This is where the magic runs out. If Please Please Me is the Beatles’ Big Bang, Let It Be represents the heat death of their universe. The last Beatles LP to see release, it’s an underwhelming conclusion to the greatest discography in rock, playing more like an odds-and-sods collection than a grand finale. Take heart, then, Beatlemaniacs, that Abbey Road was actually the last thing they recorded and that it sends them out on a triumphant note rather than a sad trombone. Like any Beatles album, Let It Be has plenty of canonical material. “Let It Be” and “The Long And Winding Road,” for all their schleppy schmaltz, are power ballads for the ages. Even if “I’ve Got A Feeling” and “Dig A Pony” helped to invent every marginally talented bluesy bar band in the Western world, the original versions slay. “Across The Universe,” covered enchantingly by Fiona Apple for the Pleasantville soundtrack, is as celestial as its title suggests. “Get Back” makes for a decent epilogue at least, and minor ditties “Two Of Us,” “I Me Mine,” and “For You Blue” would all pass muster buried somewhere deep on the White Album. So why am I spewing so much vitriol for this record? The impossibly high bar set by so many consecutive classics, sure, but also the apparent lack of care and camaraderie that went into this one. And I just really hate “One After 909.”