Product Description

'LOVE' sees The Beatles back catalogue being reworked by the original fifth Beatle Sir George Martin and his son Giles.Given free rein by surviving Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, the album is a completely new take on original Beatles material and also forms part of the soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil/Beatles production of the same name. It is also presented in 5.1 surround sound, a first for any Beatlesrecording.

Track Listing

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)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1284 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Number of discs: 1

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

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Customer Reviews

I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group, and I hope we passed the audition
I try to avoid reviewing well-known albums, thinking that people prefer reviews of what they are less likely to know. However, the source material of this album is so much part of the past (for me and millions of others) that I can't resist.

Even ignoring the associated stage show, the album concept is audacious. With only two of the Fab Four left, their eminence grise produces a 21st century mash-up using two-thirds of their 200+ "official" tracks. Sacrilege, many of us might have thought (including me). We were wrong. The two main merits of the album are the superb remastering, with many tracks sounding much stronger than originally, and the often imaginative combination of tracks. No-one is better qualified to produce this than George Martin (with a little help from his son).

Here are a few stand-out moments:
-The end of Mr Kite is combined with the fade-out of I Want You (She's So Heavy). Henry the Horse changes from a pantomime character to someone far more sinister.
-Within You Without You is underpinned by the instrumental backing of Tomorrow Never Knows. This is an amazing comment on two tracks by Harrison and Lennon - only a few months apart, both Eastern-influenced, but very different form each other.
-The fadeout of I Am The Walrus, sampling several other tunes before you hear Ed Sullivan Show introducing the group playing I Want To Hold Your Hand. Although this transition is electrifying, the "live performance" is openly fictitious - it is actually a remastered, abbreviated version of the studio recording. (There are several other tracks where the main alteration is just re-mastering, providing a much fuller sound than the original.)

Sadly, I can't give it five stars. This is not an original work, and there's less and less original work these days (pop will eat itself). Four stars for a bold concept, and probably the best Beatles album since they broke up.

So if Sir George can improve the sound quality from the old master tapes when producing a mash-up like this, will anyone (Sir George? His son? Geoff Emerick?) do a similar job on re-mastering the original recordings without mash-ups? Pretty please? EMI have never been backward about re-packaging the Beatles, and this would give the exercise a whole new slant ...

New take on a classic band
The idea of bastardising one of the all time great musical catalogues to suit the needs of a Vegas show may seem highly ill-advised, especially with The Beatles being so close to the hearts of so many; and so it proved with the countless claims of this album being nothing but blasmephy against the musical gods.

But forgetting the unarguably great tracks from which the CD was created, ignoring the quite contemptable reason for its birth and simply judging this by the noise that flows from your speakers a great big smile will soon spread across your face due to the pur,e heart-warmingly cheery music that will greet you.

The basic structure of the CD being a multitude of Beatles standards cut, chopped and stuck together making a sound which is simply just fantastic feel good music.

From start to finish this flows like a symphony with each track seamlessly
flowing to the next with each song being a genuine classic. Those who are already fans will grin to themselves when spotting a hook here or a drum beat there while smugly mocking those who don't. Like the best sounding mystery ever; you could sit and work out where all the sounds come from with the genuine feeling of pleasure few other bands can give.

But that is not to say those who are new to The Beatles can't enjoy this album too. In fact this is probably the best way for virgins of Fab Four to get into the great library of the band as it is probably more approachable than any best of while not only having the classics but also the odd obscure bit of tune that helps to show that The Beatles were true innovators with songs, tunes and beats that sound contemporary 40 odd years on.

I would highly recommend this to fans and those who are looking for a way into The Beatles. Some people may not like the way that these timeless songs have been changed, but then some people simply don't like change. This is not better than the original songs, but it is still great fun to listen too and definetly worth a punt. Come on, whats the worst that can happen?

Great, but even better after the show
Being a huge Beatles fan bought this on release back in late 2006, listened to it a couple of times and thought yeah not bad, really liked the stripped down `While My guitar gently weeps' and `Strawberry Fields'. Then pretty much forgot about it, preferring the original albums when I was in a Beatles mood.

Fast forward a year and a bit and Ive just returned from a trip to Vegas where I saw the show, so thought I give another go. Now Im really impressed, boy does it come alive and really makes sense. Stand out tracks are still as first listen but with the extra tingle of the memory of a breath taking show. That said, standalone its a great piece of work and a credit to the Martin(s) outstanding production values.