Let It Be.Naked isn't on Let It Be, a six-disc box set released alongside Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back - a docuseries that revisits the original film footage shot by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969 - but a remixed version of Let It Be is, alongside the first official release of the heavily bootlegged Get Back, plus two discs of outtakes and a disc of remixes (the sixth disc is a BluRay). Paul McCartney was never fond of the production Phil Spector added to the tapes, particularly on "The Long and Winding Road," so he spearheaded the odd Let It Be.Naked project, a 2003 album that was a hybrid of the relatively polished 1970 Let It Be LP and the scrapped Glyn Johns mix of Get Back from 1969. There was drama in the sessions, drama in the post-production, drama in the film, and drama in its afterlife.
The Beatles did wind up giving a concert, but it was a surprise gig held on the rooftop of Apple at the end of the sessions, an event that gave the film a dramatic conclusion.ĭrama is the keyword for Let It Be. The loose nature of the sessions combined with inner-band tensions made for a rocky road, one that got a little smoother once they decided to move to the fledgling Apple Studio and abandon their plans for a public performance. They headed to Twickenham Film Studios in January 1969, finding their new accommodations not nearly as hospitable as their home at Abbey Road. The group decided that they'd document the entire process of recording and rehearsing on film, culminating in a live performance at the end of the proceedings. As part of the deal they also gained the rights to the US edition of the A Hard Day’s Night LP.The Beatles intended the album that became Let It Be as a back-to-basics move, deciding to hunker down with a bunch of rockers they could play live - to get back where they once belonged, as it were. In 1976, when The Beatles’ contract with Apple Records expired, Let It Be went out of print in America for three years, until Capitol/EMI acquired United Artists in 1979. To indicate that Let It Be was not distributed by Capitol, as was the convention for The Beatles’ other Apple releases, the original label for the US edition sported a red apple rather than the usual green Granny Smith logo. Capitol, meanwhile, retained the rights to release songs from Let It Be as singles and on compilation albums. The album retailed at $7, creating a gross sales figure of $25,900,000 before it was even released.Īs United Artists was the distributor of the Let It Be film, it also had the rights to distribute the soundtrack album in America. Its cheaper price, together with the absence of any new Beatles long-players since Abbey Road in October 1969, meant it was an enticing prospect for record buyers.Īt the time, Let It Be had the highest number of advance orders for any album in the US record industry, with an astonishing 3,700,000 orders placed. Unlike in the UK, the US edition of Let It Be didn’t come with the box set and glossy paperback book. The catalogue number was Apple AR 34001, and the tracklisting was the same as the UK version.
Ten days after its United Kingdom release, The Beatles’ final LP, Let It Be, was issued in the United States.