Let It Be... Naked

[Headache in a Suitcase]

LONDON - A new version of The Beatles' album "Let It Be" will be released in November, the group's company Apple Corps announced Thursday.



"Let It Be...Naked" strips the 1969 album of Phil Spector's lavish production effects, returning to Sir Paul McCartney (news)'s original idea for the recording. "This is the noise we made in the studio," McCartney said of the new version. "It's exactly as it was in the room. You're right there now."


"Let It Be...Naked" mostly keeps the same track listing as the original album, which featured songs Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, Get Back and Across the Universe.


Background dialogue, Dig It and Maggie Mae have been taken off the album, and Don't Let Me Down has been added, Apple Corps said.


Most of "Let It Be" was recorded in 1969 for an album which was to have been called "Get Back," showing The Beatles returning to their roots as a four-piece rock-and-roll band. But the group was splitting up and the album was abandoned.


Spector was later brought in to convert hundreds of hours of tape into an album, renamed "Let It Be."


Ringo Starr (news) told Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year: "Paul was always totally opposed to Phil. I told him on the phone (recently), `You're bloody right again. It sounds great without Phil.' Which it does."


"Let It Be...Naked" is to be released by EMI Records on November 17.

 

[nbcrusader]

 

[HeadsOnSticks]

good. phil spector is a douche for fucking up that album.

 

[IWasBored]

crap. one more cd to buy.

 

[MrBrau1]

cool. you said douche.

 

[HeadsOnSticks]

cool. you said douche.

i calls `em like i see's `em.

 

[typhoon]

1) It's a stupid name. They should've called it Get Back or something. Reminds me uncomfortably of Unfinished Music 1 (the only thing worse than seeing Yoko Ono naked was hearing her sing).

2) I honestly didn't think Phil Spector's production was that bad, except on "The Long and Winding Road," which was nigh unlistenable. Still, I can't wait to hear "Across the Universe" without all the choirs and strings.

3) Will "I Me Mine" repeat Spector's trick of using the one verse twice? Harrison's two songs on this album are really underrated, by the way.

4) To defend Spector again (er, his production, anyway, and not those other areas in his life in which he may need defending), listen to Plastic Ono Band, one of the most raw albums ever recorded. Same guy at the switchboards. Someone once said something along the lines of, "I bet all you had to do to keep Phil Spector from messing with your music was say, 'Hey, Phil, don't mess with my music.' And he wouldn't."

5) I like that "Don't Let Me Down" is on it now. I always thought it should've been on there. They played it a lot on the rooftop concert, even. I guess it'll use the original, George Martin-produced B-side instead of a splice of live performances or something? And yeah, I think we can all live without "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae," even though they added somewhat to the loose mood of the album (which Spector's production fought with, oddly).

6) Will it also use the single versions of "Let It Be" and "Get Back"? I prefer the album version of "Let It Be" because it had a much better solo. We'll probably get new versions.

7) How will this fit alongside all the other Beatles releases? I mean, since they've converted to CDs, we've had all the original UK albums, the two Past Masters volumes, the three Anthology volumes, a shitload of worthless compilations, and the Yellow Submarine reissue. So I guess it'll just serve as a companion to the original album, which will remain available, instead of replacing it.

 

[IWasBored]

yes, we can live without dig it. i've done my best to forget about that song.

 

[HeadsOnSticks]

what was Paul's comment on Phil's production?

"It sounds like someone threw up over all the tracks?'

need i say more?

 

[typhoon]

need i say more?

Wouldn't hurt.

 

[senrab]

what was Paul's comment on Phil's production?

"It sounds like someone threw up over all the tracks?'

need i say more?

Agreed...although, Lennon's defense of Spector was pretty funny - he said something like Spector "took the shittiest load of badly recorded shit and made something out of it".

 

[brettig]

This bugs me, and will moreso when we see the sky high asking price for a single cd of about 30 minutes worth of music. The 'unspectorised' versions of most of these songs were on the Anthology anyway.

