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

Not at all. My point is that there was never a version approved by all four. The original is John's version (altough I suspect he just let Spector do whatever he wanted without much indication) and Naked is Paul's version.
In any case, a very different matter to Star Wars, where there is a sole author.

 

I didn't know that about the Spirit album... I'll have to look into that sometime, have all the original vintage LPs up to Sardonicus, except just a CD for Model Shop. Thanks for the info!

 

See, I don't think Lucas was the sole author of the original trilogy, despite whatever he may say to the contrary. He certainly had help writing the first screenplay, the two sequels were co-written with other people and directed by different people. He was probably least involved in Empire. To say nothing of the actors' interpretations, editors' work, etc.

So I think it's a fair analogy.

 

Because Hey Bulldog/Only a Northern Song/All Together Now/It's All Too Much are better than Two of Us/Across the Universe/The Long and Winding Road/Let it Be.

Right. OK.

 

I thought we were having a serious conversation

 

He supervised everything, and he had complete control over the final product. Of course he hired writers and directors, but he had the final word over everything. Then he started changing the movies many years later. On the other hand, Paul said from the beginning he didn't like Spector's production, he didn't approve it and he didn't approve of it.

 

Of course, it was a serious question.

 

I agree. Last time I attempted to play that LP, I lifted the arm halfway through track 3.

It actually inspired me to make my own non-Spector version, which now lives on my music server (and iPhone):


comprised of:

1. Two Of Us (LIBN)
2. Dig A Pony (LIBN)
3. Across The Universe (LIBN)
4. I Me Mine (personal edit of Anthology 3 version)
5. Dig It (clip from Fly On The Wall disc)
6. Let It Be (LIBN)
7. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) (1970 single)
8. I've Got A Feeling (LIBN)
9. One After 909 (LIBN)
10. The Long And Winding Road (LIBN)
11. For You Blue (LIBN)
12. Don't Let Me Down (1969 single)
13. Get Back (1969 single)

This hybrid resolves the few issues I do have with Let It Be... Naked - specifically the distracting track sequence, the clumsy edit of I Me Mine, the inferior take of Don't Let Me Down, and the non-edit of Get Back.

I've also discovered that I love the bluesy, slide guitar clip of Dig It featured on the LIBN bonus disc. It's fun, and actually segues nicely into the title track.

 

Actually, that seems about right. Come to think of it, It's All Too Much pretty much beats everything behind door#2.

 

Obviously, it was the original release that all four members approved of, not a posthumous archival project overseen just by McCartney and later collaborators. I don't really have a problem with Naked personally, though I miss the chatter and don't like the noise reduction, but it isn't viewed as part of the original canon.

 

Can you add I've Got a Feeling and I Dig a Pony to door #2 and still say that? Two of the most gloriously raw Beatles tracks ever, IMO, and Pony is one of John's most soulful vocals.

Of course, I also think Hey Bulldog is one of their more underrated tracks : )

 

Can't say that adding those two tracks sweetens the deal in any way, but that's just my own warped taste in Beatles music. You could offer me Let It Be and Abbey Road in their entirety, and I still wouldn't give up Yellow Submarine in a trade. And yes, Hey Bulldog is a major reason.

 

The people (like me) that criticize the sound are really just saying it could have been a little better.

The overall concept of reducing the Spector footprint was welcome and something people have been wanting.

It could still be tweaked and made a little better in a soft reissue.

They revised the BBC set by dialing back the noise processing (I think) and removing some of the overlaps between tracks.

They heavily remastered the Anthology series for iTunes and improved the poorer sounding tracks without remixing.

I'd still like to see an updated "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" by improving on the 1999 mixes (and not replacing with the Giles mixes!). The vocals and drums are too loud and everything else too soft like Lennon's ice cream.

I'm always improving my older remixes.

 

Let It Be...Naked is better overall to Let It Be to me. Sans strings and chorales the music is more immediate. But I can't forgive it for using that terrible version of "Don't Let Me Down". Shut up, Paul! Let John sing his song!

 

100% agree.

I didn't listen to Let It Be for about 10 years because I hated the vibe, the chatter, and the disastrous overproduction.

Let It Be....Naked has a White Album feel to it, it saved the body of work for me, and I love it. No Beatles fan can say they prefer the Spector original.

 

How can cleaning up the Spector production be a bad thing? Isn't that why so many criticize Giles Martin and his work on Pepper, ask him to stop the overproduction and leave things more clean and natural sounding?

Make your minds up already.

 

I agree with that one. Imo, the best sounding version. The funny thing that this tune was already pretty naked as it was. It was fairly simple, acoustic masterpiece. One of my Paul's favorite. The naked version is extremely similar to the original overall, but sounds more cohesive, softer and warmer. I just can't listen to the original version anymore.

I like the naked version one actually and it's my go to version. As above, I think the mastering for the naked album was just better overall.

My go to version is 1+. Yes, it's a louder mix, I suppose, but I really like the EQ there. Love how the cymbals and guitars sound.

 

Splitting hairs, I admit - but the two things about the Naked version that bug me: First, the LIBN edit repeats the line "...all through your life" instead of the Spector edit repeat of "...all through the day". Lyrically, I'm more inclined to the 1970 edit - it makes more sense to me poetically ("all through your life" sounds so final), which is what I replicated using the Anthology 3 source.
Second, the LIBN mix fades early, leaving out most of the trippy organ sound at the end. I need to hear that organ at the end. That's good stuff.

 

Let It Be (1970) is the second best Beatles album after Abbey Road and one of the best albums ever made. I like LIBN as well, but not at all as much - it's too cleaned up and the CD version is peak limited.

 

This is how I would’ve been compiled Let It Be. All tracks are the Spectorized versions except where noted:

Two of Us
I Dig a Pony
I Me Mine
Don’t Let Me Down
Ballad of John and Yoko
Dig It
Let It Be

I’ve Got A Feeling
Across the Universe (Anthology version)
All Things Must Pass (demo)
One After 909
The Long and Winding Road (Anthology)
Maggie May
Get Back (single)

 

I don't know. I grew up listening to the original, which I never had a problem with to begin with. When I heard the "naked" version, I didn't find the differences very compelling; I listened once and never looked back. Even if it is a bajillion times "better", I still somehow have no interest in hearing it again. I guess I'm just used to the original--of course, there most certainly could be a "nostalgia factor" at play here, though I did miss the strings, which I have always liked very much.

 

I fall into none of your sweeping generalizations, sorry . I don't believe Spector is all bad (he rescued, and improved, Across the Universe), and in any event that's the album many have enjoyed since 1970 so a new version isn't going to supplant their hearts ~ this means they're not Beatles fans? : ) The new version is easily as flawed as Spector's for (mostly) different reasons ~ which can be summed up in the basic fact that it's not "naked" and therefore disappoints those of us who expected it to be what its name & press releases claimed. I don't have a clear preference between them, with their respective pluses and minuses.

And I couldn't care less about Giles, I bought the Pepper reissue for the bonus tracks.

 

LiB Naked is great!
I've always hated Specter's (over)production.

 

I hadn't heard any disdain for LIBN until this thread popped up. I think I'd already heard some of the tracks on the "Get Back To Toronto" bootleg LP and didn't have a problem with them when that LP came out. LIBN is an insight into what the Beatles were doing at the time and how much impact Phil Spector had on his versions of their recordings. No. I don't think there is any disdain for LIBN at all. Plus, we still have the original LIB album around, so LIBN is just icing on the cake.