let it be...naked?

would like an all things must pass naked, hate the Phil Spector production on there

eh, its a long time since i've watched it to be fair, but i just remember the original LIB film taking away from a lot of what i liked about them "as a band" - ie my idea of The Batles... which sure is probably half mythologising anyway. there's just so little joy in the whole project. i don't know how anybody who's seen that film could think "Damn i need to see more of this!" .... its not as if they had a stock of magically joyful better performances hidden away that weren't used at the time?

yes i said The Batles.

my understanding is that Jackson's intent with this footage is to dispel that impression made by the oroginal film—that the sessions were so miserable and depressing. The unseen footage from what I've read reveals that contrary to the conventional narrative the band still dug eachother and enjoyed playing together.

On 13 November 2003, the completed Let It Be... Naked album had its world premiere with a two-hour radio special from Infinity Broadcasting. The special featured (...) a 20-minute roundtable discussion hosted by Pat O'Brien. The roundtable discussion featured analysis from musicians Sheryl Crow, J.C. Chasez, Billy Joel and Fred Durst, Breakfast with the Beatles host Chris Carter, record producers Alan Parsons and Jimmy Iovine, music critic David Fricke and journalist Geraldo Rivera.
LOL, I actually listened to this special! Sheryl Crow (who went on about how she loved the bass sound and wanted to steal it) and David Fricke were definitely participants, and possible Parsons, but Billy Joel, Durst and Geraldo certainly were NOT, some wag threw those names in.

But yeah the 2003 remix was virtually unnecessary. By 2003, the best, definitive versions of every track that SHOULD have been on that album were either on "Let It Be," "Past Masters Vol. 2" or the "Anthology" CD's, or at least used in the film itself (which to be fair, was never issued on DVD). It would've been nice to have them all in one place on an official CD, but they decided to mess around with it, hence the inferior new mixes.

i finally got around to listening to this years after it came out and thought it was...fine, really. it's always been my least favorite beatles album but i found myself appreciating the songs more in this context -- just a straightforward album, no spector crap, none of the annoying chatter between songs, and they replaced the two throwaways with "don't let me down" which always belonged on this album anyway. i'd probably rather listen to it than the original album. that said i always kinda wished they had just released an album of the rooftop concert and left it at that.

The track sequence on Let It Be...Naked is actually rock solid - it flows much better than Phil Spector's Let It Be and all three of Glyn Johns's rejected Get Back sequences. I agree that replacing complete throwaways like "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" with "Don't Let Me Down" helps immensely, and I also agree with ditching Spector's orchestral and choral overdubs, I never bought the counter-argument that "The Long and Winding Road" needed those strings - that's like saying Mountain Dew needs more sugar.

What I don't like are the new edits and mixes because for the most part, those were already done right back in 1969 or 1970, and except for stripping Spector's orchestral and choral overdubs, all the noticeable changes made on Let It Be...Naked didn't improve any of the songs - quite the opposite. Losing the coda on "Get Back," picking an inferior take of "Don't Let Me Down," using the guitar solo on "Let It Be" that Harrison himself rejected (and twice re-recorded, with the best one picked for the single and the other Spector used for the album), etc.

I actually like the quiet and brief spoken word bits on Let It Be, the stuff that didn't get their own tracks and opened or followed most of the songs, because in total they did bring a welcome loose and casual atmosphere to the album rather than crossing the line into sloppiness.