Customer Reviews

Let It Be Naked

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Let me start by echoing others in saying that the title of this album is ridiculous and that the album cover is probably the Beatles' worst ever (not counting 70's compilations like 'Rock & Roll Music'). And I, too, would have liked to see the release of the original Glyn Johns-produced 'Get Back' album, complete with the EMI House cover photo that was later used on the Red and Blue Albums.
It's pretty difficult to evaluate this album on its own merits since I'm so familiar with the 1970 version. The track listing is pretty close to the original, with the removal of "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" and the addition of "Don't Let Me Down." That's fine. But as I understand it this was always supposed to be a sort of "live" album and, as such, the studio banter is greatly missed. As others have pointed out, "Get Back" seems to stop short. This is because it lacks the extended outro of the single version and John's rooftop quips from the LP.

"Dig a Pony" appears to be identical to the original version, as do "Two of Us," "For You Blue," "One After 909," and "I Me Mine." Any differences are minor--slightly different balances in the mixing, etc.

"I've Got a Feeling," "Across the Universe," "Let it Be," "Don't Let Me Down," and "The Long and Winding Road" are the most changed. Of these four, "I've Got a Feeling" is closest to the version we're familiar with, but it falls short, in my opinion. In addition to apparently being a different take, the guitars are mixed too softly and the electric piano is too loud. "Don't Let Me Down" pales in comparison to the original single version. Again, the guitars are mixed too softly, and the part at the end where John's lead vocal is only audible through what I assume are instrument mics is missing completely.

"Across the Universe" has had all overdubs stripped from it, and is perhaps the most improved. Phil Spector really did do a number on this one.

The version of "Let it Be" that appears here is inferior both to the original album and original single versions. Here was a case where Phil Spector vastly improved the basic track, by adding echo and especially a new guitar solo to replace George's rather lame Leslie noodlings.

Spector's treatment of "The Long and Winding Road" always seems to be held up as the canonical example of what was wrong with the album. Hearing this version is no revelation, since something similar was available on 'Anthology 3,' but I can understand Paul's desire to finally restore his untouched performance to the album. Yet we are left with something that almost sounds like a demo. In fact, the rest of the band almost seems superfluous on this one. Perhaps it would have been better with just Paul and a piano. I think Spector sensed it was missing something and simply went overboard. There is no question that without him this never would have been a hit single, however.

The 'Fly on the Wall' disc is interesting. The highlight for me is the 10-second snippet of John, Paul, and George singing "All Things Must Pass." That would have made a stellar Beatles track--what a shame.

To conclude, if you're a new or a casual Beatles fan, skip this and get the original album. If you're a more serious fan or a collector, it's probably worth having, if only for the second disc, which contains pieces of what appear to be two previously unheard Lennon-McCartney tracks.

However, this release falls short of what I think it could have been. Perhaps in some time we will see the release of Glyn Johns' 'Get Back,' or even a box set on the model of the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds Sessions.' I am sure I would give those much higher recommendations.

LET IT BE - NAKED is a totally unnecessary album. The additional disc of studio chatter is a massive bore-- please don't waste a portion of your life listening to it.

The original album, in spite of a few Spector overdubbed tracks, is just fine and about all one needs to hear from this ill-fated movie and concert project.

Speaking of which, if Apple really cares about Beatles fans young and old (which I doubt), they should re-release the film of LET IT BE-- give it a short theatrical run, then follow that up with a home video product. LET IT BE is certainly not the greatest rock movie of all time, but it has a few fine moments. This movie is the REAL Let It Be Naked.

The only way I listen to music is to convert the cd to an mp3 file and use it on my player.

However, EMI has placed some kind of technology to prevent this conversion, so I guess I won't be listeniung to it.

Thanks EMI, I'm sure that you will have lots more loyal customers after you screw them.

I've never liked LET IT BE. It's an absurdity: some of the best material The Beatles ever recorded presented alongside... some of the worst.

LET IT BE failed in many ways, and not least because it highlighted the central problem in the band at the time - that John was in a creative tailspin while Paul was reaching his peak. What Spector desperately needed to do, he couldn't do. Given a long recording of the horrendous and embarrassing "Dig It", he thought he could minimize its damage to the album by cutting it shorter. No way. He should have dumped it into the nearest wastebasket and told John the truth - that it stank. He also thought he could lighten the mood with a bit of charming pub-song. Not! Before this project could work, both "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" would have to go. Now they're gone.

LET IT BE... NAKED is essentially three successive groups of songs:

1) Paul, John and George blues-rock ("Get Back", "Dig a Pony", "For You Blue")
2) Lennon-McCartney retro numbers ("Two of Us", "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909")
3) George, John and Paul "spirituals" ("I Me Mine", "Across the Universe", "Let It Be")

The sequencing of these songs by composer is palindromic - P J G / JP JP JP / G J P - a subtle tribute to John, who early on did some notable numbers utilizing harmonic ("Ask Me Why") or structural ("I'll Be Back") palindromes. Also, in that the playlist both begins and ends with Paul McCartney ("Get Back" and "Let It Be") the new album acknowledges Paul as the driving force behind the project and the principal composer in the Beatles at that time. Filling out the list and separating groups one from two and two from three are the two love songs - Paul's "Long and Winding Road" and the newly added alternate take of John's "Don't Let Me Down" (nice move!).

