For those who don't know the story, the tension and frustration experienced by The Beatles during the "White Album" sessions reached new heights during the GET BACK sessions. In an attempt to bring spirit to the band, Paul was pushing to have The Beatles play live again. Perhaps his thinking was that playing together (as they used to do) would reunite them (as they used to be). Instead, there was much talk of breaking up. It was decided that the group should at least rehearse together while being filmed, but George Harrison actually walked out and quit the group for a few days. Apparently what John said regarding The Beatles at this time was indeed a group reality: "It had become a job."

Excluding the filming that took place at Twickenham Studios (brought to a close by tension within the band and George's walkout), the GET BACK sessions began on January 22, 1969, and ended just nine days later, all of it taking place at the band's Apple headquarters rather than Abbey Road studios. Although The Beatles behaved a little better when keyboardist Billy Preston was brought in, the sessions did not go well, being mostly jamming--meandering from song to song. As George Martin appropriately pointed out, "they were rudderless at this time." Martin was not on hand for much of this, and even when he was present, it is unclear how involved he was. Engineer Glyn Johns was asked to compile the album--not George Martin. Though Johns complied, the ill-fated GET BACK was never given the group's stamp of approval and was left unreleased for over a year.

In January 1970--after the release of the glorious ABBEY ROAD but prior to Phil Spector's involvement--Glyn Johns was given another shot at compiling the album, but this turned out to be another futile attempt to make presentable the sessions that Paul has called "the break-up of The Beatles on film."

Early in 1969, Allen Klein became involved with The Beatles; it was agreed (excepting Paul) that he should run the group's finances and business affairs. Klein, who profited from any additional Beatles releases, was the most likely impetus behind the release of LET IT BE and the involvement of Phil Spector, with whom Klein had worked previously. Klein was notorious for bringing in his own people; George Harrison himself recalled that it was in fact Allen Klein who suggested to John and George that they should have Spector listen to the tapes. John and George, being Spector fans, certainly approved of the idea. So unbeknown to Paul or George Martin, Phil Spector was brought in to have a go at it. Martin recalled that it was all very sneaky and done behind people's backs at a time when "Allen Klein was running John."

Spector produced the LET IT BE album in seven days, beginning on March 23, 1970, and ending April 2. His version involved many edits and an abundance of remixing. The orchestrated overdubs on "Across The Universe," "The Long And Winding Road," and "I Me Mine" were done in one session--the arrangements were by Richard Hewson, not Spector. Two songs on LET IT BE did not come from the GET BACK sessions. John's vocal on "Across The Universe," along with some of the rhythm instruments, came from the original takes recorded in February 1968; and "I Me Mine" was recorded in January 1970, a full year after the project.

Overall, I don't think that the GET BACK sessions were particularly great, nor do I think that they should be trivialized. Although the performances are perhaps not quite representative of what The Beatles were capable of, the songs themselves are strong enough to overcome these less-than-ideal renditions. Spector essentially took the music from the rehearsal-like sessions, dressed it up, and powdered its nose. I never did believe that the orchestra and choir added to "The Long And Winding Road" turned Paul's song into something phony. This great song holds up under Spector's treatment, and I'm glad that Paul finally admitted it wasn't so bad: "I don't think it made it the worst record ever."

I enjoy Spector's LET IT BE and think it worthy of a five-star rating, probably because I'm such a Beatles fanatic. My gripes, however, are that (1) the recordings of "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down" released as the single should have made the album (instead, Spector's mix is solid but inferior on "Get Back," and he sidestepped "Don't Let Me Down"); and (2) the mix of "Let It Be" that became the single is superior to the one on the album, and I also prefer George's guitar solo on the single.

LET IT BE... NAKED, the latest attempt at presenting the material, does not address the inherent problems with the GET BACK sessions--the reasons that caused them to be rejected in the first place. Instead, this cleaned-up version again exposes a band that was focusing more on problems than on music. Why is LET IT BE thought by many to be the group's weakest effort, and ABBEY ROAD (recorded a few months later) thought by many to be one of the greatest rock albums ever made? I think it is clear that in the case of the latter, (1) the band members put aside their differences to focus on the music; and (2) George Martin was allowed to fully work his magic.

Without getting into further details and writing pages here, suffice it to say that I will always wish that George Martin had been given a serious shot at producing this album from the beginning. Maybe then we would have had another Beatles masterpiece.

