Why disdain for "Let It Be... Naked?"

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Strat-Mangler, Jul 11, 2014.

  1. StateOfTheArt

    StateOfTheArt Beatle Know-it-all

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    Sorry I was referring to the album as a whole.
     
  2. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Ah, ok.
     
  3. A well respected man

    A well respected man Some Mother's Son

    Location:
    Madrid, Spain
    Me neither. I am not familiar with the original takes, so I don't notice the edits. I don't think the LIBN team was going for historical accuracy, they were just creating a Beatles album out of the sessions. It's not so different from what George Martin did in the early albums, where he would also edit different takes looking for the best finished song possible.
     
    crossroads69 likes this.
  4. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    The point is though that Get Back/Let It Be wasn't meant to be like the other albums. It was meant to be a live in the studio effort. The LIB album deviated from that. But if another album was to be compiled from the sessions then the original concept is the only one that makes any sense as an alternative. Despite LIB Naked's blurb announcing that it was 'the way it was meant to be heard', it was just another way it wasn't meant to be heard (with different after-the-fact tinkering).
     
  5. Maidenpriest

    Maidenpriest Setting the controls for the heart of the sun :)

    Location:
    Europe
    And don't forget all the chatter so LIBN now sounds boring !!

    Even on prior Beatles albums there was always a bit of humour or count in's by taking that off LIBN it does not sound like a 'Beatles Album' but just a collection of songs with no concept that have been heavy handed edited, depressing !!
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
  6. Mister President

    Mister President Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Wonder why Paul did this is 2003. Why not during the Anthology project, why not the 70's or the mid/late 80's when Paul was seen as pretty out of touch. Heck why not the 9th of December 1980 for a christmas release!
     
    beatleroadie likes this.
  7. spindly

    spindly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Agree 100% Happy to be an idiot!

    Although to claim that the cover art for, say, Sgt Pepper or Abbey Road hasn't had an impact on the perception —and the sales— of the music within is to underestimate the importance of packaging, graphic design, and advertising.

    The OP might want to review the career of Alex Steinweiss who invented modern packaging for albums while at Columbia, and was able to convince the entire recording industry that people did indeed base their purchase and listening decisions on cover art.
     
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  8. muffmasterh

    muffmasterh Forum Resident

    Location:
    East London U.K
    i agree up to a point and i think that they should have stayed as close to the spirit of the original project as they could but i do accept that in some cases that would have not been possible, however i can handle some edits but including any overdubs should have been resisted except where that was not realistically possible. However Naked does stay truer to the project than the original album but as i have said many times my preferred version would be something between the two, Spectors version maybe but sans the spector !!!
     
  9. muffmasterh

    muffmasterh Forum Resident

    Location:
    East London U.K
    yes and that is my biggest issue with Naked, the chatter helped hold LIB together, all we really needed to do was restore Dont let me down, get rid of those damn orchestrations and a few of the other tweeks.

    And i'd like the all i wants restored on Dig a Pony even if that meant using an edit !!!
     
    Maidenpriest likes this.
  10. beatleroadie

    beatleroadie Forum Resident

    I think Paul probably got the initial idea of remixing Let it Be while they were making the Anthologies and sifting through all the session tapes. It's not that inconceivable that it took him 8-9 years to see Let it Be Naked through to completion in 2003. It probably took 3-4 years just to get George, Ringo and Yoko to all agree to even start the project, which means it didn't start in earnest likely until 2000. At that point, I've read, that the initial idea was to package Let it Be Naked with a reissue of the original film on DVD. But that got axed by one or more of the Apple owners. Perhaps the original idea was a four disc release with the original album, the naked remix, fly on the wall, and then the film all together.
     
    Mister President likes this.
  11. Lance Hall

    Lance Hall Senior Member

    Location:
    Fort Worth, Texas
    Did some experimenting. Your mileage may vary.

    I ran the tracks through an audio restoration program (Magix Audio Studio) using a mild application of the "Brilliance' effect.

    This effect (I think) somewhat restores (replicates) missing harmonic data from low quality sources mainly MP3 or similar lossy audio. These days I'm more attuned to the fact that audio that is digitally processed in multiple ways starts to lose it's harmonics and sounds less open at the top. I'm not even talking about noise reduction.

    The resultant tracks definitely sound more alive and real and less stuffy.

    I just added enough effect so it has little more presence in the high end but not enough to sound like a treble boost.

    I'm pleased with the results.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
  12. A well respected man

    A well respected man Some Mother's Son

    Location:
    Madrid, Spain
    Not so sure if having complete live takes was part of the original concept, or just "no overdubs, no extra arrangements". I always thought they just wanted to "get back" to the feel of the first albums (hence the Please Please Me homage in the cover), with just The Beatles playing their instruments as in a live performance and the occasional piano by George Martin.