 

[U2ME3]

the beatles will have another #1 album

 

[~LadyLemon~]

Cool!

 

[IWasBored]

they have to beat the tie with elvis, it's only expected that they'd have to put out SOMETHING...

 

[U2girl91289]

Sounds great!I did a double-take when I read the name. Just thought I'd share that with everyone...

 

[Dr_Macphisto]

why the hell is micheal jackson releasing a "number 1's" CD now?

 

[typhoon]

First of all, I can't honestly believe that they actually released it under that moronic name (let what be naked?). Get Back would've been much better. But anyway, some assorted thoughts:

The new "Across the Universe" is beautiful. It's a different version from the two that have been released already. It doesn't have the overdone strings and choirs of the Let It Be version. It doesn't have the completely out-of-place birds or the silly falsetto background vocals on the refrain that the original WWF version has. It doesn't have the ultracompressed vocal of both versions. And it has some more spitshine than the Anthology demo. We finally have a definitive version of this song. I love it.

"The Long and Winding Road" sounds very good without the overdone orchestration (given that you like the song at all, of course). It sounds similar to the demo that was on the third Anthology volume, only much more complete and polished. I don't know how many takes they had of this; my understanding is that Spector had to cover it up in production because all the takes he had of it were so bad, but this one sounds perfect. I don't know if any parts were re-recorded; where did the alternative instrumental breakdown come from, by the way?

The tempo of "I Me Mine" is noticably slower. The strings and choirs are likewise gone, placing the emphasis on the guitars (which are pretty interesting, now that I can hear them). It repeats Spector's trick of doubling the track length by repeating the first part.

"Don't Let Me Down" is a different take from the version on the flipside of "Get Back." The refrain is sung more than screamed now, and the harmonizing during it is higher in the mix. It's not an incredibly different take, but it's nice to have. I don't know why this wasn't on the album to begin with. "Old Brown Shoe" should've made it on both too (with Harrison's vocals mixed higher).

The rest of the songs are subtly different in their mix. No real revisionism going on here. They all sound like the same takes as the album versions. "For You, Blue" sounds nearly the same, except with much better clarity (a cleaner and more prominent lead vocal, more audible strumming from the acoustic rhythm guitar). Stuff like the talking before and after tracks such as "Get Back" and "Dig A Pony" are gone, which brings the songs back into the Beatles canon instead of feeling like a collection of unfinished demos. The solo in "Let It Be" is different from both the album and single versions of the song. A lot of the improvement simply has to do with the fact that it's been remastered (the version I'm comparing it to was the 1987 CD remaster).

Songs such as "I've Got A Feeling" and "One After 909" sound pretty much the same, except for a "new" background vocal or two here and there. I'd be surprised if most people notice a difference at all.

There's a second disc which consists of one track, "Fly On the Wall," a sort of aural collage of the sessions. Anyone who's bitter about the speaking bits of the album getting ditched ought to love this, though. "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" are even on it. Plus, you get to hear a snippet of an early version of Lennon's "Jealous Guy" ("Child of Nature") and Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." And for some reason, the take of "Don't Let Me Down" near the beginning reminds me somewhat of "Sun King." Nothing new to folks who have the Anthology releases or many Beatles bootlegs, but still neat.

The new sequencing didn't strike me as too odd (but I was switching to the previously released versions of the tracks a lot to compare them), except that "The Long and Winding Road" seems to arrive too early and I miss "Two of Us" as an opener and "Get Back as a closer; but overall, the album has good flow. The absence of "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" helps. The album has always been the ugly duckling of the Beatles catalogue?the band found it so frustrating to make listenable that they ditched it and recorded Abbey Road, after all?but I think we finally have a version of it that we can stack proudly alongside Sgt Pepper's and the White Album (but then, I always loved this album). That is to say that, if I feel like listening to Let It Be, I think I'll be more compelled to get this version than the original.