Finally, after more than 33 years, the non orchestral arrangement of Let it Be has been released! On Nov 14, I purchased highly advertised Let it Be...Naked 2-CD set here in Japan. There was a long line to get the new set, so I knew it must be good. I must say, I was quite impressed with the sound quality, and the removal of Phil Spector's various orchestral and choir arrangements.

Now for the comparisons of the two albums. First of all, as many people expected, the sound quality is much better, and there is virtually none of the original tape hiss (The only exception is disk 2, which is mostly studio chatter)

Now for the songs:

"Two of Us" the song starts immediately, without the short intro that is on the original. The song itself is the same.

"Dig a Pony" is also the same, but it does not have the false start that was included on the original.

"Across the Universe" is now a beautiful Acoustic song, without the orchestra or choir. This is one of the best songs on the Naked release.

"I Me Mine" is nearly the same. The only difference I noticed was that the stereo separation was slightly modified.

"Dig It" is not on the Naked Album.

"Let it Be" is a different take. A little shorter, by maybe about 15 seconds. Paul's voice has more life to it. The organ is much more defined and louder. The backing voices of the other Beatles sound much better. The guitar solo is different, but better I think. The drums toward the end are somewhat different, but only serious Beatle fans will notice it. There is none of the orchestral arrangement from the original. This is a great song, and I think this new version is better.

"Maggie Mae" was the other song that was not included on the Naked Album.

"I've Got a Feeling" sounds the same, but Paul and Johns voices have been put on the center channel now, which provides more range for the instruments.

"One After 909" does not sound any different.

"The Long and Winding Road" is a totally different take. The Naked version is slightly faster and without the orchestra. Some of the words have changed. The part that goes "Anyway, you'll never know, the many ways I've tried" has been changed to "Anyway, you've always known, the many ways I've tried. Another change in lyrics is where "Don't keep me waiting here" becomes "Don't keep me standing here" The end portion where we hear Paul say "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" is not on this version. This is my favorite song on the new release.

"For You Blue" seems to be unchanged, just much crisper, without any hiss.

"Get Back" suffers from being cut by some 38 seconds. The Naked version of Get back is only 2:34, compared to the 3:12 original release. The song is exactly the same otherwise.

"Don't Let Me Down" is a song which was not included in the original Let it Be Album from 1970. It can be found on Part Masters II. This version is different from that version. This version has not just Lennon, but the other Beatles singing as well.

The 2nd disk, called "Fly on the Wall" has one track, about 22 minutes in length consisting of various Twickenham sessions from 1969. This disk is a treat as it shows the Beatles attitiude in the studio where they recorded their music. I am assuming this starts Jan 1, 1969 due to everyone saying "Happy New Year" to each other. There are a few minutes of various Beatle songs such as "Don't Let Me Down" and "One After 909" It is quite humorous because you hear the Beatles talking about the song "One After 909" they talk about how they never really thought about the meaning of the lyrics in the song.

I don't want to spoil it, but this disk is quite great: both humorous and serious. If you listen well, you will even hear Yoko Ono laughing and speaking in the background at one moment. These various sessions show how the Beatles had arguments such as Ringo Starr's decision "Not to go abroad", and how they should all split up to do separate projects.

To sum it all up, this new release is exceptionally good. The best songs on the album are "The Long and Winding Road", "Let it Be", and "Across the Universe", All of the songs sound great in their new Digitally Re-Mastered and "naked" form. I hope this set receives as much success as the Beatles "1" did.

Enjoy the version of "Let it Be" the way it was always meant to be heard!

[NOTE: There are two reviews of "Let It Be". The first review was originally published on Amazon.com October 20, 1998, the second March 6, 2000]

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"Review 1 - The Messy Let It Be Massacre, October 20, 1998": I'm sure people (some of them, myself included) have heard all the negative hype about this record, and wanted to know what was up. I mean, come on, it's The Beatles, only on very rare occasions did they misstep, so what's up with this particular one? It's all live. It's extremely messy. There's studio chatter on a lot of the tracts. Two of the tracks ("Maggie Mae", "Dig It"), one is 50 seconds long, the other 40. They're two throwaways. Then we get to the (in)famous contribution from the wall-of-sound guy Phil Spector. I, like most other people, think that what he did pretty much ruins it. Across the Universe, it isn't that bad, but would have been better in its unvarnished state. One thing I like is what he did with "I Me Mine", which is a great song. The original is on the "Anthology 3" record (along with the original master version of The Long and Winding Road that Phil Spector ruined with his wall of sound.), and is far too short. What he did with that works. Long and Winding Road, I'm so glad they finally issued the original song. It's so much better than the "official" version.

