Let It Be

The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. Although released in May 1970, this was not their final album, but largely recorded in early 1969, way before Abbey Road. 

Phil Spector was enlisted in early 1970 to do some post-production work, but did not work with the band as a unit, as George Martin and Glyn Johns had on the sessions themselves; Spector's work was limited to mixing and some overdubs. And, although his use of strings has generated much criticism, by and large he left the original performances to stand as is.

Although most of the album has a live-in-the-studio feel, and noting that the Beatles themselves were in fairly lousy moods due to inter-group tension, the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a sub standard Beatles record is better than most other group's best work.