There are some revelations in the newly scrubbed sound. "I've Got a Feeling", for one. Prior to the release of this disc I had never enjoyed it at all, thinking it crude and uninspired and the enthusiasm contrived and unconvincing. Now however, with George's and John's guitar interplay evident, we have a window into what it was that the guys were responding to.

I'll admit I would have been happier with the girls' voices restored to "Across the Universe". I also wonder about the decision to keep the Spector extension of "I Me Mine", but now I'm just quibbling.

To those who might say that LET IT BE, as soundtrack to the film, shouldn't be tampered with, I'd ask whether there is not something oddly circular in that reasoning. LET IT BE is not A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. The guys didn't set out to do a film; they merely filmed themselves rehearsing in the studio. In 1970, the band, frustrated and out of patience with one another, tossed this stuff off onto Spector and allowed it to be released as a "soundtrack". This new disc is the welcome result of the survivors having given up that pretense, and now we have a beautifully edited album which can stand with their others.

I find this an interesting collector's item.Though I can't hear any differences in most of the songs.The only three that do sound different are Let It Be,The Long And Winding Road and Across The Universe.I especially find Across The Universe to be sung in a higher key and sound slightly more cheerful.

This CD is ok. There isn't really anything new here. Tracks like Get Back, Let it Be, Don't Let Me Down, and Across the Universe are already available in "De-Spectorized" versions on the Past Masters Vol 2 CD. Actually the Past Master versions of these songs sound better then on LIBN. On Let It Be Naked the guitars are not that prominent in the mix on all the songs except I Me Mine (which actually sounds better to me). Don't Let Me Down and I've Got a Feeling really suffer from the buried guitars in the mix. As for songs like the Long and Winding Road and Let It Be they benefited from Phil Spector. The LAWR needs the orchestra not the "toy piano" that is present in this mix. And by the way this track was also available on the Anthology 3 CD. As for the title track I actually prefer the Spector version because the George Harrison guitar solo is much clearer. The version on this CD is ok, but nothing special when compared to the album version released in 1970 or the single version released in 1969. As for the omission of Maggie Mae and Dig it, they might as well have left them on the CD there was certainly enough space. Also they should have left the dialogue in, there is some classic stuff there. In addition with so much more space on the CD its a wonder why they didn't put Beatle versions of songs like All Things Must Pass among others, which were recovered last year by police from bootleggers. As for the bonus disc, its just parts of songs and dialogue, if you like that sort of stuff.

I approached this CD with a bit of skepticism to begin with. I love the Beatles and have everything they ever did.
Hearing some of the new mixes was good. I do like the new 'Long and Winding Road' mix as well as 'For You Blue'. Most of them, however, aren't that much different. 'Dig A Pony', 'One After 909', and 'I Me Mine' more or less sound the same, except the sound is crisper.
Part of my problem with this project is the fact that the 'Let it Be' album was FAR from their best work. It's hard to take a mediocre song and remix it to make a great song. Unfortunately, except for the three hits on the album, the rest is not up to the Beatles usual standards of greatness.
If, by some chance, anyone at EMI should read this, once you get busy remixing and remastering such Beatles masterpieces like 'Abbey Road', 'Sgt Pepper', or "A Hard Day's Night', then you'll hear Beatles fans everywhere start to cheer!

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the Beatles . . . but there is nothing all that revelatory on "Naked". Phil Spector added additional instrumentation to just four songs on the original album. And stripped down versions ALREADY exist on Anthology 2 and 3 and other releases, some, in fact, even prior to the release of the original LIB album. (Regarding Spector's production: he went too far on John's ATU and George's IMM, but his work on Paul's LWR and LIB was actually not bad at all.) Aside from that, the "Naked" title is ATROCIOUS and extremely inappropriate in the context of the sober sentiment of the title track. The cover art is vapid. But the worst part is removing John Lennon material from a Beatles album. ("Naked" sounds sterile and it loses the orginal's fun loving character without the Monty Python-esque intro bits. And Lennon's "Thank you on behalf of the group . . . " comment has been removed!) Paul also removed "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae". That is a very classless act on his part. Those songs aren't musical masterpieces. Fine. But it would have been VERY classy of him to have taken the high road and have put LONGER versions of them on the album. For the love of heaven, I want MORE Beatles material, not LESS! How would Paul like "Abbey Road" re-released without "Her Majesty"? The Fly on the Wall disc does provide some "new" musical bits, but mixed in with chatter and discussion. You're not going to listen to it more than once. If you're into bootlegs, then you know there is a tremendous amount of Let it Be material that could be used, with some editing, to scrape together a few "new" Beatles songs. No masterpieces for sure, but that would still be of more interest to this fan than Paul's self-aggrandizing "Naked" rehash.

this cd was worth the money. the songs do sound different, but i think it was in a good way, this is the way the beatles wanted to us to hear, and its how i wanted to hear it. the second disk was fun, listening to them talk and stuff

well worth the money

The band has been apart for over 30 years, but the music lives on and this release shows what they were like in the studio, organic, just like their Hamburg days. As much as the strings sounded nice on the original Let It Be from 1970, it wasn't what Macca wanted and now you have the real deal...After all, it is Christmas, and what would it be like without a new Beatles album under the tree...