'The Long And Winding Road' is horrible no matter what version is played.
'Let It Be Naked' is awful and I doubt I will ever play it again.
'Let It Be' the album is their worst effort and kind of sucks if you think about it.
'Love' is better then any version of the album whether its the original or Naked.
There,,,have a great day.
Broadly in agreement with you Todd, although "horrible" (TLAWR) and "awful" (LIBN) are a little harsh in my opinion.
One overrated "standard" on a Beatles album is tolerable (e.g. "Yesterday" on "Help!") but there are two on "Let It Be" ("The Long And Winding Road" and "Across The Universe") and their twin shadows do the album no favours in my view. That said, "Yellow Submarine" just pips "Let It Be" as their worst original album for me... mainly because YS (which should have been an EP) was only half an album, and lazily padded out at that.
The largely pointless release of LIBN showed Paul in a peevish light. I for one don't mind the original Spector productions and don't find them intrusive, but then again I never wrote the songs! The one thing I will give "Naked" over the original is its inclusion of "Don't Let Me Down" - scandalously absent from the 1970 release.
As for "Love", it is easily my most played Beatles album of recent years. That's partly because I have more than one copy of it, so one version seems to permanently reside in my car and therefore is often played. It's also a cleverly and caringly tailored blend of "all eras" Beatles, so the lazy listener can indulge in stuff from 1963 and 1969 almost simultaneously, and continuously, which I think is great. Purists no doubt abhor the sacrilege, but I adore Beatles mash-ups and McCartney's own favourite bit (the "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" sequence) is also my highlight, along with the "Strawberry Fields" amalgam and that sublime "Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You" hybrid. The whole thing is just so damn
listenable with each great bit rolling on into the next. What's not to enjoy?
