Wall of sound dismantled for re-release of 'Let It Be' album

The Beatles album Let It Be is to be re-released as the band intended, without the lavish orchestrations and Wall of Sound effects that were added by the producer Phil Spector.

Let It Be, which has been criticised by Beatles fans, will be heard with just the bare sound of the band for the first time. The tracks were laid down in 1969 for an album provisionally entitled Get Back aimed at showing the band returning to their live performance rock 'n' roll roots. But the Beatles were already in the process of breaking up and the album was abandoned as the members went their separate ways.

Spector was later brought in to turn hours of tape into an album. But Paul McCartney always hated additions such as the over-the-top orchestration of his song, "The Long and Winding Road" - even though John Lennon praised the version.

Now, more than 30 years after the release of Let It Be, the back-to-basics reissue, which has been demixed and remixed, will enable fans to hear the music as the band intended. Let It Be ... Naked keeps roughly the same track listing as the original album, which included numbers such as "Get Back", "Let It Be" and "Across the Universe." But background dialogue has been removed, as have the numbers "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae".

Fans, many of whom lamented the Spector production, will get the chance to hear the pared-back Beatles from 17 November. McCartney said yesterday: "If we'd have had today's technology back then, it would sound like this because this is the noise we made in the studio."