Naked Beatles battle pop princess Kylie
The Beatles turn back the clock tomorrow to show fans what their final album might have sounded like by releasing an alternative, stripped down version of Let It Be.
Five million copies of the no frills Let It Be … Naked – recorded nearly 35 years ago – have been pressed to meet initial demand around the world and it will go head-to-head with Kylie Minogue for the number one slot.
The album has been shorn of the lush string arrangements added by producer Phil Spector, tracks have been removed and added and the track order juggled.
Recent research by the band’s record companies showed a new generation of fans buying the band’s music, many of whom were born after the band split in 1970.
Astonishingly, the Beatles are the biggest selling British band of the past decade, thanks to the huge success of greatest hits collection Beatles 1 which sold 25 million copies following its 2000 release.
The album was supposed to be a back-to-basics collection when the band went into the studio in January 1969, expected to be called Get Back.
But the band were unhappy with the results, shelved the tapes and went on to record and release Abbey Road later that year.
But a film being made about the band was in need of a soundtrack and rather than record new material, the tapes were dusted down and, against McCartney’s wishes, they were handed to Spector who added sentimental strings and choral effects.
The patched up songs were finally released in May 1970 when the band were no more.
The team behind the new release has reworked the original tapes to allow listeners to hear the album’s original concept, cutting out fake live effects and studio banter and replacing Dig It and Maggie Mae with the b-side Don’t Let Me Down.
The new release saw the band back on the cover of NME for the first time in 33 years last week.
The magazine said of the revamped version: “We get a 35-minute, 11 track juggernaut which ceases to sound like a pieced together postscript and more like a pared-down rock classic.”
It added: “The resulting monster takes one look at the crop of 2003 and flattens the lot of ’em.”
But the overhaul hasn’t met universal approval. Q magazine’s review said: “Mercifully the original Let It Be remains on sale. For all its faults, that’s the proper version; just put it down to one man’s bile and don’t bet on Spector summoning McCartney as a character witness should the need arise.”
Disapproval – and the fact that most fans already own a version of the album - is unlikely to stop strong sales, although it is unlikely to match the success of 1.
Gennaro Castaldo, of music retailer HMV, said: “We’ve certainly had a lot of interest before its release – Beatles fans and completists will definitely want it.
“It will certainly do well in the first few weeks but it may be tailing off by Christmas. I don’t think it’s going to repeat the success of Beatles 1 because it doesn’t have that mainstream appeal and won’t cross over to that sort of huge audience.”
