Let It Be was always the ugly duckling of the Beatles' canon. Originally conceived by Paul McCartney as a back-to-basics rock album, it was abandoned after some fractious recording sessions, handed over to the maverick producer Phil Spector and eventually released shortly after the band had broken up. Now, as part of McCartney's ongoing campaign to rewrite history, it's been released again - remixed, rearranged and with a radically stripped down production. On the whole, the new version is a definite improvement - the best songs such as 'The Long And Winding Road', 'Across the Universe' and the title track certainly sound better without Spector's overbearing strings and gloopy sound effects. It's good, too, to have the bluesy B-side 'Don't Let Me Down' instead of the forgettable 'Dig It' and 'Maggie Mae'. None of this, however, can take away from the fact that half the songs here are throwaway studio jams that fall well short of the Beatles' usual standards. Let It Be may look better with its clothes off - but it's still no classic.

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