[Nonsuch]

Paul McCartney has finally gotten his wish.

From Beatles.com:
At last revealed - The Beatles album that has taken more than 30 years to finish, Let It Be...Naked, just the bare sound of the band inside The Beatles.

Let It Be...Naked is the no frills, back-to-basics album that The Beatles first set out to make back in 1969 - but which was never released as they intended, the band back to the bone.

Now, through the smart digital technology of Abbey Road studios, the never-heard band's take of the original sessions will be finally released worldwide by EMI Records in November.

Naked is Let It Be brought right up to now for the '1 Generation', de-mixed and re-mixed, un-dubbed of orchestration, choirs and effects and stripped-back to the raw to reveal The Beatles simply as what they were very best at being - just a great band.

"If we'd have had today's technology back then, it would sound like this because this is the noise we made in the studio", said Paul McCartney "It's all exactly as it was in the room. You're right there now".

"When I first heard it, it was really uplifting. It took you back again to the times when we were this band, the Beatle band", said Ringo Starr.

When The Beatles first set out to make the album in 1969, they intended to record an album that would be a return to live performance of just the bare necessities of the band, no studio effects or overdubbing of voices or instruments would be allowed. However, caught in the turmoil of the break-up of the band, the album was re-produced by Phil Spector and never released as The Beatles had originally meant it to sound. Until now.

Let It Be...Naked's track listing differs from the 1970 release; background dialogue, 'Dig It' and 'Maggie Mae' have been taken off the album and 'Don't Let Me Down' has been added to the running order, which now is as follows: Get Back, Dig A Pony, For You Blue, The Long And Winding Road, Two Of Us, I've Got A Feeling, One After 909, Don't Let Me Down, I Me Mine, Across The Universe, Let It Be.

Let It Be...Naked will be issued together with a bonus fly-on-the-wall disc that features extracts from tapes of The Beatles at the time of first making the Let It Be album and movie in the Sixties.

The 20-minute bonus disc is a unique insight into The Beatles at work in rehearsal and in the studios in January 1969.

Let It Be...Naked will also come with a booklet that features historic photography of the recording sessions and extracts of band dialogue from the original booklet that first accompanied early copies of the 1970 album.

Released worldwide from November 17th, Let It Be...Naked is the sound of The Beatles as nature intended; raw and rocking.

I'll buy it, of course; hell, I'll have it the day it comes out. However, I'm mightily curious. How much work was done to these tapes? Is John's shitty bass part still on Long and Winding Road (and wasn't the un-overdubbed version already released on Anthology 3?)? Are we going to get an honest, warts-and-all picture of what went on at those sessions (Paul's "I don't want to spend all my time farting round here" speech, or "Commonwealth" or "Brian Epstein's Blues")? Or will it be like the airbrushed Anthology version, with a bunch of smiling Beatles looking for all the world like four people who don't hate each other?

[Superchicken]

And here I thought this was gona be about nudity... there's a dorm here at prov (the bible college I go to) which is colourfully reffered to as the naked dorm... I avoid their sub lounge haha

[Doc Juansinn]

I'll have to buy it but I don't think it should be purchased by anyone who isn't really into the Beatles. The Anthology sets have the same problem - false starts and alternate versions aren't that interesting to the casual listener.

I don't think it will be airbrushed, but I'm sure that they've only pulled out the gems available on the many hours of crap that ended up on tape. Bootlegs of these sessions are either boring or painful to listen to.

When will Let It Be be released on DVD? My VHS original is getting old. If they do it, I'd love to have them add all of the versions of the songs that they performed on the Apple rooftop, without the crowd shots or street interviews. That would be nice.

I'll try to buy it, but I'll accidently buy a new PowerBook instead. Because you know, the two products are so easily confused.

[vod[k]a]

Maybe the iTMS will carry it by then! Or perhaps that's being too hopeful.

[Agasthya]

Originally posted by vod[k]a:
Maybe the iTMS will carry it by then! Or perhaps that's being too hopeful.

Yeah iTMS might carry it. But at that point iTMS will be owned by the Beatles because they would have sued for it and won.

[Mr. Blur]

i think it is fab that this is being released. i am not really a big beatles fan, but i love the idea of hearing the songs before the producers get their grubby hands on them.....i wish more artists would give us the chance to hear the stuff the way they wrote it, the "skeletons of songs" as one once said.

[scaught]

Originally posted by Mr. Blur:
i think it is fab that this is being released. i am not really a big beatles fan, but i love the idea of hearing the songs before the producers get their grubby hands on them.....i wish more artists would give us the chance to hear the stuff the way they wrote it, the "skeletons of songs" as one once said.

cause then half those "musicians" would be out of work.

especially in the protools era.

[superlarry]

Originally posted by hayesk:
I'll try to buy it, but I'll accidently buy a new PowerBook instead. Because you know, the two products are so easily confused.

lol

and yeah, the un-dubbed version of "the long and winding road" was on the beatles anthology 3. i like this version better, and i hope this whole album follows suit.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally posted by hayesk:
I'll try to buy it, but I'll accidently buy a new PowerBook instead. Because you know, the two products are so easily confused.

Subtle

[Mr. Blur]

Originally posted by scaught:
cause then half those "musicians" would be out of work.

especially in the protools era.

heheh...quite true. but to clarify - i did not mean to suggest that we should never hear a "produced" version either....i would just like to hear both pre and post-production.