Do you prefer the Phil Spector strings/choirs 1970 release or the ‘Naked’ 2003 Let It Be?
(background:)
The Get Back project mutated into Let It Be as Phil Spector, who had been working with John Lennon on solo projects, was brought in to finalize the project. By and large, he retained the original spirit behind the project, right down to the inclusion of dialogue and jokes, but he did overhaul three songs significantly, most notoriously Paul McCartney’s "The Long and Winding Road," which he wrapped in syrupy strings and choirs. This is the version of Let It Be that was released as the Beatles’ final album, and McCartney made his displeasure with the final product, particularly "The Long and Winding Road," known. Over the years, fans pined for an official release of Get Back while McCartney rumbled about revising Let It Be (even after a string-less "The Long and Winding Road" appeared on 1996’s Anthology 3), and when the Beatles announced the release of Let It Be… Naked it seemed that the desires of both camps would finally be satiated.
As the title should make clear, Let It Be… Naked is not Get Back. Where Get Back was designed to be deliberately loose, complete with ragged performances and spoken asides, Naked is a deliberately professional piece of work, with all of the rough edges smoothed down. Let It Be is recognizable in its Naked form, but it’s been cleaned up, mixed up, and altered, gaining the superb "Don’t Let Me Down" at the expense of "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae," as the song sequence has been shuffled and the dialogue has been cut out completely (perhaps Paul wasn’t too keen on John’s mock "and now here’s Hark the Herald Angels come" preceding "Let It Be"). Those are merely the obvious changes, too. Throughout the record, there have been edits, splices, and polishes, some of which are a little disarming, such as the lack of the coda on "Get Back" (including no "hope we passed the audition" from John) and a different guitar solo on "Let It Be" (a solo different than either the single or album version). Most of the changes are subtle — a correction there, an added lick here — but they usually can be felt, even if the overall sound of most of the tracks hasn’t changed all that much. The exceptions, of course, are the three songs Spector overhauled: McCartney’s "The Long and Winding Road," Lennon’s "Across the Universe," and George Harrison’s "I Me Mine." Paul’s song does indeed sound better and less saccharine in this arrangement, and it is a marked improvement. John’s tune — now in its third distinct incarnation, the most of any Beatles song — is also different and an improvement, benefiting from the simpler arrangement, but it isn’t a revelation along the lines of "Road."
(allmusic review)
I prefer ‘Naked’. I always thought that ‘Let It Be’ was the odd one out of their original albums, just feels like an exploitation album, a bit like those Hendrix albums where they added different musicians on top of the originals.
Normally a fan of Phil Spector but this is just horrible and sounds like it was recorded on another planet to where the Beatles were.
It was never going to be one the best Beatles albums, they weren’t in a good place at this point and most of the songs are pretty weak. So I think ‘Naked’ is as good as it is going to be, oh and they reinstated ‘Dont Let Me Down’, best track on the album, good enough for me!
February 16th, 2010 at 4:49 am
I gotten eyestrain halfway through questin. Sorry.
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February 16th, 2010 at 4:57 am
both are great but i havent heard let it be naked in a while so let it be
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February 16th, 2010 at 5:08 am
I prefer ‘Naked’. I always thought that ‘Let It Be’ was the odd one out of their original albums, just feels like an exploitation album, a bit like those Hendrix albums where they added different musicians on top of the originals.
Normally a fan of Phil Spector but this is just horrible and sounds like it was recorded on another planet to where the Beatles were.
It was never going to be one the best Beatles albums, they weren’t in a good place at this point and most of the songs are pretty weak. So I think ‘Naked’ is as good as it is going to be, oh and they reinstated ‘Dont Let Me Down’, best track on the album, good enough for me!
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February 16th, 2010 at 5:27 am
i like the original because of the between song dialog,i still get a laugh when i listen to it my mp3 player,especially john’s intros to two of us and let it be,as well as the ending remarks on the original album version of get back.it makes you feel like you’re there when the beatles recorded the album.i think they made a big mistake with naked when they decided to put all the studio chat on a separate disk,thus destroying the charm of the original.
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February 16th, 2010 at 5:38 am
I alway prefer the original. This the only time when I have question the Beatles. Why in the hell couldn’t they see this was a great album??? John called it shit. Really john?? I guess he had high standards
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February 16th, 2010 at 6:09 am
Let it Be
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February 16th, 2010 at 6:49 am
I prefer the original. There was a time that I felt the song was over played but in the last dozen or so years, I have enjoyed listening to and singing along with Let it Be.
The songs on the Let it Be album definitely would have been arranged differently if the Beatles had put aside their differences and maybe I would have enjoyed the Let it Be that may have been their finished product. And who knows maybe there may have been other cuts that were released as singles and Let it Be could have sat there as an album only song.
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