This is a separate entity for the Beatles discography. For The Beatles, yes it is sloppy, yes it is flawed, yes it was a mistake for The Beatles to bring in Phil Spector. Despite all of that, it's a charming record. It has to be appreciated in itself. It's like an official bootleg. You see the songs in process. It's like part of the Anthology canon. There are some very charming moments.

One thing about this particular record tho', is though it gets bad hype all the time, this blows "Beatles For Sale" out of the water. No comparison. Whatsoever. To me, that is by far the worst Beatles record.

Oh, and whatever they say about Dig a Pony, don't believe them. It's one of my favorite tracks off this record, and I'm surprised that this in particular they pick on a lot. "Two of Us" is good too. Those two and "I Me Mine" and "Let It Be" are my favorite tracks.

Also, it has to be taken in context, The Beatles, forever trying something new, were challenging themselves to make a record without overdubbing. It was all live. After they made the record, they thought it was "rubbish" (As Lennon called it), and proceeded to record the masterpiece Abbey Road. And they were fighting all the time. George Martin walked at on this album because of the tensions between The Beatles themselves. And still they recorded this. Granted, it's a messy record, but any other artists who were going thru what they were at this time, there's no way they could record a record this good. It's definitely worth having. It's Raw, Its Live, Its Messy. It's still really good too. And remember, a substandard Beatles record is better than most others best work. You'll be missing something if you don't get this. As one review once said, "All that said [talking about the problems I talked about], the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a sub-standard Beatles record is better than almost any other group's best work."

It you want the Three Beatles Masterpieces, they're "Sgt. Pepper", "The White Album, and Abbey Road". It's amazing that one band can have so many classics in their discography. It a band could reach even 1/4 of the genius of any of these three, they'd have a masterpiece. And here are THREE! And that's only the top ... they have so much more!

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"Review 2 - The final official word from the Beatles...., March 6, 2000": An interesting album as a whole. An interesting note about the production is that The Beatles shelved this album, and Phil Spector was brought in long after they had recorded it to sort through this mess and make a feasible album. I'm sure there is more stuff they could have included on it. The "Ain't She Sweet" off Anthology 3 was very good. There are many unreleased cover tunes from this era. Also, I think the single "Don't Bring Me Down" should have been released on there too. But for some strange reason, it was on the single only, making it one of their many B-Sides.

Another interesting thing is they totally got away from the point of this album. It was to play live. Well, they did, and I guess they thought it really sucked or something, because they sure as hell backed off and went to their usual recording style with their last album and their swan song Abbey Road. Interesting to note, however, that the last session they had as a group (with Lennon not present and not counting the Anthology session) they recorded I Me Mine, which was the very definition of all the problems plaguing The Beatles as a whole.

Bottom Line: Messy, live, two or three tracks WAY over produced. We had to wait TWENTY SIX years to get a decent version of Across the Universe. (Anthology 2 is by far the best of the commercially available 3 versions)

I'm the author of "The Messy Let It Be Massacre". If you find that helpful, or you do not like it, please put your vote here, as it will go on my review page.

