The tracklisting on this version of Let It Be differs slightly from the original--there's no "Maggie Mae" or "Dig It", while "Don't Let Me Down" has been added. The rest of the songs, shorn of Spector's decorative flourishes, confirm that although the Beatles were having occasional difficulty speaking to each other during these sessions, there was no problem about playing together. The only two minor quibbles are that "The Long and Winding Road" is still McCartney at his most saccharine, and that any Beatles version of "Across the Universe" is never going to hold a candle to that by Laibach. --Andrew Mueller

McCartney has shot himself in the foot this time as the 'Naked' version of the Long and WR...... now sounds like a weak MOR song, pretty awful really. Elsewhere, there is nothing that improves on the 1970 album, in fact, for the most part, the versions are ruined. Dig a Pony, Let it Be and I me Mine are prime examples: guitars mixed down etc...

The 1970 Let it Be album had character (the in-between song banter, maggie mae, dig it) and flaws (false starts etc)...but was in the end, musically satisfying and an album with a lot of life - similar in that regard to the White album and less like the slick, well produced later recorded Abbey Road (which Lennon thought was 'lifeless') .Let it Be..Naked sounds like the guts have been taken out of it and that to me benefits no-one...

Surely it would have been more tasteful to name this album: Let it Be - remastered original tapes' or something along those lines. 'Naked' is a cheap and nasty title and Sir Thumbsaloft should be ashamed of himself for putting the Beatles name on it. Still what do you expect from a man who names his albums with titles such as 'all the best', 'paul is live', 'back to the egg' etc.. Keep your tacky titles for your own albums and leave the Beatles alone, especially as Lennon and Harrison are not around to stop you...

The 3 stars are for the lovely version of Across the Universe which does equal the 1970 one.

Yours, an extremely disappointed lifelong Beatles fan..............

Undressed to Kill
Review date: 2003-11-27 Rating: 8 out of 10

Here is my unfinished review of “Let It Be…Naked”. I'm going to make two versions of it, decide they're both rubbish and shove them in the drawer for a year, after which I'll hand my rough notes over to Phil Spector for him to edit with a pair of garden shears. Which is more or less what The Beatles did with “Let It Be” originally.

It must have been difficult in 1969 having to compile an album from hours of material by a band who, whilst sounding much less ragged than rumours alleged, were not (except Paul) over-enthusiastic about the “Get Back” film and album project, or each other. Glyn Johns’ first version tried to replicate the documentary nature of the film, with a lot of studio chat etc. On his second go he put together an album not so far removed from “Let It Be…Naked”, but people were still not sure and the whole project was shelved. They may have thought it was too meagre a follow-up to the creative outpouring of the White Album just a few months earlier. Whatever the reason, the poison chalice was handed to Phil Spector in 1970, and he had the unenviable task of revisiting old, rejected material to create an album retaining the fly on the wall documentary feel of the film whilst also being a cohesive set in its own right. He also had to try to satisfy the warring factions of a defunct band that had effectively collapsed when that material had been recorded. Unusually for Spector, he was actually a bit hesitant, so he gave some tracks ill-fitting new clothes and left others “naked”, and left in some chatter too. The result was a ragbag of mismatched ideas and missed opportunities. It was neither a half-decent back to basics collection nor a full-blown studio set. John thought it was okay, Paul hated it. EMI stuck it in a box with a big booklet, which the NME promptly described as a cardboard tombstone. And that was the end of that. Until now.

Hearing “Let It Be…Naked”, you wonder why the band was reluctant to put out something along these lines in 1969. It might not have scaled the artistic heights of the White Album but it would have had the “authenticity” they were seeking, and they had scored a number one single with “Get Back” that spring. But that’s hindsight for you. So why is “Let It Be…Naked” better than “Let It Be”? It has a better running order than the 1970 version, and with Phil Spector's production removed, and some careful remastering, it sounds a lot livelier. It wasn't just Spector’s inappropriate addition of strings etc to various tracks, it was his rather heavy handed production style generally that spoilt the original release. You wished someone had said at the time, “Come on Phil, you're not producing the Ronettes now.” All the chat between tracks has been removed too. I thought I’d miss some of it but I don't think I will and I doubt if the 1970 version will get much play now we have this alternative.

Paul has made a big fuss in the past about "The Long and Winding Road" in particular, even though the song is just candyfloss really. Now though, you get to hear George's guitar on the track, rather lovely, far preferable to Spector's violins. The stripped down "Across the Universe" now displays its delicate beauty. The track had been messed about in two versions on two albums before: first with unconvincing wildlife sound effects (for a WWF charity album) and dodgy backing vocals from a couple of fans dragged into the studio on a whim, and secondly with Spector's burying techniques. The rockers like "I've Got a Feeling" and "Dig a Pony" now have the raw edge they always deserved, and Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down" from the legendary rooftop session takes its rightful position in place of the fillers "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae". "Let It Be" itself appears with a more restrained guitar solo than the previous album version. That makes four officially released versions of the track, all slightly different, so I’m looking forward in a couple of years to a new release, “Let It Be…Twelve More Takes”. George’s “I Me Mine” is now freed of Spector’s syrupy strings and rocks in a lean, hungry fashion. “Get Back” retains its rollercoaster appeal. It escaped largely unscathed in 1970 but it makes much better sense as an opener, not the concluding track. The title track is the perfect finale at last.

After the cleaning operation “Let It Be…Naked” achieves the ragged glory previously obscured by Spector’s haphazard bolt-ons. It may not be the Beatles’ finest hour, and people might argue for hours in the pub as to when that was, but it is now a respectable conclusion to a momentous body of work.

THIS is the format ...
Review date: 2003-11-24 Rating: 10 out of 10

Got rid of your turntable? Vinyl in a box in the attic? Here's where you get back to where it all came from ...

Why buy the vinyl?

- It's superb quality. No surface noise. Heavyweight pressing.
- The "free bonus" disc comes as a nice 7" single in a card sleeve, which is the right format, as it doesn't have the same presentational weight as the main disc, unlike its CD counterpart.
- The book is beautiful, full-size album format on high quality stock. Almost worth the price of admission alone.
- Weighty gatefold sleeve.
- You get the sequencing - AS TWO SIDES. Not as one continuous suite. Beatles albums were always well-sequenced (up to LIB), and it definitely improves the listening pleasure.
- It's a Beatles record. Like all their others. They didn't produce any CDs. It's an integral part of their body of work, and vinyl long-playing records comprise their legacy, not twinky little compact discs.

Oh yeah - the music is fabulous. Anyone claiming to prefer the "original" should consider their reactions if the two versions had been released the other way round - ie "Naked" thirty years ago, and the Spectorised remix-reproduction today. *Then* there'd have been something to complain about!

Let It Be Naked - Behind the Wall of Sound
Review date: 2003-11-03 Rating: 10 out of 10

Having heard Terry Wogan play the first public airing of this albums title track on the way to work one fine October morning, I couldn't help myself singing along to a song that sounded familiar yet was somehow different. The hair stood up on the back of my neck! Subtley improved, and with Billy Preston's contribution to this record much more apparent. Most of us will probably buy the CD for convenience but why not be true to the concept of this re-work and buy it 'as nature intended' on good old crackly, delicate and now much more expensive vinyl! Go on, you know you want to!

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