| | Beatles Let It Be... Naked CD Beatles Discography of CDs
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LET IT BE...NAKED contains a FLY ON THE WALL bonus disc including song rehearsals and conversation snatches.
Includes liner notes by Kevin Howlett and interview excerpts with The Beatles
In its original form, LET IT BE signaled the end of an era, closing the book on the Beatles, as well as literally and figuratively marking the end of the '60s. The 1970 release evolved from friction-filled sessions the Beatles intended to be an organic, bare-bones return to their roots. Instead, the endless hours of tapes were eventually handed over to Phil Spector, since neither the quickly splintering Beatles nor their longtime producer George Martin wanted to sift through the voluminous results.
LET IT BE... NAKED sets the record straight, revisiting the contentious sessions, stripping away the Spectorian orchestrations, reworking the running order, and losing all extemporaneous in-studio banter. On this version of the album, filler tracks ("Dig It," "Maggie Mae") are dropped, while juicy b-side "Don't Let Me Down" is added. The most obvious revamping is on the songs handled heavily by Spector. Removing the orchestrations from "The Long and Winding Road" and "Across the Universe" gives Paul McCartney's vocals considerably more resonance on the former, doing the same for John Lennon's voice and guitar on the latter. This alternate take on LET IT BE enhances the album's power, reclaiming the raw, unadorned quality that was meant to be its calling card from the beginning.
Generally regarded as the Beatles' last album, LET IT BE was actually recorded in 1969, before the recording and release of ABBEY ROAD. LET IT BE was greeted with mixed reviews when it came out in 1970, and is still a controversial disc in the band's catalogue--many fans reject it, while others defend it fiercely. Notable for its difference from anything else the Beatles recorded, LET IT BE has a raw, ragged, muscular sound that recalls the band's very earliest rock roots. The songs were mostly recorded live (save Phil Spector's overdubs on "The Long and Winding Road," "Across the Universe," and "I Me Mine"), and the result is a world away from the meticulous, high-sheen sophistication of the group's George Martin-produced releases.
No one is likely to argue that LET IT BE is the band's best album, but it is a strong release nonetheless. From the easy-rolling folk feel of "Two of Us" to the interlocking vocals and screaming guitar of "I've Got a Feeling" to the epoch-making title cut (one of Paul McCartney's finest moments), the album bristles with good songwriting and gutsy energy. There are moments of filler--the rock & roll rehash "One After 909," for example--but at its best, as on John Lennon's meditative "Across the Universe" and the driving "Get Back" (which features Billy Preston on keys and is the record's high point), it shows the Beatles for what they always were: a top-notch, hard-working rock band.
from the original LET IT BE book.
The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr.
Additional personnel: Billy Preston (keyboards).Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.116) - Ranked #86 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Some of the strongest rockers and most poignant ballads in their entire canon..."
Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.207) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...It's nice to have the sparer rendition of 'Across the Universe' that Lennon recorded, and the sonic improvements to the album as a whole are undeniable..."
Entertainment Weekly (10/12/01, p.36) - Ranked #45 in EW's "100 Best Movie Soundtracks" - "...Beautifully explores a nostalgia for simpler times - theirs 'and' ours..."
Entertainment Weekly (11/21/03, pp.81-2) - "...Some of these changes are for the better. The sonic clarity is welcome and the revamped album concludes, as the original should have, with the title track, one of the most moving songs McCartney ever wrote..." - Rating: B+
Mojo (Publisher) (12/03, p.134) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[T]he cleaning up, editing and re-sequencing has brought out a warmth and depth of colour we've not heard before..." Let It Be... Naked Music Review Average Rating: (4.1 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews put your clothes back on
call me set in my ways but i am not sure why this was done - or why i bought it - it will make a good xmas present for an in-law.
Submitted by fwattle (grafton, australia) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 2 found this helpful.
 a trip back
When I listened to this CD while driving in my car it was like a trip back in time. I can't believe that these were not the original releases. The beatles sound so good compared to the original album
Submitted by dmagrino (new york new york)
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Historical sound restaured as beginning
When I was sixteen I hated the orchestral sound on voice and music of fabfour .Now the real sound has be back
Submitted by cassmag (Milan ,Italy)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Incredible Sound Clarity & Performance
"Let It Be" has always been a disappointment to me since learning of the original intent of the January 1969 sessions and Paul McCartney's disapproval of Phil Spector's production on "LAWR" and "Let It Be".
Since this CD was advertised as how "Let It Be" was originally intended to be released, it was initially disappointing in that all of the spoken interludes were removed and the song order had been altered from both the official release and the original bootlegs that were eventually pulled back from release in 1969 and 1970.
Having listened to the CD for several weeks and realizing the intent of the people responsible for the reissue, I find the clarity and performance of the music to be extraordinary. Several of the songs are from different takes than those included on the original 1970 release, which does require some time to adjust. "The Long And Winding Road" that was so beautifully unadorned on the Anthology 3 CD, while the same as the 1970 release with the exception of Phil Spector's lush arrangement, is not the same one included on "Naked" but does seem to match the version on the film.
It appears that the motivation behind these changes were to create a "clean" version of the songs and to eliminate the soundtrack quality of the original 1969/1970 releases.
While this is disappointing to some extent (I did burn a CD with the song order changed to the original 1970 sequence while including "Dig It " and "Maggie Mae"), the actual songs themselves are excellent. The changes to Across the Universe and Let It Be are especially stunning as they are freed from the layers of added Spector-effects and are just pure and beautiful. While they are not all live in that some songs are made from multiple takes of a song, the effect is stunning.
I do believe that there is a place for both versions of "Let It Be". "Naked" as a precursor for a DVD version of the Let It Be, is intriguing and the music incredible.
While it is definitely NOT what the original sessions were intended to be, it is an excellent spotlight on the Beatles' music as it stands on it own merits and each performance is elevated as a result.
Submitted by paceci (Mohegan Lake, NY, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Better than ever
This is truly the way it should have been released, originally, minus all the strings and production effects. This is just pure Beatles (in the studio), sweet and true.
Furthermore...the remastering is EXCELLENT!!!! I'd buy the entire Beatles collection (again) if they could improve all of it the way they cleaned this one up! Incredible!
Submitted by John (Olympia, WA, USA)
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