Let It Be…Naked

The Beatles’ swan song was “Let It Be,” the film that documened their disintegration as a band. Together they recorded hundreds of hours of music in the Abbey Road studios while cameras rolled. The cameras also caught them performing for the last time in public on the roof of the studio before the London bobbies shut them down. The presence of the cameras allowed them to discharge their contractual obligation to release a third film.
In order to salvage an album out of the tapes, John Lennon called on legendary rock producer Phil Spector. I’ve never heard any of the raw material Spector was working with, but his production amounted to an abomination. He sweetened the tracks with syrupy strings and choirs, burying the best of the album’s songs in contextual goo.

Paul McCartney has never quite gotten over the indignity that the band suffered at Spector’s hands. He has commissioned a new version of the album that strips Spector’s production from the tracks. Apple Corps has announced that “Let It Be…Naked” wil be released on November 17, just in time for Christmas. Click here for the Rolling Stone story on the release, and here for the Telegraph story. Extra added attraction: the disc will include a version of the quintessential Lennon masterpiece (with magnificent McCartney vocal harmony), “Don’t Let Me Down.”
The Beatles refused to exit with the “Let It Be” fiasco. They rallied to record “Abbey Road” and to depart on a high note. But it should be a treat to hear them as they were in the studio in 1969 before Spector got his hands on the tapes.