LET IT BE

As a younger Beatles fan, I have been blessed with the privelege of hearing 'Let It Be... Naked' before hearing the original. This is probably the oddest and most inconsistent Beatles record. The songs on here are from the film of the same title. The Beatles never bothered to release these tracks as a studio album, and instead this job was left as an afterthought to Phil Spector. 'In comes the warmth and the freshness of a live performance, as reproduced for disc by Phil Spector' are the words on the back of the LP, but this is definitely not the truth. Instead we hear the relatively cold, pretentious orchestral accompaniment that Spector felt he needed to add to some of the tracks, thus raping the sound.

While there are many great songs on this record, (Let It Be is one of The Beatles' finest) there are also some hopeless ones too. Maggie Mae for example is a slightly offensive, rough, unfinished song that was obviously never meant to be placed on a record, yet here it is. One other unappealling aspect of this album is the annoying banter wedged in-between tracks, to make it sound more like a 'live album'. If this album was meant to have sounded like a live album, then why would you add an orchestra that clearly weren't there when it was recorded?

In my opinion, The Long And Winding Road gets the worst treatment. In this particular track, the orchestra is overpowering, to the point where all we hear is Paul's voice and the orchestra. It doesn't sound symphonic or anything, it just sounds extremely pretentious.

No, I don't like this album, because I believe that the 'Naked' version of this album is far superior, sonically and musically. I really like most of the songs on here, but I have a better place to hear them. If it's any consolation, Phil Spector is now serving a prison sentence for the murder of an actress. However, without intending to satirise the issue of murder, I'm sure many will agree with me that he should have been behind bars for ruining what is actually a great album.