DESCRIPTION:
https://www.acerecords.co.uk/let-it-be-black-america-sings-lennon-mccartney-and-harrison

John, Paul and George get soul with a little help from their friends.

Our recent “Come Together: Black America Sings Lennon & McCartney” release was so well received that a second volume became a certainty. Here on “Let It Be” we extend the remit by bringing in the Beatles’ third great songwriter, George Harrison. Given that their prolific songwriting sprang from a shared appreciation of black American music of the 1950s and early 60s, it should surprise nobody that Lennon, McCartney and Harrison would come up with songs that would inspire black Americans to add them to their discographies.

It was not long after Beatlemania broke out all over the USA that their songs started to find their way into the catalogues of notable black American artists. By the middle of the 1960s soul and jazz performers were rushing to find the pick hits on new Beatles albums in the same way pop and rock acts had in the UK a year or two earlier.

The songs here span the Beatles’ entire discography, from the “Please Please Me” album to “Let It Be”, and features an agreeable blend of tracks that stick fairly close to the group’s own visions and others for which the term radical interpretation might be an understatement. A few artists from “Come Together” are welcomed back, as are a couple of songs, but in totally different treatments.

Highlights include Mary Wells’ beguiling boss nova-styled ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, Aretha Franklin’s first person singular romp through ‘Eleanor Rigby’, the Temptations giving ‘Hey Jude’ a boogie woogie groove and Bill Withers’ sanctified essay on our title song.

Track Listing:

01 Eleanor Rigby - Aretha Franklin
02 Dear Prudence - The 5 Stairsteps
03 Got To Get You Into My Life - Earth, Wind & Fire
04 Do You Want To Know A Secret - Mary Wells
05 The Fool On The Hill - Four Tops
06 Lovely Rita - Fats Domino
07 Here Comes The Sun - Nina Simone
08 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - Arthur Conley
09 A World Without Love - The Supremes
10 Tomorrow Never Knows - Junior Parker
11 Don't Let Me Down - Randy Crawford
12 With A Little Help From My Friends - The Undisputed Truth
13 A Hard Day's Night - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
14 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Ike & Tina Turner
15 For No One - Maceo & All The King's Men
16 It's Only Love - Gary "US" Bonds
17 We Can Work It Out - Dionne Warwick
18 Hey Jude - The Temptations
19 In My Life - Boyz II Men
20 Savoy Truffle - Ella Fitzgerald
21 Something - Isaac Hayes
22 Let It Be - Bill Withers