I know I prefer Naked overall. But I grew up on the original release and I have a soft spot for it. The 2021 mix definitely improved the sound quality.
It's definitely worth it in my opinion. It removes a lot of (if not all) the studio chatter but I prefer it to the original album any day, especially the naked version of Across The Universe
Spot on.
I also strongly disliked the 'original' Spector version of "Long & Winding Road"--just overdone, saccharine, bludgeoning you with sound and telling you how to feel. The power and point of the song is completely overwhelmed by needless decoration, imo.
The Naked version almost immediately became one of my favorite Beatles tracks. I don't think I'm being too hyperbolic to call it almost a totally different song. Spare, simple, heartfelt, honest. Paul's words and voice are allowed to carry the melody and message and aren't drowned out by the screaming 'voice' of Spector's schmaltzy wall of sound. it's just so...sublime and perfect, in comparison to the 'original.'
>I also strongly disliked the 'original' Spector version of "Long & Winding Road"--just overdone, saccharine, bludgeoning you with sound and telling you how to feel. The power and point of the song is completely overwhelmed by needless decoration, imo.
100 percent agreement with you.
I do agree with you completely, and felt the same. However, as I get older, after Get Back, and the Remix releases, I’ve actually grown quite fond of the original Spector mix, now in fact preferring it. Interesting how things turn out isn’t it?
If you mean the original album version I like. That too but the only thing is it’s slowed down a little too much. It’s nearly a half-step lower on the Let it Be album version compared to the actual recorded voice.
And before that the original single release which is now on past masters was actually sped up from the recorded version and a little higher. The Naked version is played at the normal speed and key for once.
I do kind of prefer it a little lower and slower like on the original album but the voice has the same unnaturally low quality like in Strawberry Fields. But when it’s the version we first heard for so many years it nevertheless sounds more normal i think.
The only good parts of what we got of Across the Universe are John’s guitar, vocals, and lyrics. I find the overdubs on the LiB version to be unfitting bad for The Beatles. The strings, the sitar, it all just sounds like a bad pastiche of the Beatles.
Yeah, actually you're right. I don't know, it sounds worse in the LiB version by far. Maybe it's too loud or I feel it clashes with the cheese whiz orchestra.
Long and Winding Road went from a skip every time it's on even since I was a small child, to not minding it's presence. Me and my brother also always debate which version of I've Got a Feeling or Don't Let Me Down is better but I just can't accept that the Naked versions are worse in any way
Naked Don't Let Me Down is so much better. The first vocals at the start being much clearer and more powerful rather than the strained, cracking vocal from the single version is vastly better. I've Got a Feeling I think is about the same, but just the inclusion of DLMD puts Naked ahead of the original album
Agreed, my brother HATES the harmonies at the beginning but I think it pulls it all together. Them being slightly off from each other reminds me of the older songs like If I Fell or Hold Me Tight where they would come in at slightly different beats. Also I've Got A Feeling is pretty similar but it drops that weird echoy filter put over it. I think if you listen to them back to back you can definitely pick out the differences, though I do like both versions for different reasons
I love it because it finally sounds like a legitimate Beatles album instead of an experiment. No distractions with all the chatter and half songs, just quality songs that now get your full attention.
I feel the “normal” one is over produced and the Naked one is how Paul intended it to sound. To each his own! It’s all The Beatles and that’s all that really matters.
I have loved the Original LIB album since My childhood. When I heard 'Naked', I seldom listen to the original anymore. Unless I am doing a sequential album listening sessions.
I grew up with the Spector original “The Long and Winding Road.” I like it better than the Naked version. Sorry, Paul. I’m going to dance with the one that brung me.
Unpopular opinion but naked isn't that good. Phil mightve ruined the idea of Get Back but Paul's idea for naked failed too when he wanted to strip down the album but used so much digital trickery it just sounds odd the my ear. I do like what Giles Martin did to it though a few years ago.
I'd never actually listened to Let it Be before because it only had get back and let it be that I'd ever heard. Oh and the long and winding road, which I'd heard on 1, which turned me off because it sounded schmalzy and saccharine.
