Let It Be Naked...What Do We Think?

If I recall correctly, the only song that is a completely different version from the original record is Long and Winding Road. I've Got a Feeling is half "different" in that it's a patched together hybrid using pieces from both rooftop versions, whereas the original album just used one of the rooftop versions. The rest of the songs are the same versions as on the Spector album, just with different mixes and edits.

 

Todd, that's EXACTLY what I was talking about in my earlier post about some of the voices being boxy!Something is definitely wrong there.

 

Not Great! Not Awful! But we now have something different to mystify our non-music friends. Or!, we can start that age old discussion "What's wrong with the Music Industry" in it's many variations.

I was never wild about the strings on the original Let It Be, but at 10yrs, it was a Beatles album! you wanted to buy it! hear it! like it! This is a peek behind the curtain (Yes, Paul is only lifting the curtains he wants us to see), but it's interesting. Not earth shattering. Not an improvment. It's a choice.

I'll keep both. One for History, one for a change!

 

The more I've listened to it the more disappointed I am by what it could have been; more different. Not just re-mixes of the same tracks. More alternates. And I'm disappointed by the Fly On the Wall Disc because most of it was in the radio special or on the web-site. It was out before the CD. It was old before it was new. Sigh!!!!!

And while it's cool to put text in from the "Get Back" book (a bootleg copy of which I picked up at Beatlefest years ago, very cool) it would have been nice if they had corrected the error in the last quote. They attribute it to John but most of it was from George, as referenced in Kevin Howlett's liner notes. Note only does Apple/EMI need better engineers, they need better researchers and proof-readers.

BTW, where is Mark Lewisohn on this project? I'm surprised not to see him involved.

 

Agreed. I had to do a bass boosted version for my own listening. PAUL FRIGGIN' McCARTNEY PLAYING CHICKEN IN THE LATE 60's??? I don't THINK so!!

 

Of course it's selling, it's THE BEATLES (Ed Sullivan imatation) Not everyone is going to disect it for good or bad. They are just going to enjoy it and perhaps experience what seems like a much more happier sounding album. Instead of what turned out to be the Swan Song LP Let It Be from 1970.

I think most of us can easily pick out things and say that it could have been better or I liked this from the older one or it should have had this instead or that. All are good and valid reasons for sure.

But guys really we sort of compare the heck out of all or any of the LP's and CD's from the past. Just the difference between the Mono and Stereo LP's and from what country they originated. What pressing, and Matrix Numbers on them, how heavy was the wax that it was pressed and what stamper. The UK vs US Capitol LP's. Then the Bootlegs. And then the fact that well lets put in mildly. If Steve got to do Paul's CD's, WHY Why WHY WHY oh Why can't he do The Beatles too. The list goes on and on.

I agree that we should never lose the integrity of the Oringinal Master Recordings as we all know and loved them. Keep buying the old vinyl and transfering it onto CD's for it be preservered for playing and keep those old LP's nice a safe someplace.

The fact that anyone who gets to remaster The Beatles LP's are still going to change the sound of what was the stuff we heard in the first place. See this is where as a musician I too can understand all of your concerns about things here. Steve would do a great bang up job, somehow I'm sure he's been there and for whatever reasons we all have to understand. It's the nature of the beast we're all dealing with in this case. It's a big business and there are politics involved this I'm totally sure of.

In saying all of this, my apoligies to any of my fellow member's as well as Steve in saying that the Let It Be...Naked CD is pretty darn good. Could it have been better?? Well heck yeah I'm sure we could go back to every original LP and all give out reasons why or how they could have been better. Why? Because we know the material so well. This is why I love the fact when I hear a Beatles song rearranged not so much to say it's better but just to say, hey that's differnt and cool also. I'm not worried about that it's going to replace the original version of the song. In the most part it should be considered a Rarity and not just an Outfake version.

