Customer Reviews

Love

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Of all the possible posthumous incarnations for the Beatles, here's one of the most unlikely - as soundtrack to a Las Vegas circus.

It isn't any old circus, admittedly, but Canada's arty, super-acrobatic Cirque du Soleil, whose current Las Vegas show, "Love", is modelled on the story of the Beatles and characters from their songs: "Eleanor Rigby", "Sergeant Pepper" et al.

More importantly, "Love-the-show" - the result of George Harrison's friendship with Cirque founder Guy Laliberte - involved producer George Martin disinterring the group's master tapes from the Abbey Road vault for he and his son Giles to remix and remodel.

The results blast "Love" audiences from a state-of-the-art surround-sound system that includes speakers in individuual seats.

And the first thing "Love-the-album" does, at least in its DVD surround-sound format, is to blow you away with sheer sonic wizardry. Set to a noisy dawn chorus, complete with fluttering wings, the three-part vocal harmonies of 'Because' arrive with the clarity of an ice blue sky. The chugging introduction to 'Get Back' hurtles out of the mix like a train. The pumping fairground organs of 'Mr Kite' reek of steam and sawdust. Hearing many of the familiar tracks is like viewing an old masterpiece after cleaning: the light is brighter, the shadows deeper. Here, the trebles tingle while the bass end booms.

Some of this is painstaking technical restoration. After the Beatles swapped touring for the studio, they and Martin became experts at squeezing a quart of sound into a pint pot, extending the limits of four- and eight-track recordings by 'bouncing down' tracks.

Today's technology has let the Martins reverse the process, giving instruments and voices more autonomy. Ever notice the pizzicato violins on the middle 8 of 'Something'? You will now.

The ambitions of "Love" go beyond renovation, however. Its 26 tracks are set in an ambient flow of sound collages distilled from hours of Beatles tapes and containing fragments and echoes of 130 songs in all. Frequently the effect is ghostly, as the stalking strings of 'Glass Onion' and a snatch of 'Nowhere Man' drift like ectoplasm down a corridor. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' - one of the few numbers from the moptop days - surfaces from a scratchy haze of screaming.

The most ambitious songs emerge most improved. There is not, after all, much to be done with the rock'n'roll retro of 'Lady Madonna', whereas 'Strawberry Fields' and 'I am the Walrus' sound more than ever like avant-garde masterpieces. Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' (the slower version from Anthology 3) is given a sumptuous string setting by Sir George.

Throughout, the McCartney/Starr rhythm section has never sounded so heavy, or the group's vocal harmonies so sharp and affecting.

"Love" vindicates the Beatles' status as master musicians and conceptualists. Not only for the spirit of optimism they embodied but artistically, they remain the act to beat. On this evidence, no one else comes close.

My favourite track is 'Here Comes the Sun/The Inner Light'.

Neil Spencer

Along with the Amazonian rainforest, there can be few natural resources which have been ransacked like the Beatles back catalogue. Anthologised, lobotomised, and generally pillaged in the pursuit of commercial gain, public demand appeared to have finally exhausted itself with the middling response to 2003's unfortunately titled "Let It Be... Naked".

Until now. Prompted by a long-term friendship between George Harrison and Cirque De Soleil's founder Guy Laliberté, and given the blessing of the Axis Powers (Paul, Ringo and Yoko), Love is the latest addition to that bulging catalogue.

Essentially the soundtrack to the Cirque show launched in Las Vegas last July, "Love" is a jaw-dropping 80- minute mash-up of The Beatles' more accessible tunes, slavishly compiled by Giles Martin and overseen by father George, all delivered in sumptuous 5.1 surround sound.

Those fearing a train-wreck along the lines of Twin Freaks - The Freelance Hellraiser's remix assault on the Wings back catalogue - can rest easy.

Starting off with "Because", it segues into the drum solo from "The End", hammers into the opening riff from "Hard Day's Night" and then lurches straight into "Get Back" before you can splutter "Stars On 45".

From there it's a musical landslide of Beatleology ( "Eleanor Rigby", "A Day In The Life", "Here Comes The Sun" ), all overlaid with snippets from every nook and cranny of their back catalogue.

