Let It Be… Naked
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| Let It Be… Naked | ||
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| Studio album by The Beatles | ||
| Released | November 17, 2003 | |
| Recorded | Twickenham Film Studios and Savile Row: January 2-31 1969 January 3-4 1970 |
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| Genre | Rock and roll | |
| Length | 35:02 57:00 (Including Fly on the Wall) |
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| Label | Apple, Capitol, EMI | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin, The Beatles, Paul Hicks, Guy Massey, Allan Rouse | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Beatles chronology | ||
| 1 (2000) |
Let It Be... Naked (2003) |
The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 (2004) |
Let It Be… Naked is a remastered and remixed version of the original session tapes from the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be. It was first released in November 2003.
The album is presented in a form which is reportedly closer to Paul McCartney's vision of how the album should have sounded, and it has been stripped bare of all orchestral and other such embellishments which were added by the American record producer Phil Spector. McCartney in particular was always dissatisfied with the Wall of Sound production technique which had been employed on the original version, especially when concerning his song "The Long and Winding Road" which he had considered to be ruined by the process. Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono had agreed to the project, as had George Harrison before his death in 2001.
Though the final results were released with his approval, McCartney had little involvement in the mixing process; all of the creative decisions were actually made by a team of Abbey Road engineers.
The album received mixed reviews from the music press. A major criticism of the effort was made about the decision to remove the dialogue between songs, originally intended to be part of the Get Back album which was eventually retitled Let It Be and included in the original album.
The running order was also altered from the original album.
This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.
Contents |
[edit] Mixing and editing Let It Be...Naked
In February 2002, following a chance meeting with McCartney and Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who directed the accompanying film to Let It Be), Abbey Road engineer Allan Rouse received a call from Apple Records' Neil Aspinall, who informed Rouse of the proposed project. With the help of two staff engineers, Paul Hicks (Son of Hollies Tony Hicks(also seen in Beatles Anthology DVD)) and Guy Massey, Rouse was given the task of remixing the songs from the Let It Be (or Get Back) sessions.
The new mixes were to reflect only what the four Beatles (with keyboardist Billy Preston) were capable of playing live: no additional guitars or vocals, and no orchestras or choir. Fragments like "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" were also dropped as they were thought to be too weak for inclusion, and Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down" was added in their place. According to Rouse, "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" as well as the between-song chatter, breakdowns, and jokes "didn't really fit in with an album of 11 songs.... Those little bits were fine for a soundtrack album, which Glyn [Johns]'s was, but they didn't fit comfortably with the concept of a straight album."
Over a two-week period, Rouse, Hicks, and Massey auditioned all 30 reels of 1-inch 8-track session tapes, which had been recorded through a pair of borrowed 4-track consoles onto a 3M 8-track machine. The released version of Let It Be and Johns' earlier, rejected versions were also used as reference. "We mainly listened to identify the takes they used," says Rouse. "As it turns out, Glyn and Phil had done most of the legwork. We ended up using the vast majority of their takes."
The session tapes were all transferred into Pro Tools 5.2 using a Prism Sound Dream ADA 8 A/D converter. "Once we had the building blocks in the digital domain," says Massey, "we'd delve into a bit more detail. If there were fluffed lines or pops, etc., if there was another take without the errors, we'd try inserting that part from the other take." Adds Hicks, "Sometimes we did the tiniest little things. If something wasn't quite right – if there was a bend in a note or something – we did actually replace it with a slightly better one. Again, our main theme was to make it as strong as possible."[citation needed]
[edit] Track-by-track notes
Get Back: This is the same basic take used by Glyn Johns and George Martin for the aborted LP and released single, but the 'coda' used in the single version "had been recorded as an edit piece four or five reels later," according to Hicks, therefore "It was decided to leave it off."[1]
Dig a Pony: The song originally featured an "all I want is you" intro and outro, which Phil Spector removed for his LP. "The tuning is particularly bad in the beginning," says Massey, and the engineers decided to eliminate them in their new mix as well.
For You Blue: Using the same master as Spector used, Hicks mainly focused on keeping the sounds bright and clear. On the original mix, George Harrison overdubbed a new lead vocal, much of which was retained for the new mix. According to Hicks, the live vocal "was basically a guide vocal. It wasn't a complete take, really, and I don't think it was ever intended to be used."
The Long and Winding Road: This track is distinct from the Let It Be version. The main reason is that this version was recorded five days later than the take used by Phil Spector and Glyn Johns; it's the one featured in the original film. "This version, recorded on January 31, we felt was a stronger basic performance," says Hicks[1]. Returning this song to its original form had been a goal of Paul's since the original album was released. He rid the song of the "Wall of Sound" technique that Spector had put in. This was meant to focus the song on the meaning of the lyrics, which Paul has claimed was supposed to be the main focus of the song, not Spector's orchestra.
Two of Us: The same master selected by Spector, also from January 31, 1969, was used for Let It Be...Naked, with the master processed with small amounts of de-essing and rumble filtering.
I've Got a Feeling: This song was edited by Massey before being mixed by Hicks. Massey used portions from both of the two rooftop takes of the song. (Johns had opted for a studio recording of the song for his version of the album, while Spector chose what he felt was the better of the rooftop takes.)