Ever since it's release in 1970, "Let It Be" has always been the undervalued album of the Beatles' catalog (well, in some ways at least). It was the Fab Four's attempt to record an album of all-new material completely live, with no studio overdubs. But various problems throughout the project began to pull the band apart, such as the ever-present cameras filming every single second of the sessions for a documentary, and Paul McCartney, though certainly well-meaning, driving his bandmates to extremes with his complete control of the proceedings. In the end, the Beatles recorded a whole truckload of material, but were so soured by the experience that they couldn't bear facing the task of going through the tapes. So, it was up to legendary producer Phil "Wall Of Sound" Spector to cobble together an album from the troubled sessions. After the necessary tinkering with the tapes was completed, "Let It Be" finally surfaced in 1970, AFTER the Beatles' final proper studio album, 1969's "Abbey Road."Listening to "Let It Be," it's hard to believe that there were any problems going on, as the band certainly *sound* as if they're having a good time. Most of the tracks are just as great as anything else the Fab Four have done, such as the joy of John Lennon & Paul McCartney's duet on the whimsical "Two Of Us," John's lovely "Across The Universe," George Harrison's excellent little rocker "I Me Mine," Paul's classic hymn-influenced title track, the wonderful exuberance of "I've Got A Feeling," Harrison's charming blues number, "For You Blue," Paul's beautiful ballad "The Long And Winding Road," and the band's legendary rooftop performance of the classic, "Get Back." The joking tracks "Maggie Mae" & "Dig It" are both obvious filler, but they're still good fun. Drummer Ringo Starr sings no lead vocals at all this time around, which is disappointing, but his drumming throughout is tight (as always!), and guest-artist Billy Preston does some fancy fingerwork on the keyboards for some of the tracks.Many criticisms have been leveled at producer Phil Spector for "drowning" a few of the tunes with overdubs of horns, strings, and choir voices (and without the Beatles' consent, no less), most prominently on "Across The Universe," "I Me Mine," and "The Long And Winding Road." Though I can certainly understand how the Beatles felt about Spector's overdubs, the dubs still don't take anything away from the greatness of the songs themselves, in my opinion. Furthermore, I applaud Spector for extending the running time on Harrison's "I Me Mine." With a little splicing, Spector lengthened the song's running time from 1:34 to 2:24. It's still a short tune, but thanks to Spector, there's more of it to enjoy.Let's give the Beatles & Phil Spector some credit here. It doesn't matter to me how much mud the Beatles slung at each other during this time, as the lion's share of "Let It Be" is very brilliant, containing many classic songs. And if it wasn't for Phil Spector rising to the challenge of going through the tapes of these sessions, we wouldn't have had a "Let It Be" album at all, which would've been a tremendous loss. Their days may have been numbered by this time, but "Let It Be" proves that even arguing Beatles can still make great music together. :-)

This refers to the new remastered version, but I have not commented much here on the sound quality. Suffice to say it is better than it was.

This is a much maligned album. I gotta admit, it wasn't on my list of the Top 5 Beatles Stereo Remastered albums, to replace my old cd's. But due to a twist of fate, I did end up buying this as one of my first 5.

I was "there" when Let It Be was originally released in 1970, having been a Beatles fan since 1963. I had been anticipating the Get Back sessions, I had followed the whole drama surrounding this release, in Rolling Stone and other magazines at the time. I had heard they had finally turned it over to Phil Spector for production duties. I was dubious.

In the meantime a bootleg came out called "Get Back" and it was basically the Glyn Johns mix, but the boot was pretty poor quality, not like the ones you can get now of that mix. But I loved it and was excited to hear "the real thing" soon to be released! (again, I am referring to the original release in 1970, right now)

When I first heard "Let It Be" as it was officially released, the overblown orchestration and choir threw me for a loop! Females singing background on a Beatles album? Mantovani type strings??! This is often referred to as the "Spectorized" album.

I admit to not loving it at first, but over the days and weeks it grew on me. Then, over the years, I've grown to actually prefer it!

When "Naked" came out I had hoped it would be much closer to the Glyn Johns mix, but frankly I just don't care for it. Yeah, some of the songs sound really good without the orchestration, and it's nice to hear them that way sometimes. But overall, I find myself preferring the original!

So I just finished listening to the new remaster of the original version, and while I did not listen CAREFULLY for sonic improvements, I must say that I LOVE this "musical album", this document of music in time! Even "I Me Mine" which has been said to have been ruined by Spector: I love it. Even "Let It Be" with the choir, even "Long and Winding Road" and "Across the Universe" which have also been referred to as "ruined" by Spector: I love them!

One thing I love, which I was sorry to see deleted on "Naked", is the intros and outros to some of the songs, the Lennon and McCartney "chatter". As strange as it was to add the element of a "live album" to orchestrated overdubbed arrangements, it was a nice touch!

Anyone else share my love of "Let It Be"? For me, it's not in my Top Half of Beatles albums, but still, every time I give it a spin, I end up loving it! There is not one bad song on the album, it has lots of emotion, as the last Beatles album to be made, and well, isn't that enough to recommend it?

p.s. If you can get your hands on a good quality booted copy of The Glyn Johns mix - the way it was ALMOST released - I highly recommend it. It's basically this album without the "fixing up". The Beatles felt it was too rough, but I find it energetic and fun! The Johns mix and the Spector mix are like 2 sides of a coin. Personally, "Let It Be - Naked" leaves me cold, although I do like the treatment of several of the songs better.

In the end, it's oranges and apples. Get them all, for a balanced Beatles diet!