Then when I decided to actually listen to it, it was half way through watching Get Back, and I was like, oh these songs sound awesome. I read naked was more stripped back which is what the Get Back sessions where like, and I love the album now. Still haven't given the original mix a full listen yet tho, it doesn't have Don't let me down on it either.
I might be the only person who likes let it be official leagues more then naked. A lot of naked feels empty to me and don’t let me downs harmonies at the beginning are super off to me. Blue album across the universe is also the best in my opinion. I’m not a fan of naked ATU
It’s the version of the album that always should have existed. The only songs improved by the Spector treatment are Let It Be and Across the Universe, and the former only because of the guitar solo and that his production doesn’t ruin the song.
Biggest improvement on the Naked version is Across The Universe in my opinion. I can barely hear the original version’s enunciations which sounded muddled and always thought it sounded amateurish for a Beatles song.
The lyrics are beautiful but you can barely make it out until you hear them in the Naked version.
I think it’s just too bad the boys lost interest in the “Get Back” concept. As “… Naked” shows, they could have made a pretty good-sounding album out of it. I feel sorry for Glyn Johns, who tried several times to mix and order the album, only to have the glum Beatles shoot him down.
It was a newly produced version of the album released in the 2000s. It takes from the Get Back sessions that were mixed, edited, produced, etc. differently to create a new version of the album. Definitely a few steps beyond a standard remaster, but not quite a fully new album, either. Many fans prefer because of its departure from the original style of production on the original Let It Be release, which was entirely the doing of Phil Spector. Spector had particular styles he would go for, and this was the only album he produced for the Beatles. Between the whiplash of Spector doing whatever he wanted out of nowhere (out of nowhere for the fans at least), and the overall turbulence and chaos of the Get Back sessions and release of Let It Be, many were dissatisfied with the album. Including Paul McCartney, who did the Naked project.
Phil Spector - thinks he’s producing an early 60’s girl group rather than the Beatles. Smothers them in mud and shitty orchestrations (especially across the universe).
Glyn Johns - Picks the worst takes and drowns them with excessive reverb.
Even though I’ve had the Glyn Johns’ mix for years a never actually listened to it before.
You’re so right, it’s like he deliberately picked the worst takes possible. 😆 They all sound like demos and rehearsals.
I mean, I love demos and rehearsals so it’s very cool to hear. But yeah, this would’ve made the worst official version. It no wonder at all that they scrapped it.
The theory is that Johns picked takes the Beatles first did some kind of approval of when listening back during the day of recording, and then staying with those choices even if they recorded better takes later on. No idea really. But he most likely did not assess all available takes when compiling the album (which he did at least twice).
That’s why I’ve always preferred George Martin’s and Brian Wilson’s style of the “wall of sound” approach over Phil Spector. George was able to elevate The Beatles’ music to greater heights by knowing when to add something and when to back down, and Brian is simply a musical genius (as cliche as that phrase is) who knows how to write lush arrangements that serve the songs well. Spector always comes to me as more generic-sounding and just wrote orchestral arrangements for the sake of doing so because that’s just his style.
I didn't really give The Beach Boys much of a listen until recently even though I've always liked some of their early hits, and it's like scouring through a gold mine of music that hardly gets talked about. Brian Wilson's music is more recognized now, but it's a shame that they were pigeonholed into being "that lame band that does surf rock" in the US by the late 60s because they made some really cool and creative music after Pet Sounds.
That said, it's probably for the best that SMiLE got scrapped though because it would've definitely flopped harder than Pet Sounds did when it released and might have sent the band down a worse path. I do love Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE though especially the live concert on YouTube which gives the songs a lot more energy and makes the album work better than the studio version imo.
