New Version of Beatles' 'Let It Be' Coming

[villager]

New Version of Beatles' 'Let It Be' Coming
Thu Sep 18, 8:28 AM ET


LONDON - A new version of The Beatles' album "Let It Be" will be released in November, the group's company Apple Corps announced Thursday.


"Let It Be...Naked" strips the 1969 album of Phil Spector's lavish production effects, returning to Sir Paul McCartney (news)'s original idea for the recording. "This is the noise we made in the studio," McCartney said of the new version. "It's exactly as it was in the room. You're right there now."


"Let It Be...Naked" mostly keeps the same track listing as the original album, which featured songs Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, Get Back and Across the Universe.


Background dialogue, Dig It and Maggie Mae have been taken off the album, and Don't Let Me Down has been added, Apple Corps said.


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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030918/ap_on_en_mu/britain_beatles_3

[4_Legs_Good]

1. Have there ever been versions of the film released...

with more film than the release version? I mean there must have been months worth of film, and all we get is a 90 minute movie, right? Feh!

david

Kucinich 2004

[villager]

2. maybe the DVD project...

...comes later!

[musiclawyer]

3. Don't give a Rat's Ass

Mind you, I like the Beatles, but I'm not a Beatles freak. I look at it as throwing good money at the publisher and record company in exchange for junk. Most raw tracks don't sound all that great. The freaks and historians might enjoy it, but I doubt many others will.

[villager]

4. I guess we'll know for sure...

...later this fall, won't we?

[last_texas_dem]

13. I don't know...

...when they say "un-enhanced", it's not that these tracks are inferior to standard Beatles stuff, w/ the exception of John's amateur-ish bass-playing (yes, it really is John on bass, not his regular instrument, which is probably why it's quite mistake-ridden) on "The Long and Winding Road". It's simply that tracks like "Across the Universe", "I Me Mine", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road" won't have the lush orchestras and choirs that Phil Spector added to the original mixes. At least, I've heard the un-enhanced version of "The Long and Winding Road", for example, and it's still a great, and possibly better, version of the #1 song. Phil Spector did a lot of production work that I like, but his style didn't really fit the Beatles' sound, and a lot of fans (and definitely Beatle Paul) would probably prefer the originals. And yes, I could possibly be described as a Beatles "freak", but I don't believe one would have to be one to enjoy these original versions.

[4_Legs_Good]

15. I like raw tracks

but I'm a bootleg freak. I enjoy listening to the evolution of songs, and alternative versions. It's especially fun with a group that's dead like the Beatles. You can take a peek behind the curtain, and you can get a feel for what might have been.

Aren't the versions that appeared in the movie undoctored? Not sure. I think the film is out of print now.

The original idea behind the "Let it Be" scenario was to film the sessions and then at the end put together a "recorded live in studio" album of the songs they created during the filmed sessions. I think that's right. In the end, it all fell apart, but the rooftop concert was the concession to the recorded live album.

david

Kucinich 2004

[StrongBad]

5. Wasn't the only track on that album...

...with enhanced production "The Long and Winding Road"? I remember McCartney being pissed when he heard Spector's "wall of sound" production on that number, but I'm pretty sure all the other tracks are "raw" as intended when the project started.

Anyone know for sure?

[villager]

8. had the vinyl...

...but never upgraded that one to CD, though now I may wait. "Let It Be" itself had strings, and I'm pretty sure that "feel" runs throughout the LP.

That said, I've always kinda liked "Long & Winding" in its present form... will be interesting to see if the song becomes more poignant in stripped-down form...

[Diogenes2]

9. Long & Winding Road

You can hear the stripped-down version of "Long & Winding Road" already: it's on the Beatles Anthology-- & yes, it is better, IMHO.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi Diogenes2!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[last_texas_dem]

16. Four tracks...

"The Long and Winding Road", "Let It Be", "I Me Mine", and "Across the Universe" have additional string/choir overdubs by Spector. He may have tweaked some of the other songs as well but I'm not totally sure. And he added in the various bits of dialogue from the Let It Be sessions that bookend some of the other tracks, which I'm actually a little disappointed will be omitted from the "stripped-down" version... though I suppose it wouldn't be the originals if they were still included.

[SweetZombieJesus]

6. I'd rather see a de-Spectorized Ramones "End Of The Century"

It's the only Ramones album I will absolutely not listen to. You can't overproduce the fucking Ramones, Phil, you hack!

[CanuckAmok]

7. I like End of the Century, but it's taken 23 years for me to say that. n/t

[mitchum]

12. It wouldn't have any guitar or bass on it...

according to DeeDee he and Johnny didn't play on that record

[SweetZombieJesus]

17. Yeah, I know, that's why I can't stand it

I want da bruddas playing, not some studio hacks.

