Meister says: there is a Beatles fan in all of us...I hope.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Because (Love Version)
2. Get Back (Love Version)
3. Glass Onion (Love Version)
4. Eleanor Rigby/Julia (Love Version)
5. I Am The Walrus (Love Version)
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand (Love Version)
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing (Love Version)
8. Gnik Nus (Love Version)
9. Something/Blue Jay Way (Love Version)
10. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter (Love Version)
11. Help! (Love Version)
12. Blackbird/Yesterday (Love Version)
13. Strawberry Fields Forever (Love Version)
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows (Love Version)
15. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Love Version)
16. Octopus's Garden (Love Version)
17. Lady Madonna (Love Version)
18. Here Comes The Sun/The Inner Light (Love Version)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Love Version)
20. Revolution (Love Version)
21. Back In The USSR (Love Version)
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Love Version)
23. A Day In The Life (Love Version)
24. Hey Jude (Love Version)
25. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Love Version)
26. All You Need Is Love (Love Version)

Disc 2:

1. Because (Love Version)
2. Get Back (Love Version)
3. Glass Onion (Love Version)
4. Eleanor Rigby/Julia (Love Version)
5. I Am The Walrus (Love Version)
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand (Love Version)
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing (Love Version)
8. Gnik Nus (Love Version)
9. Something/Blue Jay Way (Love Version)
10. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter (Love Version)
11. Help! (Love Version)
12. Blackbird/Yesterday (Love Version)
13. Strawberry Fields Forever (Love Version)
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows (Love Version)
15. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Love Version)
16. Octopus's Garden (Love Version)
17. Lady Madonna (Love Version)
18. Here Comes The Sun/The Inner Light (Love Version)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Love Version)
20. Revolution (Love Version)
21. Back In The USSR (Love Version)
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Love Version)
23. A Day In The Life (Love Version)
24. Hey Jude (Love Version)
25. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Love Version)
26. All You Need Is Love (Love Version)

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9756 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
It begins with a twittering of birdsong lifted from "Across The Universe". And once the triple-tracked a capella harmonies of "Because" enter, followed by snatches from "A Hard Day's Night" and "The End", leading into a fired-up "Get Back", it becomes obvious that this is far more than just another Beatles compilation.

This is "Love", conceived by the Fabs' former producer George Martin and son Giles as a stageshow soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil's Las Vegas spectacular of the same name, but appears to have taken on a life of its own. Where The Beatles' last release 1 delivered the (over?) familiar hits in a nice simple package, this is a mélange of the familiar and obscure, all literally mixed together in one 78-minute audio collage which succeeds in reminding the listener just why The Beatles truly are, as Lennon put it "toppermost of the poppermost". There's no new Beatles material per se, but the songs are all approached differently--some are cut together in a flawlessly mixed medley (check out the "Mr Kite/I Want You/Helter Skelter" moment), some reassemble different backing tracks and vocal performances to create new spins on old classics, but all the songs are revitalized considerably. Even in its weakest moments (which probably work better in the context of the show itself), it's still a formidable prospect, and one has to admire Martin's willingness to go out on a limb with such a project.

While purists may complain that the cut'n'paste nature of the project is simply tampering with perfection, at the very least it'll make them reach for the originals and enjoy them all over again. For newcomers and everyone else, it makes a fine listen, both in its sonic clarity (the actual tracks are the best they've sounded on CD) and audacious nature.--Thom Allott

---

Customer Reviews

At Last! The Beatles on DVD Audio!! Absolutely Stunning!!!
I have to admit to not having read the excellent and accurate Amazon review before ordering this album. It's probably good that I didn't, because I might just have been put off the idea of a "medley" type album of The Beatles music. The whole idea wouldn't have seemed quite right to me. Anyway, on the strength of some online reviews, I ordered my copy in December 2007. I'm so glad that I bought this album, as the DVD-A part really does shine. The clarity and complexity of these old recordings on this modern digital format are a joy. I have a DVD Audio capable machine, and therefore have only played that disc in the high resolution MLP format. I used to think that pop music wasn't really suited (wasted even) on DVD-A - how wrong I was! As the Amazon reveiw mentions, there's something old here, and something new.

There seems hardly any point in criticising this release. About the only slightly (almost not worth it) things I would say are, "Why wasn't it released as a hybrid SACD & DVD-A album in a lovely Super Jewel Box, instead of the cardboard box "digipack" that it comes in?"

More releases like this are needed for the people out there that appreciate top quality audio. Music that is to be listened to, rather than just heard.

Thumb's Up
Just as I have no quarrel with a Mona Lisa sporting a moustache (provided the original still hangs in the Louvre), I am quite happy to hear Beatles music in a new and stimulating context. At first, it is odd hearing these recordings, imprinted on my mind over decades of listening, sounding the same only different, but the Anthology series and Live At The BBC set have already reminded us that the Beatles actually have a repertoire of songs in some recorded performances, and that they shouldn't be frozen in aspic. The strangeness diminishes with every subsequent play, though, leaving only pleasure at every new twist.

I loved hearing these songs mashed up in such glorious sound quality and like everyone else, can't wait to hear the entire back catalogue restored and remixed in DVD-A. If anything, George and Giles Martin have been too reverential in their approach, limiting most of their radical ideas to the intros and outros. Here Comes The Sun, for example, begins with a fabulous and appropriate Indian intro, and ends with an equally inspired transitional section from The Inner Light, but lapses in between into the familiar, gorgeous arrangement we know of old.

More successful for me was the merging of Drive My Car, The Word and What You're Doing, a mash-up which continued throughout the whole new piece. I also particularly liked the composite of Strawberry Fields Forever which begins with the earliest demo and includes a history of the different stages of the song's development, culminating in the indulgent kitchen-sink production at the end. More of that, please.

The transitional piece labeled Cry Baby Cry was an eye-opener to me as the piece turns out to be the "Can you take me back..." section which I had always thought to be the introduction to Revolution No. 9 when I heard it on the White Album. I think a minor trick may have been missed on Revolution, which follows, as the standard B-side version has been remixed rather than the video mix they subsequently made for Top Of The Pops which had added "shoobie doobies" and hasn't seen commercial release. Revolution and Back In The USSR have both been edited for reasons of space on the CD, but can be heard in full on the longer DVD-A. Although a DVD-A player is needed for full resolution, a good standard DVD player will still outperform a CD player for resolution and dynamic range when played through a sound system and so this digipack edition is recommended over the standard CD release.

All You Need Is Love closes the selection in its new remix and is the most pampered of Beatles tracks as it has already benefited from sound upgrades on both the Yellow Submarine Songtrack and on One.

For The Love Of The Beatles!
If someone were to tell you that a new Beatles album was out and it was made partially for Cirque Du Soleil, you'd probably remember the 1978 Peter Frampton/Bee Gees travesty and scream in horror! No worries here. George Martin himself (and son) have taken over 30 Beatles songs (and an uncountable amount of true Beatles special effects) and made a masterpiece. From the quiet, bird-chirping beginning of "Because" to the anthemic "All You Need Is Love", one is treated to a musical masterpiece. No song is presented in its entirety nor is any song given short shrift. Using original Beatles soundtracks and effects, each song is seamlessly sequenced into the next giving an almost psychedelic experience. In fact, some of the special sound effects will make you feel as if you'd taken more than an aspirin. The experience truly is one that anyone, even the most fanatical of Beatles fans, will appreciate. That's just the regular CD! If you play the DTS 5.1 DVD on a good system, your mind will be blown! This is one of those musical experiences that you just cannot believe was made so well, so exquisitely, so amazingly. It is the Beatles.