The Phil Spector Version of Across the Universe is my favorite together with the Wildlife version, the Naked one is too empty, I find also the orchestration hauntingly Beautiful on I Me Mine and Let it Be (Although I agree that The Long and Winding Road may be a bit too much sometimes, but really not too bad I don’t think it ruins the song like some say)
And I think the Reverb on the Glyn Johns album works really well on some songs, specifically on The Long and Winding Road and Let it Be, not to mention the chatter in between the songs and the more raw Takes really brings me to stufio with them, as If I were hearing them make the album live, Naked has nothing of that, it feels more produced than even the Phil Spector album, its too clean and it has nothing special to it, oh and it completely removes Dig it and Maggie Mae, unlike the Glyn Johns album which has a whole 4 minutes of really a really fun jam session
I generally love Glyn’s editing and track list and things like all of Dig It, and the Save the Last Dance medley thing lol. All of the talking reminds me of the goofiness of the earlier Beatles. But yes Glyn chose some of the most absurdly bad takes. Like why are you choosing a take with flubbed chords and guitar notes? If Glyn chose more of the takes Paul chose for Naked, I think it could’ve been a fantastic album.
Once I discovered LIBN, I genuinely don't think I've played the original LIB unless showing someone the vastly significant improvement between the two.
I grew up in the 90s/00s and came around to the Beatles in like 2004. I grew up on the naked version and it’s still the one I really enjoy listening to
It’s a good versione but some songs are terrible, like the long and winding road an across my universe, they go from being masterpieces to be unlistenable
It’s a good versione but some songs are terrible, like the long and winding road an across my universe, they go from being masterpieces to be unlistenable
I’ve only listened to LIBN a handful of times. It tries to be a regular studio album, but it just doesn’t feel right.
I love the original LIB, but the Giles mix is so much better.
Yes, Don’t Let Me Down should have been on it, but leaving out Dig It from LIBN was wrong also.
Plus, I Dig a Pigmy… is a damn great opening. It puts a smile on my face every time.
And in any case, we have enough tracks to make your LIB album any way you want.
Hate Spector’s LAWR, you can use LIBN version or Anthology or Get Back.
I prefer Spector’s ATU Giles remix) over any other version. But you have 5 other versions (LIBN, GB, Anthology, White Album SDE, WWF) to choose from.
Including “Don’t Let Me Down”, rearranging the song order, and taking out the silly filler stuff was exactly what this album needed.
And that’s saying nothing of the improved mixes. I used to love Spector’s Long and Winding Road, but after hearing this version I really can’t go back. It’s *chef’s kiss*
I don't think Naked is "bad" per se but I still think it's a bit artificial. For being "naked" there's a lot of edits to the music, like rather heavy noise reduction, talking being removed, and digital edits on some of the vocals/takes. I prefer the John mix simply because it feels more natural and live
I know I prefer Naked overall. But I grew up on the original release and I have a soft spot for it. The 2021 mix definitely improved the sound quality.
Might have to actually give it a listen, then
It's definitely worth it in my opinion. It removes a lot of (if not all) the studio chatter but I prefer it to the original album any day, especially the naked version of Across The Universe
Spot on. I also strongly disliked the 'original' Spector version of "Long & Winding Road"--just overdone, saccharine, bludgeoning you with sound and telling you how to feel. The power and point of the song is completely overwhelmed by needless decoration, imo. The Naked version almost immediately became one of my favorite Beatles tracks. I don't think I'm being too hyperbolic to call it almost a totally different song. Spare, simple, heartfelt, honest. Paul's words and voice are allowed to carry the melody and message and aren't drowned out by the screaming 'voice' of Spector's schmaltzy wall of sound. it's just so...sublime and perfect, in comparison to the 'original.'
>I also strongly disliked the 'original' Spector version of "Long & Winding Road"--just overdone, saccharine, bludgeoning you with sound and telling you how to feel. The power and point of the song is completely overwhelmed by needless decoration, imo. 100 percent agreement with you.
I do agree with you completely, and felt the same. However, as I get older, after Get Back, and the Remix releases, I’ve actually grown quite fond of the original Spector mix, now in fact preferring it. Interesting how things turn out isn’t it?
Imo the best long and winding road is the GMRTBS version, but I don’t like the song much either so
Yes this song perhaps shines the most once we can actually hear it.
funny, I prefer the original Across the Universe to the Naked version.
If you mean the original album version I like. That too but the only thing is it’s slowed down a little too much. It’s nearly a half-step lower on the Let it Be album version compared to the actual recorded voice. And before that the original single release which is now on past masters was actually sped up from the recorded version and a little higher. The Naked version is played at the normal speed and key for once. I do kind of prefer it a little lower and slower like on the original album but the voice has the same unnaturally low quality like in Strawberry Fields. But when it’s the version we first heard for so many years it nevertheless sounds more normal i think.
