Let It Be...Naked [VINYL]

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I love the music, but can't get through this album and couldn't before I joined here and knew about noise reduction. Now, through the smart digital technology of Abbey Road studios, the never-heard band's take of the original sessions will finally be released on Capitol Records. So after more than thirty years of it getting under his skin Paul finally decides it’s time to de-Spectorize Let It Be. There were several early versions of some Abbey Road songs and what what would later emerge as solo material from J, P and G (Jealous Guy, Back Seat Of My Car, Junk, All Things Must Pass). But for some weird reason the producers decided the world needed another version, so we got yet another version with a solo from George Harrison patched in from someplace else.

I would never know any of it was recorded on a rooftop on what looks like a bleak and windy day by a group who hadn't played as a band in public in too long and out in the elements no less.It's the Beatles, about whom more words have probably been written/uttered than any other pop culture phenomenon. Having said that, here I go, ignoring my own advice; the Let It Be sessions (which are just that), in whatever released form. But while the album wasn’t the waste of time I remembered it being, all the same it is a deeply, deeply flawed release. The real shame, as is usual with these things, is the opportunity lost: there was a wealth of material recorded that hasn't, at least officially, seen the light of day, other than a dozen or so tracks on Anthology 3.

I personally love Spector’s arrangement on the original album, I think it makes a cosmic song sound that much more cosmic, even if it could do with a cleaner mix. I mean, what is this album supposed to be exactly – a version of the original album just without the Spectorization? An awful lot of text has been devoted to this "album" in its various forms: the Spectorised original, the Glyn Johns mixes and now this Naked (silly term, Paul, nothing naked about it) version. And our theme for the day is “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, because that’s what I think about when I think of The Beatles’ 2003 release Let It Be…Naked.

Naked" -LP was mixed and remastered from the original 1969 recorded master-tapes and comes without "Dig it" and "Maggie Mae," two titles of the 1970 "Let It Be" release but with "Don't Let Me Down" that is not on Phil Spector's reproduced remix from 1970. The tracklisting on this version of Let It Be differs slightly from the original‚Äîthere's no "Maggie Mae" or "Dig It", while "Don't Let Me Down" has been added. I discovered that in fact it’s really only human existence that is pointless, and there may be a point or two to Let It Be…Naked after all. Regardless of country of origin all tracks are sung in English, unless otherwise stated in our description. But if someone wants a “naked” version, I think “Long and Winding Road” from Anthology 3 and “I Me Mine” from Anthology 3 are a pretty good start.