So to sum things up here, I'd just like to say that if people in the business have a habit of reading our posts and how we tend to express our opinion's based on freaking out about things like all that has been said about LIB...N gee do you really think that they are really going to take us seriously when we are asking let alone demanding in many ways and reasons for them to listen to our pleas to revamp the entire Beatles Catalog let alone ask for the likes of SACD's with both 5.1 and stereo mixes as well as DVD-A's.

It seems to me that they are just laughing at us! Especially at all the NAY sayers when for sure they and anyone else can see that this new and what I feel is a refreshing CD is selling like all HELL for them.

It's like, "Yeah who's laughing now" type of deal..See what I'm saying!

 

I'd say this disc is for ocmpletists only but that's a lot of folks when you're talking about the Beatles. It's an interesting different angle on a few of the tracks, TLAWR & LIB in particular since they're pretty "naked". And, at the very least, you can take this disc and burn it to a cd-r, put the songs back in the original order, re-inserting Dig It and Maggie Mae, even "I dig a pygmie by Charles Haughtry...!" intro to '"Two of Us", take the Fly On the Wall disc and stick those tracks on the end, call it "Let It Be - Naked, The Deluxe Edition" or something...that's what I'm gonna do anyway. Or, you could also take some of the Anthology LIB tracks and add them, too as "bonus tracks".

 

Finally had a listen. I have no problems with listener fatigue (usually only happens if I'm listening to Metallica or Soundgarden or something of that ilk!!).

Two points: I HATE this version of The Long and Winding Road. If this is Paul's chosen vision of this song (which I thought was his "issue" for the last thirty odd years), then he's got it wrong. The best "naked" version is on Anthology 3. I thought Paul felt that Spector's strings and choir stripped the "emotion" of Paul's original. The Anthology 3 version restores that raw emotion. This new version is Paul as Las Vegas lounge lizard. I haven't listened to the Glyn Johns mix recently, so I can't recall if it's similar to Anthology 3.

And yes, where's the bass? Two Of Us had a great bass line - where is it now?? All in all, I prefer the Spector mix (with a few exceptions). As RickH sagely points out above, a decent CD-R can be made from all the versions, official and unofficial.

Cliff

 

Listened to it in a record store. Sound is sterile, but I like the remixes. The LIB guitar solo sounds like an early, exploratory one, not definitive. Standouts: I've Got A Feeling, Don't Let Me Down. LAWR is the exact same take as on Anthology DVD.

Biggest objection: Taking away the live feel from the rooftop tracks, not only in the live ambience, but in the bits of dialogue that followed the songs. With some minor adjustments, this could have been a better CD.

 

I bought Let It Be Naked on Black Friday and finally got to listen to it today. Now, I am not a Beatles fanatic nor an expert in every last detail of Beatles recordings. Furthermore, I haven't yet compared Naked to the my original Let It Be CD. So, now that I have completely dismissed my credibility (), I have to say that I like the new disc. I agree with comments that the sound is clear. To these ears, it's a winner. Certainly worth the $9.99 I paid.

I didn't dig through this entire thread, but has anyone determined if Naked is no-noised. The disc shows no signs of obvious butchering to me (as determined by listening, not with any programs).

 

Let It Be Naked... I don't care!

 

IMO, of course:

I like it. BUT... I agree with folks who are confounded by the use of this version of Long and Winding Road, the bizarre use of echo on the ending of Across the Universe, and, in general, the whole cut and paste methodology of assembling the thing. Strange and contradictory to announce that the latter is the way it would be done today, and simultaneously that this is what it was like to be with the band in the studio! Considering what a hodgepodge much of this is, I'm actually surprised how well it turned out. I do find it listenable, despite all the edits, odd decisions, and NR.

The bonus disc seems like a waste to me... a one-time listen at best. Fewer flies on the wall and more meat on the table is what most people would like to have been served.

 

No-noise is not over-used. Disc has lots of dynamic range. It's a winner in my book.

 

In general, I find the new release pretty enjoyable, including the sequencing and the clean distinct sound. (The one exception, for me, is ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, which I still find to be a sonic mess -- seems all the tracks are centered in the same mid-range frequency area.)

