Album release: Let It Be… Naked

Let It Be… Naked was an extensively remixed and reworked version of The Beatles’ Let It Be album, presented without studio chatter and Phil Spector’s post production, to more closely align with the band’s original vision for the album.

It was released worldwide on 17 November 2003, two days before Spector was charged with the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

The album was issued with a silver cover, featuring monochrome images of The Beatles. The photograph of George Harrison originally used on Let It Be was swapped for one featuring him in performance.

Initial CD and vinyl copies of Let It Be… Naked came with a 22-minute bonus disc titled Fly On The Wall. It featured song snippets and dialogue from the Let It Be sessions, and was compiled and edited by writer and radio producer Kevin Howlett.

I had expected to hear the kind of disagreements and arguing we’ve all heard about. Instead, I heard the bandmembers actually having a good time. By the end, they were, in fact, quite excited about what they were doing.

Let It Be… Naked topped the charts in Chile and Mexico, and was a top 10 hit in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and USA.