Much better than another damn compilation, in any case.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

Phil has his groundhog day , paul attacks again , phil's busted again

 

[IWasBored]

First of all, I can't honestly believe that they actually released it under that moronic name (let what be naked?). Get Back would've been much better. But anyway, some assorted thoughts:

The new "Across the Universe" is beautiful. It's a different version from the two that have been released already. It doesn't have the overdone strings and choirs of the Let It Be version. It doesn't have the completely out-of-place birds or the silly falsetto background vocals on the refrain that the original WWF version has. It doesn't have the ultracompressed vocal of both versions. And it has some more spitshine than the Anthology demo. We finally have a definitive version of this song. I love it.

"The Long and Winding Road" sounds very good without the overdone orchestration (given that you like the song at all, of course). It sounds similar to the demo that was on the third Anthology volume, only much more complete and polished. I don't know how many takes they had of this; my understanding is that Spector had to cover it up in production because all the takes he had of it were so bad, but this one sounds perfect. I don't know if any parts were re-recorded; where did the alternative instrumental breakdown come from, by the way?

The tempo of "I Me Mine" is noticably slower. The strings and choirs are likewise gone, placing the emphasis on the guitars (which are pretty interesting, now that I can hear them). It repeats Spector's trick of doubling the track length by repeating the first part.

"Don't Let Me Down" is a different take from the version on the flipside of "Get Back." The refrain is sung more than screamed now, and the harmonizing during it is higher in the mix. It's not an incredibly different take, but it's nice to have. I don't know why this wasn't on the album to begin with. "Old Brown Shoe" should've made it on both too (with Harrison's vocals mixed higher).

The rest of the songs are subtly different in their mix. No real revisionism going on here. They all sound like the same takes as the album versions. "For You, Blue" sounds nearly the same, except with much better clarity (a cleaner and more prominent lead vocal, more audible strumming from the acoustic rhythm guitar). Stuff like the talking before and after tracks such as "Get Back" and "Dig A Pony" are gone, which brings the songs back into the Beatles canon instead of feeling like a collection of unfinished demos. The solo in "Let It Be" is different from both the album and single versions of the song. A lot of the improvement simply has to do with the fact that it's been remastered (the version I'm comparing it to was the 1987 CD remaster).

Songs such as "I've Got A Feeling" and "One After 909" sound pretty much the same, except for a "new" background vocal or two here and there. I'd be surprised if most people notice a difference at all.

There's a second disc which consists of one track, "Fly On the Wall," a sort of aural collage of the sessions. Anyone who's bitter about the speaking bits of the album getting ditched ought to love this, though. "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" are even on it. Plus, you get to hear a snippet of an early version of Lennon's "Jealous Guy" ("Child of Nature") and Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." And for some reason, the take of "Don't Let Me Down" near the beginning reminds me somewhat of "Sun King." Nothing new to folks who have the Anthology releases or many Beatles bootlegs, but still neat.

The new sequencing didn't strike me as too odd (but I was switching to the previously released versions of the tracks a lot to compare them), except that "The Long and Winding Road" seems to arrive too early and I miss "Two of Us" as an opener and "Get Back as a closer; but overall, the album has good flow. The absence of "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" helps. The album has always been the ugly duckling of the Beatles catalogue?the band found it so frustrating to make listenable that they ditched it and recorded Abbey Road, after all?but I think we finally have a version of it that we can stack proudly alongside Sgt Pepper's and the White Album (but then, I always loved this album). That is to say that, if I feel like listening to Let It Be, I think I'll be more compelled to get this version than the original.

Much better than another damn compilation, in any case.

sounds like it's worth asking my grandma to get it for me for christmas. especailly cos i just realized i doin't even have a fully functioning copy of the regular let it be album it was on vinyl and it died.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

worst. title. evah.

 

[IWasBored]

yes, yertle.