However, I am finding that at louder levels, in the car, for example, the sound is somewhat fatiguing. Anyone else find that?

(BTW, LIBN has given me reason to get back and re-examine the original Glyn Johns compilations, which I find very enjoyable, with really excellent sequencing, and good humor. The better releases, such as on MasterDisc, Vigotone and Strawberry are quite listenable, in terms of sound quality.)

 

Why did they have to apply NR? (Rhetorical question). Sterile does not work for the Beatles.

I have nothing against the concept of re-doing the album but the opportunity was missed - the producers went for technology over sound.

 

Mark,

I enjoy this release for the variations. My challenge to you is: listen to "Get Back" on 'Naked' and then listen to the that song on the original "Let It Be". There's atmosphere on the original which has been scrubbed off the new version.

I like the new mix, but the songs sound so sterile now. To me, that's the fault of Noise Reduction. The character is gone.

 

I think some of the mixes are weak as well. On most of the rooftops songs the guitars are mixed lower & the organ is more prominant. The Spector versions are a lot meatier and rock harder IMO. I do like the new ATU & LIB though.

 

I'm indifferent about it myself. I actually love the Spector version with the exception of his mix of Across The Universe, which I prefer the "wildlife version" of. I never cared for the bird sounds or the other "birds," but Spector's slowed Lennon down too much for my tastes, and the orchestration was overblow. By the way, if anyone else stated this, I do not know. I didn't bother to read through all eleven pages. With that being stated, I purchased LIB...N and have listened to it several times. Other than the noise reduction, I don't find it to be that bad. Across The Universe is the one improvement, in my opinion. I just want to know what was with the people who mixed the tracks, they seem fader happy. To me the biggest victim is One After 909. I can understand if they didn't want the Danny Boy coda, but the fade just seems a little rushed and too soon to me. The first time I listened to it, it actually pissed me off. Get Back seemed abrupt as well, but I guess I'm so used to the reprise on the single version that I find the Spector version to be the same way. For that reason alone, I find it a better closer than open. I could go on, but I'll stop there...It is what it is...Basically a legal bootleg.

 

I'm one of the few who LOVES this new release, at least because it's something different.

The only thing I don't like is the abrupt nature of the fade-outs.

I like the mixes...they sound more balanced to me. I like how Billy's organ is now more audible.

I'm very glad that George's guitar is back in "For You Blue", which nobody ever seems to mention.

For me, the original recordings were already very flat and boxy sounding....so the noise reduction/pro-tooling doesn't bother me all that much. In fact, I quite enjoy the added "clarity".

At least it doesn't gurgle and swish and tin-can like a Jon Astley production.

By today's low standards...it's not half bad.

 

Cliff - You're mistaken. Paul has never said that he preferred one take over the other. He just preferred it "naked".

Glyn Johns chose the Anthology 3 / album take before Spector got his hands on it. Maybe Paul voiced a preference for that take?

"Let It Be Naked" uses the movie take because the other take is already on "Anthology 3". Paul had nothing to do with selecting the takes.

 

After my first listening, what jumps out at me is how punchy the sound is. Also I think it was a good decision to forgo the studio chatter (and Maggie Mae and Dig It) and save a lot of it up on the bonus disc. I don't miss the coda on Get Back as much as I thought I would. The added vocal detail on songs like Two of Us is very welcome. Even The Long and Winding Road is not bad, although I still maintain that Spector was not out of line in orchestrating it as it does add something (I'm not sure exactly what) to an otherwise somewhat bland song. I've Got a Feeling and For You Blue really shine in these incarnations. I'm quite fond of Across the Universe too. It's also nice to hear another guitar solo in Let it Be.
It was also cool to hear Can You Dig It on the bonus disc. Now I have a reference point for "That was Can You Dig It by Georgie Wood and now we'd like to do Hark! The Angels Come."
So I voted for "they nailed it".

 

Thank you. The whole idea of what is "real" from a recording session is pretty funny anyway.

 

I like it! If they released another version of it, I'd probably buy that one too!