Beatles – Let It Be… Naked

Phil Spector added all sorts of extras to songs on the Let It Be album, at the time. So, in 2003, Paul McCartney organized this remix of the album, without most of those bells and whistles, bringing the album back closer to the way the band intended it. It also replaces Dig It and Maggie Mae with a version of Don’t Let Me Down.

Interestingly, Harrison approved the project before he died, but Lennon always defended Spector’s work, and Starr liked it OK, so that’s the band split down the middle on it.  It’s up to you which you prefer. Personally, I like both well enough. While I’m well used to the original album, right now I would lean more towards this release. I like the track listing better, and I like things stripped down (that’s what she said).

My copy has the extra Fly On The Wall CD, which contains 22 minutes of song excerpts and dialogue from the Let It Be sessions. It’s supposed to provide insight into the band’s work in the studio. I’ll never play it again, likely, it’s just more stuff only deep fans would care about, really, a tag-on to be complete.

You can get all the notes and such here, and the track listing here.