The Beatles: "Let It Be... Naked"

While we’re on the subject of swan songs, what’s all this about the new version of Let It Be that claims itself as “Let It Be, as it was meant to be?” Well, besides its tagline being total bullshit (Let It Be was arguably never “meant to be,” as anyone who’s seen pieces of the ill-fated film will tell you), Let It Be… Naked is Paul McCartney’s own interpretation of the Beatles’ raggedly sublime final release and what was previously a rather Lennon-ized affair (“there will be an answer,” indeed). Gone is Phil Spector’s post-production on “The Long and Winding Road,” “Across The Universe,” and “I Me Mine,” as well as “Maggie Mae” and “Dig It” in their entirety (no great loss). The immediate results? Well, “The Long and Winding” road sounds a hell of a lot better without Spector’s overenthusiastic string arrangements, but let’s face it, it still kind of sucks and doesn’t hold a candle to McCartney’s other compositions on the album. “Across The Universe” features an unadorned and bone-dry vocal by Lennon, rock’s greatest proponents of voice effects, that may well have him spinning in his grave and gains absolutely nothing on the original. The only new inclusion is the classic “Don’t Let Me Down,” though the mid-tempo version on Naked lacks some of the soul-ballad scorch of the famed rooftop interpretation, and while the tracks are now in a different order, that’s nothing that couldn’t be a accomplished with a copy of the original and a CD-RW drive. In short, Let It Be… Naked is a fairly unnecessary project for anyone short of Sir Paul himself and a handful of hardcore Beatles trivialists, and those who buy it in search of a revelation might well get the feeling they’ve been cheated. But come on, cheer up. All comparisons to the original aside, Let It Be in any form will still the best collection of rock music released this year, and the sanctified elegance of the title track—found here with a lovely new vocal and guitar solo—will still reduce you to tears on the subway any morning of the week. Anyone who ever claimed that Paul ruined the Beatles lacks heart.

Originally published in Block, December 2003