Let It Be...Naked [VINYL]

Product Information

The impressive thing about it is the only thing going on in the movie while the music is playing is some guy is running around in a graveyard. The fact that these are as recorded in the studio, untampered with and without overdubbing simply confirms that this is nothing short of a near masterpiece. Original film sound rolls now provide an invaluable historical record of these days in the life of The Beatles and they do contain some candid discussions about the future of the group. No lie, I get it stuck in my head for days at a time, and since I can’t whistle and it doesn’t have any words I have to walk around the house singing “Doo doo, doo doo, doo-doo-loo-doo-doo-doo-doo”, I’m sure it sounds pretty stupid. 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.

On "The Long and Winding Road", the Naked producers used the final take, recorded five days after the rough run-through Spector had selected for the original album. Like “I’ve Got a Feeling” – mixing the two versions rather than just using the first take makes this something very different than simply a de-Spectorized Let It Be, and wasn’t that the point to begin with? And with LIBN I finally have it, so I treasure this release despite it’s confusions and inconsistencies. I assume it’s because there’s nothing else to distract from it, but I find it really stands out here, and it’s simply gorgeous. In Rob Sheffield’s excellent book Dreaming The Beatles, there’s a chapter titled “Paul Is a Concept By Which We Measure Our Pain”, and his horrendous live recreations of those originally horrendous strings and choir is a prime example of this “concept”.

Includes a 12" x 12" 19-page booklet and an additional 7" disc with 20 song-fragments: "Fly On The Wall": "A Unique Insight Into The Beatles At Work In Rehearsel And In The Studio During January 1969".

I Me Mine" – a remixed, slightly different recreation of Spector's edit (which had increased the track's length by copy/pasting the second chorus at the end) of the track recorded on 3 January 1970; orchestra removed, guitar overdubs and organ parts mixed in and out to make the repeated verse sound different. Phil Spector had a tendency to muck up his mixes, “clear” is not a word anyone associated with any Phil Spector mix ever, so some of these songs sounded a lot brighter compared to the versions on the original album.But some genius at EMI knew they could charge a few bucks more with a second disc, and so it became a two disc release. Above all, the removal of the "wall of sound " production techniques lifts a murky cloud off the whole album. There was already a de-Spectorized version of the original on Anthology 3, but instead of using that the producers opted to include a take recorded five days after the original instead, which includes the absolute lamest organ solo ever committed to tape in all of history. However, amidst the turmoil of the band’s breakup, the album was re-produced by Phil Spector before its 1970 release and it did not represent the raw and unadorned set The Beatles had in mind.

The rest of the songs, shorn of Spector's decorative flourishes, confirm that although the Beatles were having occasional difficulty speaking to each other during these sessions, there was no problem about playing together. We are available to book for live shows and events, as well as bespoke licensed music for videos, commercials, TV, film and more. There is consistent chatter about this LP online and there is definite interest from fans and collectors in a reissue. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.Not everyone agrees, you can get on the Steve Hoffman forum online and read a lot of those audiophile poseurs who post there who are going on about how they “sucked all the life out of the mixes” and “it sounds too digital” and things that those of us with merely mortal hearing can’t detect, and they sound a lot like wannabe winetasters waxing grandiloquent about stuff that may or may not be mere figments of their winetasting imaginations, saying things like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru has a “nice, piquant after-dinner flavor – heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness”. Instead of several discs of music from these tapes we should have got, we got 20 minutes of snatches of bits of songs and mumbled conversations that sound like they were assembled by someone with severe ADHD, who after a couple of seconds went “OK, on to something else now”. One After 909" – a remix of the take from the rooftop concert; impromptu rendition of " Danny Boy" removed.

The Long and Winding Road' is indubitably improved by the removal of Spector's wall of schmaltz, but it's still teeth-clenchingly mawkish".I would never know some 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. The film sound rolls recorded at Apple (after their decision to move back to their studio there) disclose how much the atmosphere of the sessions had improved.