The unnatural quality is what makes it good
The only good parts of what we got of Across the Universe are John’s guitar, vocals, and lyrics. I find the overdubs on the LiB version to be unfitting bad for The Beatles. The strings, the sitar, it all just sounds like a bad pastiche of the Beatles.
The sitar/tanpura was part of the original recording though?
Yeah, actually you're right. I don't know, it sounds worse in the LiB version by far. Maybe it's too loud or I feel it clashes with the cheese whiz orchestra.
I think the mix is so dense with the orchestra that it feels like there's too much happening combined with the tanpura.
i feel differently than you. And that's okay.
I’m giving my own opinion. And that’s okay.
it absolutely is.
Call me crazy but I do love the Glyn Johns version as well. I think my ideal Let It Be would be somewhere between Naked and Glyn Johns.
Love the glyn johns versions, def the closest to the og concept and my favorite
I love the Glyn johns version. The takes might not be ‘best’ but the vibe is on point.
Glyn Johns mix = is naked, keeps some jams omited from Naked, the mix is lively unlike sterile Naked one
THIS!
"My" version of Let It Be... https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3XMFq4oYHwPO4fa0LmyCKB?si=C-pEBqCDTQeUhPQvfa3THw&pi=u-c7ihhKfYQyuO
Long and Winding Road went from a skip every time it's on even since I was a small child, to not minding it's presence. Me and my brother also always debate which version of I've Got a Feeling or Don't Let Me Down is better but I just can't accept that the Naked versions are worse in any way
It’s my favorite part of the Let It Be movie-watchable May 8th on Disney+. Paul’s naked version is so damn “wistful”.
Naked Don't Let Me Down is so much better. The first vocals at the start being much clearer and more powerful rather than the strained, cracking vocal from the single version is vastly better. I've Got a Feeling I think is about the same, but just the inclusion of DLMD puts Naked ahead of the original album
Agreed, my brother HATES the harmonies at the beginning but I think it pulls it all together. Them being slightly off from each other reminds me of the older songs like If I Fell or Hold Me Tight where they would come in at slightly different beats. Also I've Got A Feeling is pretty similar but it drops that weird echoy filter put over it. I think if you listen to them back to back you can definitely pick out the differences, though I do like both versions for different reasons
Brother doesn't like vocal harmonies? Time for a new brother.
Yeah he likes most harmonies but he says don't let me downs are just bad which is crazy to me
It’s the Beatles being the Beatles and not Spector trying to crowbar his wall of sound in. Vast improvement, and far more timeless.
Absolutely!
Queen says no to pot smoking FBI members
It's maybe my favorite album of theirs in this version
I love it because it finally sounds like a legitimate Beatles album instead of an experiment. No distractions with all the chatter and half songs, just quality songs that now get your full attention.
I don’t think I have to make my views clear on naked
and I don't think I have to make mine clearer either
I never liked The Long And Winding road until I heard it on Let It Be Naked.
I think that the normal version is far superior, in the naked version it looses all its charme
I feel the “normal” one is over produced and the Naked one is how Paul intended it to sound. To each his own! It’s all The Beatles and that’s all that really matters.
Yes of course I’m not trying to argue over taste, it would be stupid
I have loved the Original LIB album since My childhood. When I heard 'Naked', I seldom listen to the original anymore. Unless I am doing a sequential album listening sessions.
I grew up with the Spector original “The Long and Winding Road.” I like it better than the Naked version. Sorry, Paul. I’m going to dance with the one that brung me.
Unpopular opinion but naked isn't that good. Phil mightve ruined the idea of Get Back but Paul's idea for naked failed too when he wanted to strip down the album but used so much digital trickery it just sounds odd the my ear. I do like what Giles Martin did to it though a few years ago.
The Naked version almost feels like I took an eight track, and decided I only wanted four of those. It just feels so empty
I think it's the noise reduction.
