Let It Be...Naked [VINYL]

Product Information

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. 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. Also included in the package is an extra disc of "Fly On The Wall" outtakes from the January 1969 sessions. In beautiful gatefold sleeve with great LP sized booklet of photos and interviews, and with a 7" which contains interviews and information about the recording of the album.

But the producers made some truly baffling decisions at odds with the intent to present the original album in a purer form. Across the Universe" – a remix of the original version recorded on 4 February 1968, without speed/pitch alteration, sound effects, piano, maracas and backing vocals; with echo effects unique to this version. And these mashups sit next to “Two of Us” and “One After 909”, which are the same takes as the original album, just newly remixed – the producers were wildly inconsistent in their philosophy of what they were supposed to be doing with the songs on this release. Naked" -LP was mixed and remastered from the original 1969 recorded master-tapes and comes without "Dig it" and "Maggie Mae," two titles of the 1970 "Let It Be" release but with "Don't Let Me Down" that is not on Phil Spector's reproduced remix from 1970. The producers spat in our faces with the “Fly on the Wall” disc, and if I ever get the chance I honestly plan to spit back.

The de-Spectorized version is kind of lame anyway, even the far superior de-Spectorized version on Anthology 3 bores me. Naked consists largely of newly mixed versions of the Let It Be tracks while omitting the excerpts of incidental studio chatter and most of Spector's embellishments. You know, I totally get why people don’t like “The Long and Winding Road”, I’ll admit I can be a sucker for schmaltz sometimes.

Anyway, if you’ve never seen The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, find three hours sometime and watch it, it’s a superlative film. When I first saw the Let It Be film, I was stunned at how beautiful a song Long and Winding Road actually is with just The Beatles and Preston. You may not dig the orchestra in that section on the Spector version, but you have to admit, that organ solo is bad.

Because the producers didn’t just give us a de-Spectorized version of “Across the Universe”, it’s de-Paul-George-and-Ringoized version too, for who knows what reason. When the album came out, the first thing that hit me was that song sounded the least like the one I heard at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.