The Beatles will release a new music video for “Let It Be” on Friday, May 10. The video features clips from the restored 1970 Let It Be film, out now on Disney+, along with unseen outtakes from the rushes.
First released in May 1970 amidst the swirl of The Beatles’ breakup, the Let It Be film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, now takes its rightful place in the band’s history.
Once viewed through a darker lens, the film has been brought to light through its meticulous restoration by Park Road Post Production in the context of revelations brought forth in Peter Jackson’s multiple Emmy Award-winning docuseries, The Beatles: Get Back. Released on Disney+ in 2021, the docuseries showcases the iconic foursome’s warmth and camaraderie, capturing a pivotal moment in music history.
The Let It Be film contains footage not featured in the Get Back docuseries, bringing viewers firstly into rehearsals, then the studio and finally onto Apple Corps’ London rooftop in January 1969 as The Beatles, joined by Billy Preston, write and record their Grammy Award-winning Let It Be album. The album includes its Academy Award-winning title song. The film also contains footage of the band performing live for the final time as a group.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg said, “Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film.
“But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs? And then you get to the roof, and you see their excitement, camaraderie, and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with the full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’ using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
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