Let It Be...Naked (The Beatles, 2003)

Let It Be has always been the "problem child" of the Beatles catalog. The intended follow-up to the White Album collapsed into a heap of unfocused random material that was ultimately abandoned. Then, in 1970, the mess was reassembled like Frankenstein's monster by Phil Spector into the canon version of Let It Be that we all know today. The weird mish-mash of live chatter and lush orchestration pleased just about nobody.

I remember the surge of expectations when they announced the "fixed" Let It Be. Would they put "Across the Universe" back at its original speed? Would anyone miss the orchestra dubs? What about the "ditties" like "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae"? Perhaps longer versions? Well, in true Let It Be fashion, Let It Be...Naked was another version of the album that left everyone feeling a little cold.

First the good. We get a lot more Billy Preston and a lot less (actually none?) of the Phil Spector Orchestra. John Lennon no longer sounds like a zombie on "Across the Universe" but the new version still pales to the "wildlife" version. Also, the sequencing of the tracks is somewhat more suitable. Although I've always been fond of "Two of Us" as an opening track, "Get Back" is as good an opener as any. And why not close with "Let It Be"? The original positioning was sort of an attack on Paul, sandwiching it between the two goofiest songs on the album.

Unfortunately with all of the orchestra stuff removed was the fun studio chatter (Paul's other pet peeve about the album). The problem is that the chatter-enhanced versions of many of the songs is what people most fondly recall about the album. It seemed kind of strange to not hear the false start to "Dig a Pony", for instance. It also robs the album of it's half-hearted claim to be a snapshot of a "new-era Beatles" showing off a "live performance". True, they do give us the bonus disc "Fly on the Wall" (where the "goofy" songs got placed) but it's just not the same.

Supposedly there's yet another version floating around in bootleg world called Get Back, which hews closer to the old Emerick recordings. Also the third of the Anthology series gave us plenty of outtake material to feast over. However, the world is still waiting for the version of Let It Be that makes everyone happy.