8, 1970, Let It Be marked the band’s last-released studio album, issued a month after the group had broken up (though recorded before the previously released LP, 1969's Abbey Road). In putting Let It Be together, the band handed over recordings from their infamously contentious Get Back sessions to Phil Spector. The famed producer added orchestral and choir overdubs to some of the material, as well as audio of the band’s studio studio chatter. His decisions would be polarizing, with McCartney among those who were disappointed with the finished product.
More than 30 years later, McCartney spearheaded 2003’s Let It Be … Naked, a remixed version of Let It Be that stripped away Spector’s busy production to reveal a more stripped-down version of the tunes.
Announcement of the new 50th-anniversary set comes as fans anxiously await the release of The Beatles: Get Back, a three-part documentary series directed and produced by Academy Award winner Peter Jackson. The film expands on the original Let It Be documentary, with hours of additional footage giving further insight into album's recording. The doc will also feature the Beatles iconic rooftop performance from Jan. 30, 1969 in its entirety. The Beatles: Get Back will premiere on Disney+ in November.
The Beatles, 'Let It Be: Special Edition (Super Deluxe)' Track Listing
CD1: Let It Be (new stereo mix of original album)
1: Two of Us
2: Dig a Pony
3: Across The Universe
4: I Me Mine
5: Dig It
6: Let It Be
7: Maggie Mae
8: I’ve Got a Feeling
9: One After 909
10: The Long and Winding Road
11: For You Blue
12: Get Back
CD2: Get Back – Apple Sessions
1: Morning Camera (Speech – mono) / Two Of Us (Take 4)
2: Maggie Mae / Fancy My Chances With You (Mono)
3: Can You Dig It?
4: I Don’t Know Why I’m Moaning (Speech – mono)
5: For You Blue (Take 4)
6: Let It Be / Please Please Me / Let It Be (Take 10)
7: I’ve Got a Feeling (Take 10)
8: Dig a Pony (Take 14)
9: Get Back (Take 19)
10: Like Making an Album? (Speech)
11: One After 909 (Take 3)
12: Don’t Let Me Down (First rooftop performance)
13: The Long and Winding Road (Take 19)
14: Wake Up Little Susie / I Me Mine (Take 11)
CD3: Get Back – Rehearsals and Apple Jams
1: On The Day Shift Now (Speech – mono) / All Things Must Pass (Rehearsals – mono)
2: Concentrate on the Sound (mono)
3: Gimme Some Truth (Rehearsal – mono)
4: I Me Mine (Rehearsal – mono)
5: She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (Rehearsal)
6: Polythene Pam (Rehearsal – mono)
7: Octopus’s Garden (Rehearsal – mono)
8: Oh! Darling (Jam)
9: Get Back (Take 8)
10: The Walk (Jam)
11: Without A Song (Jam) – Billy Preston with John and Ringo
12: Something (Rehearsal – mono)
13: Let It Be (Take 28)
CD4: Get Back LP – 1969 Glyn Johns Mix
1: One After 909
2: I’m Ready (aka Rocker) / Save The Last Dance For Me / Don’t Let Me Down
3: Don’t Let Me Down
4: Dig a Pony
5: I’ve Got a Feeling
6: Get Back
7: For You Blue
8: Teddy Boy
9: Two of Us
10: Maggie Mae
11: Dig It
12: Let It Be
13: The Long and Winding Road
14: Get Back (Reprise)
CD5: Let It Be EP
1: Across the Universe (unreleased Glyn Johns 1970 mix)
2: I Me Mine (unreleased Glyn Johns 1970 mix)
3: Don’t Let Me Down (new mix of original single version)
4: Let It Be (new mix of original single version)