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Let It Be... Naked

The Beatles - Let It Be... Naked Audio CD

A fair review of the The Beatles "Let It Be... Naked" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Beatles reviews here, or go back to the The Beatles tabs.

Band: The Beatles
Title: Let It Be... Naked
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-11-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Get Back 2: Dig A Pony 3: For You Blue 4: The Long And Winding Road 5: Two Of Us 6: I've Got A Feeling 7: One After 909 8: Don't Let Me Down 9: I Me Mine 10: Across The Universe 11: Let It Be

Let it be profitable.
If nothing else, "Let It Be . . Naked" displays the stunning sound quality that is now possible through sophisticated digital remastering.

Beyond that, "Naked" offers a few curiosities, such as a stripped-down, choirless and orchestra-less 'Long and Winding Road', revealing the song's simple beauty, and a nice remix of 'Across the Universe'. Despite the marketing hype that this is "Let It Be" as the Beatles envisioned it, what is evident is that this is another marketing ploy (albeit a musically rewarding one) by EMI to milk the lucrative Beatles catalog for all its worth. "Naked" does add some lustre to "Let It Be"s legacy, although for all its faults, the original version is still the proper one, simply due to its vintage.

My take on Let It Be....Naked
Still, I felt compelled to say something about this album since I just recently discovered it and wanted to explain why I really enjoy it. There have already been hundreds of coherent and thoughtful reviews on this album, so this review will probably be lost in the jumble.

First, let me start with the original release. In my case, the only "Let It Be" I had ever experienced before buying this CD was the released version in its 1980's and 2009 editions. Up until recently, my opinion of "Let It Be" was that Beatles fans should just take it for what it is. . . a slightly jumbled, unfinished collection of rehearsals/early takes. In my opinion, the original release has some great moments and catchy songs that I am convinced would have developed into beautiful Beatles classics had they been fully worked-out and realized during recording sessions. This isn't to say that I don't like the original Let It Be release. On the contrary, I like it very much; however to me, it has a chaotic/pieced together feel and at no point in listening to this CD do I think of it as a polished and complete Beatles album.

With all that said, I purchased "Let It Be. . . Naked" a little while ago to see how it sounded. I went into it being pretty skeptical and not expecting much. I was pretty upset with how Let It Be. . . Naked was being marketed: i. e. The way the Beatles wanted the album to sound, etc. At the time, I don't think the Beatles knew how they wanted it to sound so I doubt that this selling tactic is really true. With that said, after listing to Let It Be. . . Naked all the way through I was pleasantly surprised. My first impression was that this album now makes Let It Be sound like a fully realized album. I understand that this was sort of artificially created (with song selection, editing, mixing tracks, etc. ), so for some this may be a contentious point. That being said, I really loved the takes and song selections on this album. I think the title does a decent job describing it. . . . . basically it just feels like some crud has been scraped away for the album and on the whole it is more direct and to the point. As someone who likes the original Let It Be release, listening to this album was a wonderful treat which helped me rediscover and understand these songs in a new way.

For me, this is a necessary Beatles album to own, whether you are a fan of the original release or not. I would still recommend to any Beatles fan that they own both versions of this album, however I think that "Let It Be. . . Naked" presents some of the original material in a new light and it is a pleasure to listen to from front to back.

Let It Be...... Betrayed
The Remix/Remastering is excellent. It's not that this CD is terrible. It's just that Paul Betrayed the Original Premise of the "Get Back Project" Again. The Premise was NO OVERDUBS. Now The Beatles betrayed it themselves during the original sessions. And Paul Allowed it to happen again. The Version of "Let It Be" is the same one that 1st betrayed the no over dub rule. He should have used the "There will be no sorrow version from the film and Anthology video. He also mixed take 1 and 2 of the rooftop "Don't Let Me Down". Using the version where Lennon flubs the line would have been sticking to the "Warts and All" idea. Plus the flub does not ruin the song. Either the 2nd or 3rd Live Rooftop version of "Get Back" would have been a more "Naked" choice than the shortened studio version used here. Either the 8 plus minute, or Glyn Johns shortened 4 minute Get Back Mix 2 version would have been nice. The best thing is, with all the "Get Back" Material in circulation, one can go out and make any version you like to suit your taste. So dig this one, then go out and be creative and make your Own "Get Back"/ "Let It Be" Mix. .

"LET IT BE" HAS FINALLY BEEN "LET BE"
e, we were the teens of the 1970s). I should begin with saying that I am not a Big-Chill, First-Half Baby Boomer but a Second-Half Boomer (i. So I lack the prime-adolescent/early adult associations with this music which color the memories of my older siblings and many of the reviewers, here. I was 10 years old in 1970, when The Beatles' breakup was announced and when LET IT BE was first released.

For those older than I was at the time, your first impressions of these songs must remain indelible - especially if, at the time, the sadness and valedictory mood of the title song and "The Long & Winding Road" formed part of your emotional "closure" upon learning of The Beatles' end. . . Perhaps for you they were a plea for ACCEPTANCE, of this and other losses : to "put away childish things," say goodbye, and move on. It's even possible that Spector's quasi-Wagnerian strings, choir, and harp glissandi in "Winding Road" became part of your "acceptance" - and something you now resent being tampered with. And God knows. . . In the late 60s/early 70s, with the dashing of so many immediate hopes for a new & better world, there was quite enough loss to "accept" : the assassinations; the prolongation of the Indochina War; the beginning (had we but known it) of our economic decline into inflation and debt; not to mention the sheer number of rock & roll greats who snuffed themselves out before their time - AND the breakup of The Beatles !!!

