Released late in 2003, "Let It Be Naked" is the latest album to cash in on the unfading popularity of the Beatles. We got the singles collection "1" in 2002 and it has already sold millions of copies. This new album is supposed to be the real version of the "Let It Be" album released in 1969, the last one that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr recorded together. The first one was reworked and completed by the famous American producer Phil Spector. .
So the Beatles legend has it that the "Let It Be" we got more than three decades ago was not at all what the Beatles intended it should be. Spector, who invented the legendary "Wall of Sound" with lots of booming horns and strings, added his trademark lush overdubs to the recording. Originally titled "Get Back," it was meant to signal the group's return to basic rock and roll and a departure from the complexities that layering process that characterized like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "The White Album." .
I grant that despite goodies like "Get Back," "Two of Us," "The Long and Winding Road" and "Don't Let Me Down," "Let It Be" was not one of the Beatles great albums. You have to go back to their early recordings for their best. Besides, it was produced during the Beatle's worst period when John, George and Ringo were all threatening to quit the group and it was only Paul who was holding it together. Still, it was a Beatles album and who cared if it was finished by Spector, there was no way those guys could go wrong in 1969. The fans wanted Beatles music and they got and loved that "Let It Be," which also came with a movie. And that was the "Let It Be" many of us grew up with. .
So getting this new or I should say "old" version is like being told you were fed a lie as a kid and there is now an effort to right that wrong. Commendable, in a way but you cannot just erase what has been imbedded for thirty years! Besides, "Let It Be Naked" is not really as naked as it should be.
