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The Beatles, Let it Be... Naked

Reviewed by Chris Ching

Originally titled Get Back and conceived as the Beatles' "back to basics" rock album, the early 1969 recording sessions were mired by John Lennon's heroin and Yoko Ono addiction, George Harrison's resentment being an economy class Beatle, and the overall decay that sets in when a group of musicians strain to find a common musical ground. For the first time, the Beatles almost superhuman creativity was weakening. In creating their "roots" album, the Fab Four had pledged to eschew any of the overdubbing and studio tricks that had made psychedelic triumphs like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper possible. But with the Beatles having stopped touring three years prior, their ensemble playing was a tad rusty to say the least. Once the sessions concluded, an almost endless amount of takes were left and none one had the heart or patience to sift through them. While Get back rotted on the shelves for months, the Beatles temporarily put aside their differences and recorded the more unified Abbey Road. Despite producing one of their best works, the Beatles called it quits soon after.

Without any new Beatle product forthcoming, Apple Records dusted off Get Back now titled Let it Be after the soon to be released documentary film of the same name. Phil Spector, legendary music producer (and current alleged murderer), was hired to get the tapes up to snuff. He did so in customary Spector style, overdubbing massive string sections and choirs on top of the Beatles "back to basics" recordings. In his hands, the final released Beatles Album became an unholy bastard child of 50s rock and roll and Nelson Riddle. Hardly a fitting end to the Greatest Story Rock Ever Told.

Now over thirty years later, we are presented with Let it Be... Naked, Let it Be without Phil Spector's wall of sound production. It can't exactly be termed the original album as there never was such a thing, but in terms of original intent, this remix is defintive. The joy of just four guys (and occasionally sideman keyboardist Billy Preston) reinvoking their early love of rock and roll, obscured on Let it Be, shines through. Maggie May and Dig It, two of John Lennon's worse, are replaced by one of his best Don't Let Me Down, the first of many devotionals to Yoko. His Across the Universe is unburdened by Spector's strings to rely soley on its gorgeous melody and does so with no problem whatsoever. Speaking of lost strings, Paul McCartney's Long and Winding Road emerges from the MOR world it used to reside into one of uncluttered magnificence. Road has often been cited as one of the sappiest of Beatle tunes, but no more. My persona favorite is the new presentation of Let it Be. Now wisely placed at the end of the album, the sublime backing vocals and organ have been pushed up in the mix. They will run a chill up your spine. For my money, this is the best version of that classic song. And for that matter Let it Be...Naked is the best version of this Beatles era you can buy.

Rating: (4 out of 4 stars)