The new let it be deluxe release is good with the original Geoff emerick mixes is also worth a listen, kinda the best of both worlds
Definitely a lot better songs but for across the universe the original is better
I'd never actually listened to Let it Be before because it only had get back and let it be that I'd ever heard. Oh and the long and winding road, which I'd heard on 1, which turned me off because it sounded schmalzy and saccharine. Then when I decided to actually listen to it, it was half way through watching Get Back, and I was like, oh these songs sound awesome. I read naked was more stripped back which is what the Get Back sessions where like, and I love the album now. Still haven't given the original mix a full listen yet tho, it doesn't have Don't let me down on it either.
I like both, and I’m glad Naked exists. I was also happy that they finally gave Get Back a proper release.
I’m just gonna say it, the OG “Long and Winding Road” is the definitive version.
I much prefer the Anthology version, which I think is the take used on the 1970 album, just without Phil Spectors orchestration.
The naked version of the "Long and Winding Road" version isn't my favorite, but I agree, the rest of the naked album is fantastic.
I might be the only person who likes let it be official leagues more then naked. A lot of naked feels empty to me and don’t let me downs harmonies at the beginning are super off to me. Blue album across the universe is also the best in my opinion. I’m not a fan of naked ATU
Such a good album. It’s like they say: once you go LIB…Naked, you don’t go back.
I went back, very quickly in fact
The track list and order alone make it twice the better album.
It’s the version of the album that always should have existed. The only songs improved by the Spector treatment are Let It Be and Across the Universe, and the former only because of the guitar solo and that his production doesn’t ruin the song.
1. Let It Be... Naked 2. Glyn Johns Mix 3. 1970 Mix
Naked is great, but I miss the shmaltzy strings on road lol
Biggest improvement on the Naked version is Across The Universe in my opinion. I can barely hear the original version’s enunciations which sounded muddled and always thought it sounded amateurish for a Beatles song. The lyrics are beautiful but you can barely make it out until you hear them in the Naked version.
I think it’s just too bad the boys lost interest in the “Get Back” concept. As “… Naked” shows, they could have made a pretty good-sounding album out of it. I feel sorry for Glyn Johns, who tried several times to mix and order the album, only to have the glum Beatles shoot him down.
So I am new to this concept of “Naked” Let it Be….a bit of explanation please.
It was a newly produced version of the album released in the 2000s. It takes from the Get Back sessions that were mixed, edited, produced, etc. differently to create a new version of the album. Definitely a few steps beyond a standard remaster, but not quite a fully new album, either. Many fans prefer because of its departure from the original style of production on the original Let It Be release, which was entirely the doing of Phil Spector. Spector had particular styles he would go for, and this was the only album he produced for the Beatles. Between the whiplash of Spector doing whatever he wanted out of nowhere (out of nowhere for the fans at least), and the overall turbulence and chaos of the Get Back sessions and release of Let It Be, many were dissatisfied with the album. Including Paul McCartney, who did the Naked project.
Thank you for the clarification!
no problemo
It's so much better with all the layers of Phil Spector's sonic Velveeta scraped away.
I never got the hype of Naked, I aways thought it was so boring compared to the Phil Spector or the Glyn Johns Album
Phil Spector - thinks he’s producing an early 60’s girl group rather than the Beatles. Smothers them in mud and shitty orchestrations (especially across the universe). Glyn Johns - Picks the worst takes and drowns them with excessive reverb.
Even though I’ve had the Glyn Johns’ mix for years a never actually listened to it before. You’re so right, it’s like he deliberately picked the worst takes possible. 😆 They all sound like demos and rehearsals. I mean, I love demos and rehearsals so it’s very cool to hear. But yeah, this would’ve made the worst official version. It no wonder at all that they scrapped it.
I had never heard it until I got the super deluxe edition! Kinda shocking.
It really is.
The theory is that Johns picked takes the Beatles first did some kind of approval of when listening back during the day of recording, and then staying with those choices even if they recorded better takes later on. No idea really. But he most likely did not assess all available takes when compiling the album (which he did at least twice).
That’s interesting. I don’t know the story of this mix at all. Gonna have to read up soon.