One After 909: A studio version was considered, according to Hicks, "but it was just much slower, and it had a completely different feel. There was no contest, really. It's one of the more up-tempo numbers, so we went with the live [rooftop version]."
Don't Let Me Down: A studio version from January 28, 1969, was released as the B-side to the "Get Back" single. This version, however, is an edit of the two rooftop versions. The Beatles recorded a second take because Lennon forgot the lyrics during the first take.
I Me Mine: This song was not originally recorded at Apple in January 1969, though Harrison is seen in the film playing it briefly at Twickenham. In January 1970, Harrison, McCartney and Starr recorded a studio version of the song, with Harrison playing acoustic guitar and singing a guide vocal, McCartney on bass and Starr on drums for the master take (in fact, work on this song is considered to be the final Beatles studio session). Electric piano, electric guitar, lead vocal, backing vocals, organ and a second acoustic guitar were added as overdubs. The recording was a brief 1:34 in length, so before adding his orchestra, Spector lengthened it by repeating parts of the two verses, resulting in a 2:25 final master. The new mix leaves in The Beatles' overdubs and repeats an entire verse, rather than splicing two together as in Spector's edit. "We were originally going to do it unedited," says Massey, but the engineers eventually agreed that it was too short. Massey also built up the mix as the song progressed by adding elements of the mix as the song enters the second verse.
Across the Universe: Like "I Me Mine," no studio recordings of this song were made at Apple, but Lennon is seen playing the song at Twickenham in the film. "Across the Universe" was actually recorded a year earlier, in February 1968, at the same Abbey Road sessions that produced "Lady Madonna" and "Hey Bulldog." The basic track featured Lennon on acoustic guitar, his vocal and Starr on a tom-tom (all recorded onto one track), with Harrison playing a tamboura. At the time, George Martin had added additional guitar, background vocals and animal sound effects. Spector's version removed the latter two parts, as well as the tamboura, replacing them with an orchestra and a choir. The new mix features Lennon's guitar and vocal, Starr's drums and the tamboura. The ending was also processed with building echo, via an Abbey Road tape delay.
Let It Be: Originally recorded on January 31, 1969, Martin added a new electric guitar lead from Harrison three months later. In January 1970, backing vocals from McCartney and Harrison were recorded, as well as brass and cellos and yet another pass at a Harrison lead. Martin produced the single release of the song, issued in March 1970 (pre-Spector), featuring the April 1969 guitar solo. Upon Spector's arrival, the song was lengthened by repeating a chorus and issued featuring the January 1970 guitar lead. The new mix features the same master and uses a few edits from other takes, most notably the Harrison guitar solo that came from the take of the song that appears in the film.
The first copies to be released were shipped with a 21-minute Fly on the Wall bonus disc, consisting of excerpts of songs and dialogues from the 80 hours of tape taken from the Twickenham sessions. Put together by the BBC's Kevin Howlett and engineer Brian Thompson, the disc focused on the sessions' brighter moments while omitting the more contentious moments (a few of which were documented in the film).
[edit] Track listing
- All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (see also: Lennon-McCartney), except "For You Blue" and "I Me Mine" written by George Harrison.
- "Get Back"
- "Dig a Pony"
- "For You Blue"
- "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"
[edit] Bonus Disc: "Fly on the Wall"
- Compiled and edited by Kevin Howlett.
- All tracks written by Lennon-McCartney, except "Child of Nature" (which later developed in "Jealous Guy") and "John's Piano Piece" (which later developed into "Imagine") written by Lennon, "All Things Must Pass" written by Harrison, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Taking A Trip To Carolina" written by Starkey, and "Maggie Mae" Trad. arranged by Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey.
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- Conversation
- "Sun King" 0:17
- "Don't Let Me Down" 0:35
- Conversation
- "One After 909" 0:09
- Conversation
- "Because I Know You Love Me So" 1:32
- Conversation
- "Don't Pass Me By" 0:03
- "Taking A Trip to Carolina" 0:19
- "John's Piano Piece" 0:18
- Conversation
- "Child of Nature" 0:24
- "Back in the U.S.S.R." 0:09
- Conversation
- "Every Little Thing" 0:09
- "Don't Let Me Down" 1:01
- Conversation
- "All Things Must Pass" 0:21
- Conversation
- "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" 0:05
- Conversation
- "Paul's Piano Piece" 1:01
- Conversation
- "Get Back" 0:15
- Conversation
- "Two Of Us" 0:22
- "Maggie Mae" 0:22
- "Fancy My Chances With You" 0:27
- Conversation
- "Can You Dig It?" 0:31
- Conversation
- "Get Back" 0:32
- Conversation
[edit] Release details
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 2003-11-14 | Toshiba-EMI | 2CD | TOCP 67300-01 / 4988006815469 |
| LP | TOJP 60121-22 / 4988006817081 | |||
| United Kingdom | 2003-11-17 | Apple Records | ||
| 2CD | 5957132 / 7243 5 95713 2 4 | |||
| LP | 5954380 / 7243 5 95438 0 2 | |||
| United States | 2003-11-18 | Apple, Capitol Records, EMI | CD | CDP 7243 5 95227 2 2 |
| 2CD | CDP 7243 5 95713 2 4 |
[edit] References
- ^ a b The Naked Truth About The Beatles' Let It Be… Naked by Matt Hurwitz, Jan 1, 2004 12:00 p.m. for Mix magazine