But even at age 10, to me the overdubbs were overdone and fit the music awkwardly. I even thought that the tunes had done to them, unsuccessfully, what was successfully done to Charlie Brown's sad little Christmas tree. (Gimme a break for godssakes, I was 10 years old. Even if my analogy STILL fits. ) And the sound of the original LP always struck me as muddy - and not necessarily because some kind of "muddy" sound was being gone for.

So at least half the reason for my "five stars" is the sound quality : not at all antiseptic, it is warm, sounds like a real band, and now we hear these tunes without the heavy, soupy Spectorizing. And yes, they ARE strong enough without it; after all, they were all conceived as not needing it. On a smaller scale, it is not unlike viewing the newly restored Sistine Ceiling - even if, to this day, some art experts remain nostalgic for the old, discoloring protective varnish.

And to "give the devil his due," the Spectorized LET IT BE was not such a disaster as another infamous overdubbed LP of that time, THERE I SAID IT AGAIN (where some 1940s Nat King Cole Trio sides were overdubbed with strings and reverb).

Now, I leave it to Beatle-ologists to compare the different mixes and takes used on NAKED, the original LP and ANTHOLOGY 3. No doubt there are many who consider ANY inter-take splicing as a betrayal of the original "no overdubb" idea. I believe John Lennon's exact quote, addresed to (Sir) George Martin, was "none of your production rubbish. " This seems to imply "no overdubbed instrumentals and vocals," which hardly rules out ALL editing or using the best takes or passages available. To go even further : with the anticipated presence of so many hours of "raw" film and tape footage, I would humbly suggest that SOME kind of "editing" from the best takes and passages was inherent to this "project" from the get-go. And I would only see this as a "betrayal" if later, slicker takes or fragments of a different sound and feeling had been interpolated onto something live and more energetic. But if the "joins" are not jarring, and all the material is of the same time, place, and level of feeling, and if the songs themselves do NOT suffer from it. . . then who's betraying whom? After all, on a finished disc, even the exact beginning and end of tracks involves "editing. "

Anyhow, in sheer musical terms - as opposed to mere technical "slickness" - every tune on NAKED strikes my ears as being and sounding better than before. Case in point : Sir Paul's "yeah-yeah" tag, at the end of the Spectorized "Long & Winding Road". Sorry to skewer anyone's sacred cow, but given Sir Paul's supreme mastery of pop lyricism and projection, I always thought the "yeah-yeah" thing came off as a bit self-conscious & affected - like an unnecessary "Hmmm?" or "Right?" at the end of a well-spoken sentence. This REALLY makes itself known while set, as it is, against Spector's TANNHAUSER-Venusbergian strings, choir and harp glissandi. But stripped of the yeah-yeahs and the layed-on "Wagner," the song is stronger and sounds more "natural" (or should I say "let be"?).

And while I'm shamelessly skewering sacred cows (i. e. , how dare I, not being of THAT generation, etc. etc. ), here's one more bit of ground chuck. . . The "received" idea that the Twickenham film dates (i. e. , the first LET IT BE sessions) "document the breakup of The Beatles. " Yes, John Lennon was supremely RIGHT when he said that the "feeling" on those sessions was "lousy" - and the film does not and cannot camoflage this. But in the 2 to 3 years prior to those first LET IT BE sessions, the Beatles had gone through several OTHER episodes of accumulated tensions and "lousy feeling. " Only, the Twickenham sessions were caught on film, so it is all too easy to point to them and pontificate : "HERE is where the breakup really started. " Whereas the overall "feeling" of the subsequent Apple Basement Studio dates, the Rooftop date, and the ABBEY ROAD dates is anything but "lousy. " This subtle insistence on making the Twickenham dates representative of the WHOLE project is sad, because it only serves to obscure the truth - which is that, from the Basement sessions on through the end of ABBEY ROAD, The Beatles DID go out in a rising trajectory of quality and glory.

No doubt, it was inevitable to include the Spectorized LET IT BE in the newly remastered Beatles collection. But if it includes PAST MASTERS, it might have also included LET IT BE. . . NAKED. Still, NAKED is a boon and I am grateful for it. .

a few things missing
Great sound, nice running order. First of all, this is a fabulous album. Many others have commemted on the highs and lows: to me, this is how the lp should have been put out. A little more interest by the band, and with George Martin producing, we could have had this instead of Spector's Folly.
That said, I find a few things lacking. The absolutly hideous title and artwork,for starters. The title conjures up visions of Yoko Ono and. . . well let's not go there. Why not use the original title ( Get Back) and artwork that was done. Much more interesting and pertinent to the release. It also would have been nice to have George"s complete Beatle's version of "All Things Must Pass" on the album, which would have enhanced it greatly. One last complaint would be, instead of the usless 2nd disc, why not put a 2nd disc of the original Gyn John's version of the lp? It would have made for a nice comparison for those who don't own the bootleg versions.
That having been said, throw away your copy of Let it Be, and buy this: you won't be dissapointed.

You can see a complete list of all The Beatles discography, or go back to the The Beatles tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.