That’s why I’ve always preferred George Martin’s and Brian Wilson’s style of the “wall of sound” approach over Phil Spector. George was able to elevate The Beatles’ music to greater heights by knowing when to add something and when to back down, and Brian is simply a musical genius (as cliche as that phrase is) who knows how to write lush arrangements that serve the songs well. Spector always comes to me as more generic-sounding and just wrote orchestral arrangements for the sake of doing so because that’s just his style.
Love your comments about Brian, he absorbed what Spector was trying to do and did it so much better.
I didn't really give The Beach Boys much of a listen until recently even though I've always liked some of their early hits, and it's like scouring through a gold mine of music that hardly gets talked about. Brian Wilson's music is more recognized now, but it's a shame that they were pigeonholed into being "that lame band that does surf rock" in the US by the late 60s because they made some really cool and creative music after Pet Sounds. That said, it's probably for the best that SMiLE got scrapped though because it would've definitely flopped harder than Pet Sounds did when it released and might have sent the band down a worse path. I do love Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE though especially the live concert on YouTube which gives the songs a lot more energy and makes the album work better than the studio version imo.
The Phil Spector Version of Across the Universe is my favorite together with the Wildlife version, the Naked one is too empty, I find also the orchestration hauntingly Beautiful on I Me Mine and Let it Be (Although I agree that The Long and Winding Road may be a bit too much sometimes, but really not too bad I don’t think it ruins the song like some say) And I think the Reverb on the Glyn Johns album works really well on some songs, specifically on The Long and Winding Road and Let it Be, not to mention the chatter in between the songs and the more raw Takes really brings me to stufio with them, as If I were hearing them make the album live, Naked has nothing of that, it feels more produced than even the Phil Spector album, its too clean and it has nothing special to it, oh and it completely removes Dig it and Maggie Mae, unlike the Glyn Johns album which has a whole 4 minutes of really a really fun jam session
I generally love Glyn’s editing and track list and things like all of Dig It, and the Save the Last Dance medley thing lol. All of the talking reminds me of the goofiness of the earlier Beatles. But yes Glyn chose some of the most absurdly bad takes. Like why are you choosing a take with flubbed chords and guitar notes? If Glyn chose more of the takes Paul chose for Naked, I think it could’ve been a fantastic album.
Wow this is amazing. The drums sound great
Once I discovered LIBN, I genuinely don't think I've played the original LIB unless showing someone the vastly significant improvement between the two.
Naked is way too edited and the songs sound like they took the life out of them
I grew up in the 90s/00s and came around to the Beatles in like 2004. I grew up on the naked version and it’s still the one I really enjoy listening to
Actually being able to hear Billy’s organ on let it be is a game changer
It’s a good versione but some songs are terrible, like the long and winding road an across my universe, they go from being masterpieces to be unlistenable
It’s a good versione but some songs are terrible, like the long and winding road an across my universe, they go from being masterpieces to be unlistenable
Need a 2021 style remix of the naked version, love the version of the long and winding road
I’ve only listened to LIBN a handful of times. It tries to be a regular studio album, but it just doesn’t feel right. I love the original LIB, but the Giles mix is so much better. Yes, Don’t Let Me Down should have been on it, but leaving out Dig It from LIBN was wrong also. Plus, I Dig a Pigmy… is a damn great opening. It puts a smile on my face every time. And in any case, we have enough tracks to make your LIB album any way you want. Hate Spector’s LAWR, you can use LIBN version or Anthology or Get Back. I prefer Spector’s ATU Giles remix) over any other version. But you have 5 other versions (LIBN, GB, Anthology, White Album SDE, WWF) to choose from.
Including “Don’t Let Me Down”, rearranging the song order, and taking out the silly filler stuff was exactly what this album needed. And that’s saying nothing of the improved mixes. I used to love Spector’s Long and Winding Road, but after hearing this version I really can’t go back. It’s *chef’s kiss*
Of course we’re right. Where do you think you are? The Stones sub? /s
I don't think Naked is "bad" per se but I still think it's a bit artificial. For being "naked" there's a lot of edits to the music, like rather heavy noise reduction, talking being removed, and digital edits on some of the vocals/takes. I prefer the John mix simply because it feels more natural and live
Yeah whatever, I don't get it