Beatles' Let It Be (33 1/3) (14 page)

The
Let It Be … Naked
reissue was worked on at Abbey Road by engineers Paul Hicks and Guy Massey. Hicks and Massey worked from the original one-inch,
eight-track session tapes. There were 30 reels in all that lasted half an hour each. The tracks on the reissue were mostly from the takes that were used for the original
Let It Be
album. The only track that used a completely different take was “The Long and Winding Road.” At no time did the engineers reference any of Glyn Johns’ unused mixes or Phil Spector’s mix. However, they did listen to the original album and the two unused Glyn Johns mixes as a starting point. Primarily, the engineers edited, re-mixed, and arranged. In the case of “Across the Universe,” they also created a very new sound at the end of the song.

The stripping away of Spector’s production, the use of modern production to clean up the tracks, and the omission of between-song patter gave
Let It Be … Naked
the feel of a straight-forward studio album rather than of a film soundtrack or rehearsals. Two tracks, the short song snippets, “Dig It” and “Maggie Mae,” were left out and “Don’t Let Me Down” was added.

Dropping the extraneous chatter took away some of the charm apparent on the original release. Changing the song order made for a nice flow, but was akin to blasphemy for some of the Beatles’ diehard fans.

The
Fly on the Wall
disc was prepared by Kevin Howlett, who listened to over 80 hours of the mono sound that had been recorded by the film crew on the
two Nagra tape recorders. Considering that the bootleg collections from the sessions have yielded a treasure trove of the Beatles doing complete versions of alternate takes, jamming on oldies, and debuting future works, the bonus disc was a real missed opportunity.

The version of “The Long and Winding Road” included on the reissue was more subtle than the original, and was a real improvement over the tentative take on the Beatles’
Anthology 3.
It incorporated a vocal from later in the Apple sessions that was much stronger. The take Spector used for the original album was from much earlier in the sessions, while the one on the reissue was from January 31. “I’ve Got a Feeling” was a mixture of the recordings from the two rooftop performances. The result was a new edit of the song, which differed primarily in the elimination of John’s vocal flub.

Let It Be … Naked
is, ultimately, a worthwhile addition to the Beatles’ recent reissues, but thankfully EMI has announced that it will still keep the original
Let It Be
in print. When the group’s entire catalog starts being reissued, perhaps as early as late 2004, it will be interesting to see if
Let It Be
is still part of it. The long and winding road, indeed.

On November 20, 2003, two days after the release of
Let It Be … Naked,
Phil Spector was formally charged with the murder of Lana Clarkson. It had been some nine months since she was found dead at his home.

As for the legal case involving the discovery of the 500 missing tapes, repeated attempts to ascertain information from the City of London’s press office about those arrested and possible court dates in England have not been successful. The case is
in sub judice,
effectively barring the release of any information.

The DVD of
Let It Be
is slated for a release in late 2004. Color correction by the film’s cinematographer, Anthony Richmond, has been completed and additional footage and newly shot interviews with the film crew are scheduled to be included. Michael Lindsay-Hogg talked about why the film has not been available for so many years either in the cinemas, on television, or on videocassette. “Paul said that for George it represented a bad time in his life,” he began, “and he [George] was sort of partly responsible for it being taken off the market.” “I think the fact that George has died … that resistance within the Apple family was removed,” he continued. “I think they felt more able to revisit the picture as a company.”

Whether the recovery of the stolen Nagra tapes will impact the fate of the new DVD remains to be seen.

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