In 1969, the Beatles were working on the album Let It Be, and it was a disaster.  Everybody clashed with one another, and the project ultimately was abandoned.

They then decided to work on a fresh NEW album, which became Abbey Road.  Although Lennon was hospitalized during most of the creation of the album, he managed to contribute.  The band was once again (abeit for the last time) a band, recording songs together in harmony (despite Lennon's absence, or maybe because of it).

Should they have left well enough alone, and had Abbey Road be the final album released by The Beatles?  They could have picked at songs recorded from the Let It Be sessions, the best of the best, and included them on Abbey Road - songs like Let It Be, Don't Let Me Down, and Dig A Pony, for example.  

Abbey Road could have had more songs, and the best from the failed project could have sufficed.

Anyway, do you think The Beatles should have ended on a great note with Abbey Road, with "Let It Be" (the song) included?

I really liked 'Let It Be' a lot at it's release, and still do. I always viewed it as something out of the norm. Basically, an ancillary product of the film project. I seem to recall that this was how it was marketed, too.

What you're suggesting isn't a bad idea at all, but I do the like entire album and am glad it went the way it did.

I agree, not a bad idea that you present. However, I still like the way it was done and how the 2 albums stand alone.

I would have added Across the Universe (unspectorized) to Abbey Road.  Let it Be and The End medley might be a bit redundant.  John needs another really strong song on Abbey Road besides Come Together.   And get rid of Maxwell's Silver Hammer.  Two of Us might also have been a good song for Abbey Road, maybe on side two.  

I think Let it be was a good album despite all de difficulties through the recording process.  

I remember liking LIB when it came out. I had a great fondness for the songs that... sorry, didn't last.  

Now that I've acquired decades of distance between LIB and today, I don't like the album very much. I consider it the weakest of the Beatles offerings. While I'm in favor of any plan that removes the hideous "Maxwell's Hammer" from AR, I still see LIB as part of the history, so I'm content to... let it be.

would it have been wiser to hold off on the release of "Abbey Road" until "Let It Be" was finished, this way "Abbey Road," the superior album, could have been their swan song?

And I love Maxwell's Silver Hammer.  Even though George calls it "faggy," when I first heard it, I couldn't believe I was hearing what I was hearing: a jolly number with such macacre lyrics.  After I finished listening to it, I was like, "whoa."

I think "The End" off of "Abbey Road" is the perfect finish to what was a terrific career.

I like your way of thinking and it's a good idea. But I think it's all perfect the way it is, they knew what they were doing, being musical geniuses.

I'm also in the camp of think 'Maxwells Silver Hammer' sucks. A definate weak spot on a great album.

As for 'Let It Be', its their worst album (IMO), but i'm still glad it got released. I also dont think any of those session songs should have been included on Abbey Road. If they were, wouldnt that have just been a continuation to a dismal experience. Like it never ended.

The Beatles legacy stands sans L.I.B....but in my opinion that legacy would be slightly "sanitary"

--BUT---

despite the abysmal reputation of the "Let It Be" sessions, to remove it from the collected works (as the thread title implies)is tantamount to taking Piccaso's "Guernica" and hiding it from the world. To me, that's not a "stretch". We don't have to agree on which album is best or worst, those are irrelevancies, but each project reflects an artist's (or in this case, group of artists)growth and immediacy. L.I.B. needs to be included (not JUST because there are classics included in the collection that are unique to itself), but because as any self-respecting completist would say "Give us the Beatles, warts and all".   Let It Be has it's honored place in Beatle's history and mythology and to be without this important  piece of a mosaic "grand design" would be sad...thankfully, that's not the case.

I regret having started this thread.  It was written before I had ever heard the entire album, front to back.  I love the album, and it actually was a fitting end to the Beatles legacy.  It was a return to form, back to the egg, as it were.  Hard and gritty, without any production polish.

See how Ignorance is really ignorant?

Quoted from Buttmunker

It was a return to form, back to the egg, as it were.  

amd speaking of 'Back To The Egg', it seems that McCartney was
doing the same with Wings by the end. i think wanting to go back to the
simple rock which was what he wanted to do when the Beatles split up.

Quoted from Andy Smith

amd speaking of 'Back To The Egg', it seems that McCartney was
doing the same with Wings by the end. i think wanting to go back to the
simple rock which was what he wanted to do when the Beatles split up.

Too bad he didn't continue doing that after Wings disbanded. He ended up putting out cheesy 80s ballads and hardly anything that resembled simple rock music.

Quoted from Wordno

He ended up putting out cheesy 80s ballads and hardly anything that resembled simple rock music.

There's clearly a case to be had for not having done the 'Get Back' project. It was way too soon after The White Album, and they had few songs ready. A recipe for disaster after the trauma of the previous album, and with the cameras rolling as well. Good management may have been able to steer them away from it, at least for a couple of months. But then, Abbey Road would have been a very different record, and maybe they wouldn't have ended up finishing on the high note that they did.

Quoted from BlueMeanie

There's clearly a case to be had for not having done the 'Get Back' project. It was way too soon after The White Album, and they had few songs ready. A recipe for disaster after the trauma of the previous album, and with the cameras rolling as well. Good management may have been able to steer them away from it, at least for a couple of months. But then, Abbey Road would have been a very different record, and maybe they wouldn't have ended up finishing on the high note that they did.

A very good point.