[AntiCoup2K4]

21. So would I, but....

..with Joey & Dee Dee both dead, who the Hell is going to ressurect the album?

The good news is that the recent re-issue of the "End of the Century" CD actually contains 5 un-Spectored demos, so at least you can hear those songs the way that God and the Ramones intended.

[last_texas_dem]

10. Really cool, but I'm a little disappointed...

I had always hoped that if a Let It Be-related Beatles project were to occur that it could be a release of the often-bootlegged (I've heard, but don't actually own one) original Get Back compilation. This was the original album The Beatles planned on releasing to tie in with the Let It Be film but it got scrapped, I think because they thought it was too sloppy. However, I've always wanted to hear it....

This compilation does sound quite similar, but it omits "Dig It"- which I think the original Get Back album contained a five or six minute version of, and I think the original also may have included stuff like the Beatles' original versions of Paul's "Junk" and "Teddy Boy", a cover of "Save the Last Dance for Me" and some other stuff. To me, it just would have made more sense to release this original compilation if they are going to release a stripped-down version of Let It Be. Although I know I'm among a minority on this one, Let It Be is one of my favorite Beatles albums, Spector-ized or not. I'm really glad to see this "naked" version being released, just not sure why they're not digging a little deeper and releasing a version with that original track lineup.

[villager]

11. wasn't a lot of that sessioned bootlegged...

...as "Bad Apple Tracks" or "The Black Album," or maybe parts of both?

[last_texas_dem]

14. I'm not sure...

...about the exact titles, though I have heard of the ones you mentioned, but I have heard that most/all of the original "album" has been released in some type of bootleg copy. I'm just surprised EMI/Apple wouldn't have decided to go on and release a "legit" copy of the Get Back sessions, rather than just sticking to the tracks that ended up making it to the final version of Let It Be.

[villager]

18. I agree, though since the Anthologies...

...have been mentioned, how much of that material was on the 3rd anthology set?

[Ouabache]

20. Yeah, 'I've Got a Feeling'

this might be a rehash of some of the 3rd package on Anthologies...
but I've also Got a Feeling I might like it. I like raw cuts and unpolished stuff. As long as they just don't flat out stop in the middle of a song. That can be a little annoying.

[AntiCoup2K4]

22. several of the Let it Be era tracks were on Anthology 3

"I've Got A Feeling", "Long And Winding Road", "I Me Mine" "For You Blue", among others. These tracks (as well as the versions which made it on to the "official" Let It Be album) were recorded in January 1969 as part of the film project. There are actually about 500 hours of raw material out there, much of which have been bootlegged. Though, from what I have heard of it, I would say that a lot of those 500 hours aren't exactly music worthy of an official release.

[liberalpragmatist]

23. I agree

Just like you, I personally would have preferred an official release of "Get Back" with the original cover art and tracks like "Save the Last Dance for Me," "Junk," "Teddy Boy," and maybe even "No Pakistanis" (The original version of "Get Back" that was a political satire; I assume it would only have been a rough cut though -- I doubt they ever mixed it to master-quality).

Still, I think this is a good thing. I wonder if the versions of "Get Back" and "Let it Be" that are included will be the single versions or the Specter-album-versions. I'm also very interested in seeing what they do with "Across the Universe" -- it's one of my favorites, but I always feel like the song could have been better. The version on "Let It Be" is too slow and b/c it's slowed down, John's voice appears unnaturally low. The wildlife version on Past Masters II is great -- except for the two female vocalizers on the chorus lines and the bird sounds at the beginning and end. I'm hoping the version that winds up on "Let it Be Naked" is similar to the wildlife version but without the bird sounds or the female vocalizers (getting rid of SOME of the Indian instrumentation wouldn't be a bad idea either -- I like some of it, but I kind of think there's a little too much)

[AntiCoup2K4]

25. Across the Universe...

...actually was the same recording as the "Wildlife" version. Spector stripped the wildlife noises and backing vocals off the track and slowed it down a little before adding the "Spectorization" to it. There's actually a much heavier arrangement of the song available on bootlegs of the January 1969 sessions which should have made it onto the album, but Spector couldn't fuck with that one.

Trivia note : the girl singers on the original version were actually 2 of the "Apple Scruffs", teenage girls who would hang around 3 Saville Row (the Apple studio) every day.

[villager]

26. original cover art to "Get Back?"

what was it?

[ForrestGump]

24. I love raw studio tracks, too, and bootlegs thereof

Already have most of the Beatles' "Let It Be" material in its original form and I tend to like the basic tracks far more than the 'swetened' ones.

Not that the Spectorized ones and the like aren't still classic, but the undubbed versions are often just way better and more clear - that's also how the Beatles intended the project to be from the start (they wanted no studio gimmickry - they originated much of it and already had grown tired of it - and not even any splicing, and they wanted a back-to-basics feel with live vocal and instrumental performances).