The Beatles
Let it be… naked

Get back Dig a pony For youb lue The long and winding road Two of us I’ve got a feeling One after 909 Don’t let me down I me mine Across the universe Let it be	FLY ON THE WALL bonus disc: Sun king Don’t let me down One after 909 Because I know you love me so Don’t pass me by Taking a trip to Caroline John’s piano piece Child of nature Back in the USSR Every little thing All things must pass She came in through the bathroom window Paul’s piano piece Get back Two of us Maggie Mae Funcy me changes with you Can you dig it? Get back

Release on november 17, 2003. The Beatles gave their final word on the polemic "Get Back" sessions by returning a job they felt have been left unfinished over 30 years before. And here we get the outstanding "Let it be… naked". I don’t think I have to say the obvious: that it’s fantastic, that it’s been being played over and over and over and over and over, any of that, so I’ll just share a few thoughts.

Fist of all, I’d like to say there’s nothing wrong with the original "Let it Be" album. Much have been said about Phil Spector work on it, speciall because of the orchestrations. Personally, I think they’re gorgeous. "The long and widing road" has always been wornderful, and, despite the fact that Paul is often said to criticize it, the truth is that Paul redid it many times, and ALWAYS with orchestra, so maybe it was intended after all. "Let it be" itself was arranged and produced by George Martin with the Beatles themselves, and "I me mine" has always been recognized as a fantastic jobs. "Across the universe" WAS finished by the Beatles, long before the original album. Several of the tracks didn’t have orchestra at all, so Spector simply remixed them.

Also, let us not forget that several of these tracks had already appeared on "naked" form on the Anthologies: Across the universe, The Long and winding road and I me mine.

Finally, I question myself: were the Get Back/ Let It Be sessions as bad as everybody says? I mean, in the film the worse we see is a bitter answer from George, but actually it’s nothing compared to an actual fight. I’m not saying it wasn’t bad, but maybe time has helped everyone to paint things worse thant hey were. After all, they still produced a really super collection of tracks.

Anyway, there’s always been a feeling of leaving something unfinished, and that’s why this album is being re-made now. It’s a very specific situation in the Beatles catalogue, so I don’t think we run the risk of seeing similar project going on with the other albums. Still, I’m not sure the Get Back/Let It Be chapter on the Beatles history has been closed. We still have the Let It Be film tobe released, and who knows what else. Will "Let it Be… naked" close the debate about the original "Get Back" LP being released? I don’t know; that was what many people wanted to hear. And there’s been two different original Get Back LPs! So time will tell which place "Let it Be… naked" will conquer. As for me, I’ll just enjoy if for now.

If it wasn’t for the need of giving a final word on this matter, maybe these tracks would never need a remix; after all, they have always been great. But the responsable team (Paul Hicks, Guy Masseu and Allan Rouse) really took it further and did a spetacular job with the songs.

Every single instrument is much more recognizeble here, due to a lower degree of reverb. I can’t feel a lot of changes on the stereo image. On "One after 909", however, John’s guitar has been moved to center, and is much more audible. By the way, John’s guitar is the instrument that got greatest benefit from the remixing. On the corus of "I me mine" the guitars have been moved to the center too, and the vocals are more spread, resulting on a more powerful approach, similar to what has been done the Songtrack version of "Sgt. Pepper’s". And right before the first chorus there’s a lovely descending guitar line that had been completely unaudible to me until now.

My favourite tracks are "Don’t let me down", "The long and winding road" and "Let it Be". On "Don’t let me down", they managed to create a fantastic version by combining the two rooftop performances (but I still love the original get Back version, with that "Ooh yeah", when Billy enters his solo). "The long and winding road" is a really touching version. I’m not getting in the matter of it being better or worse than the original version; it’s justg reat and that’s enough for me. "Let it be" is fantastic, and the original solo made re-evaluate some preferences in guitar playing.

It’s important to notice that the producers didn’t simply took the original or new takes and remixed them. Each of the eight tracks from the original tracks have been individually re-edited, using bits from other performances, resulting on a totally new master tape, from which the CD derives. This, of course, doesn’t match the naked idea, but results on the best possible sounding version of these songs. And we’ll still have our bootlegs, right?

As for the "Fly on the wall" disc, I think they just wanted tog ive people an idea of what they could hear on bootlegs. Of course, we know, there’s far more interesting material on the boots. Still, it’s a chance to re-evaluate "Because I know you love me so", a great track I wish they had finished.

The packaging is so great. Maybe they should take the oportunity to re-release the original Get Back book! Could be a nice package with the DVD! One thing I thought very ellegant was to finally credit George Martin as a co-producer, which is simply telling the truth. And crediting Glyn Johns was nice too, since he has such an import hole on this tale.

It was important for the Beatles to do this CD. I wander what’s coming next.