So we get "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" as one continuous ebb'n'flow of mid-period drugginess, "Come Together/Dear Prudence" as an acid-fried soundscape and - best of all - the cosmic drones of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Within You Without You" fitted together like a glove.

Wherever a song is allowed to stand alone ("Back In The USSR", "Revolution"), it arrives with double-tracked vocals, stripped back instrumentation or - why not? - the faint tinge of sitar.

If the scale is almost beyond comprehension, "Love" also represents a sonic Da Vinci Code for Beatles trainspotters, who could spend the rest of their lives arguing over whether the snare sound is derived from "No Reply" or "Paperback Writer".

Completists will enjoy a newly unearthed demo version of "Strawberry Fields Forever", but it is the Martins' obsessive quest for innovation which deserves the garlands.

Paul Moody

Okay, so i looked at all the reviews here before I bought this cd. I'm a big beatles fan and wasnt sure about how the songs were compiled and whatnot, but the raving reviews convienced me! And I must be honest, when i first started listening I didn't like it at all! Being attatched to the original versions, this cd was a huge change. But after listening to it for a while it has grown on me and I quite like it! sooo give this cd a chance!

Hope my review helped some of you

I have never heard them sound crisper, cleaner, on CD. Amazing. I am, always have been, a Beatles fanatic. I find this work absolutely beautiful - I love the new takes, I am especially taken with Because a capella and the new version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I cried it is so beautiful, it is so special to hear a 'new'(to our ears at least) George Harrison vocal, five years after he left us. So special. You absolutely must add this to your collection, if you appreciate how perfect these songs really are. Who else could do this, with so much class, but George Martin?

Who could have thought that these great songs could be improved on? Yet that is what the Martins have done. Bravo! I am normally a purist, but I enjoyed this album tremendously from beginning to end. It gave me the feeling of Beatlemania all over again, but updated to the 21st century. While some may say this is tampering with perfection, I say it reveals how endlessly creative the Beatles materials are, and how perfect they have to be that they can be made to sound fresh yet completely genuine and original. Most important of all, you will come away feeling that nobody but the Beatles could have done this. The sound is great. No previous incarnation of these recordings have been given such wonderful sonics. Go buy the CD right away!

This is a totally awesome CD!

Although I'd recommend that you should listen to all the original Beatles music first, I don't think you need to be a die-hard fan. I only think it's right to experience the Beatles original form first.

Anyways, this album should be experienced as a whole, yes, if you want, go from track to track, but the... mysterious and amazing parts happen when you listen to it from start to finish.

And a few quick notes, I think this is the BEST Beatles album after their break up. (I'm excluding One and Past Masters for they don't have anything special about them). Also I recomend you get the one with the DVD. The DVD is pointless but the packaging is really nice.

Yeah I know the title is a little catchy...This is the first Beatles album I listened in it's entirety. And wow!!! Remixed & remastered sound. One word: magic!!!

George Martin and his son obviously enjoyed making this album. I enjoyed the melding of songs, and I enjoyed hearing different takes of Beatles tunes. It's not an album I would play every day, but it makes for an enjoyable hour of listening once in a while. However, I am a BIG fan of The Beatles. If you are not, then this probably won't be for you. If you are, you should hear this CD.

I had refused to even listen to this album since it came out until I finally broke down. Now I realize just how silly that was. From the acapella 'Because' comes the iconic cord of 'Hard Day's Night' only to start into 'Get Back' by way of Ringo's Drum Solo from 'The End' (and that's only the first few minutes). It really makes you realize just how dense and layered the music was when they can get all these sounds from just the original recordings and demos. Highlights include 'Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and in my mind the definitave version of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. The only fumble I saw was the backwards 'Sun King'; good intro to 'Something' and a nice comment on fans playing songs backwards, but not really successful. Everything else was great. But why listen to others opinions? Give it a listen and decide for yourself. I was definately not disappointed.

Very interesting Bealtes CD. It is definitely worth listening to if you are a die-hard fan of the band. All of the music is remastered and sounds better than ever (The vocals/harmonies seem more clear, instruments have more low-end and are easier to pick apart). Rolling a fatty and sparkin' one up is the key element to enjoy this album to it's fullest. BEATLES FOREVER!