    In any case, I "buy" the concept and it makes the album more coherent than the Spector version IMO.
     
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  13. angelees

    angelees Forum Resident

    Location:
    Usa
    Absolutely not - what are you talking about? Do you not remember what Paul had in the can around 1968-1969? Paul had material that was just as strong as John’s, and really stronger, during this period. The man was about as prolific as he ever was; at the height of his powers. Even beyond his White Album contributions and besides the monster hit Hey Jude, he casually gave away songs of the quality of Goodbye and Come And Get It. He had in the works things like Palace of The King of The Birds, Junk, Maybe I’m Amazed, Teddy Boy, Backseat of My Car, Another Day, Let It Be, The Long And Winding Road. Obviously he had Two Of Us, Get Back, Oh Darling, Maxwell’s and he still had time to whip up the greatest parts of the medley with You Never Give Me Your Money and Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End of all things. And who knows what other songs were going round in his head during this time. I just listed somebody’s whole career and this is just in the span of 18 months. He was doing it all.
     
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  14. mbleicher1

    mbleicher1 Tube Amp Curmudgeon

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    Well, some of the songs you listed are not that great, and others were written before the White Album or after Abbey Road/the breakup, so therefore not relevant to the period we’re discussing. After 1966, Paul almost always wrote more than John, but the quality control was not always there. My point is that other than the indisputably brilliant Let It Be and LAWR, Paul didn’t complete a lot of headliner songs in the time between White and the breakup. He had some great fragments and You Never Give Me Your Money; he also had the focus and dedication to spearhead the medley, which made something special out of the fragments. But neither John nor Paul were having a 1966-67 level 1969, writing-wise (perhaps because they no longer collaborated). Paul, not being a heroin addict, obviously did more with what he had. If John had given Give Peace a Chance to the Beatles, it’d be even more even.

    It’s not hard to see why George would wonder by the end of 1969 why he was taking s**t from Lennon and McCartney in exchange for a whole two songs on an album.
     
    Maidenpriest likes this.
  15. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Having elements of two different takes running together and therefore also featuring two different bass players (on the Naked version of Let It Be) was certainly not the original 'no jiggery-pokery' concept.
     
  16. Lemon Curry

    Lemon Curry (A) Face In The Crowd

    Location:
    Mahwah, NJ
    Wow, and here I thought the evil was no more than some autotune.

    For anyone interested in more edit details, the wikipedia page for LIBN is a good source. (As I just discovered).

    This just reinforces my view that the sessions, despite some high points, were mostly mediocre. Getting to "what nature intended" took a lot of Frankensteining. It also elevates Spector more in my mind for being able to create a commercial product from this pile without having ProTools around.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2018
  17. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    LIBN came right after Phil Spector was charged with murder in early 2003. I conclude that Paul wanted nothing to do with Spector at this point and wanted any trace of Spector expunged and whiped clean. Paul was protecting the Beatles brand and making a statement. He didn't want the Beatles to be tainted by Phil Spector.
    Murder of Lana Clarkson - Wikipedia
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2018
  18. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

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    Frank likes this.
  19. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Let it Be (the song) is easily the worst offender - being more of a 'mash-up' of two different versions rather than just an edit - but a lot of the decisions just seem so arbitrary as to render the whole thing pointless.
     
    Onder likes this.
  20. Joy-of-radio

    Joy-of-radio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central ME
    I do not dislike LIBN, but I prefer the original mix. I find its orchestration to be a warm and cozy compliment. The LIBN mix is interesting and revealing at times, but it feels a bit cold and sterile to me. I wish the 2009 remaster CD label had been printed with a red apple like the original LP.
     
    spindly likes this.
  21. A well respected man

    A well respected man Some Mother's Son

    Location:
    Madrid, Spain
    Not related. The project was in the works since 1999-2000.
     
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  22. muffmasterh

    muffmasterh Forum Resident

    Location:
    East London U.K
    it is certainly pushing to concept to its limits but remains arguable, what is not arguable is that some of the Spector tracks completely negate the project and as such Naked, whilst flawed in many ways is closer to how they wanted the project to originally appear than Spectors, however as i have said before there is a middle ground between Naked and Spector that would be more satisfying using elements of both.
     
  23. muffmasterh

    muffmasterh Forum Resident

    Location:
    East London U.K
    and this is all true, he just didn't need to orchestrate and thats whats so frustrating to me, however we also have to allow for time constraints possibly limiting his options, ie orchestration could have been the easiest quick fix.
     
    Lemon Curry likes this.
  24. muffmasterh

    muffmasterh Forum Resident

    Location:
    East London U.K
    i doubt it, Paul as we know had issues from the get go in 1970.
     
  25. muffmasterh

    muffmasterh Forum Resident

    Location:
    East London U.K
    is that last one from Dorian Grey's attic ??
     
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