The Beatles' "Love"

Some of it was played on BBC Radio 2 either Tues or Wed and there was a big article in the Daily Telegraph talking to George Martin. It is a "remix" of Beatles tracks for the Las Vegas Circle Du Soleil show (see here). The key word here is "remix" George Martin and his son (?) have gone back to the master tapes and remastered them onto computer. This has allowed them to add and take away stuff. The PR says the following:

We are releasing the LOVE album in stereo and 5.1, November 20th. This will be the first Beatles album available in 5.1.

The stereo CD will contain 78 minutes of music. The DVD surround sound version on DVD disc album will be a slightly extended version with 81 minutes of music.

After being asked by the remaining Beatles, Ringo and Paul, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, to make experimental mixes from their master tapes for a collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, Sir George Martin, The Beatles legendary producer, and his son Giles Martin have been working with the entire archive of Beatles recordings to create LOVE. The result is an unprecedented approach to the music. Using the master tapes at Abbey Road Studios, Sir George and Giles have created a unique soundscape. The release of this album, which is also featured in the Cirque du Soleil/Beatles collaborative production of the same name at The Mirage in Las Vegas, has been much anticipated.

“This album puts the Beatles back together again, because suddenly there’s John and George with me and Ringo,” said Paul McCartney. “It’s kind of magical.”

“George and Giles did such a great job combining these tracks. It’s really powerful for me and I even heard things I’d forgotten we’d recorded.” commented Ringo Starr.

“The album has the feeling of love and that’s why the title is Beatles LOVE,“ added Yoko Ono Lennon, "They have let everything that is beautiful and daring come out.”

“The music is stunning. I think the most amazing thing about it is that you can pull it apart and all the elements carry with it the essence of the entire song,” said Olivia Harrison.

Tony Wadsworth, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music UK and Ireland said, “George and Giles’ highly original work in creating the LOVE album gives us a genuinely new Beatles album. It makes us respect even more, if that were possible, the creativity and brilliance of the band behind the greatest catalogue in the history of recorded music.”

The 5.1 disc is a DVD-Audio/DVD-Video hybrid. The audio is presented in high-resolution 96/24 5.1 surround on the DVD-Audio part of the disc. The DVD-Video part carries 5.1 surround in DTS and Dolby Digital as well as a PCM stereo mix. This DVD album is designed to be played on DVD video equipment but will carry no video component.

The LOVE CD and DVD track listing is:
1. Because
2. Get Back
3. Glass Onion
4. Eleanor Rigby
Julia (Transition)
5. I Am The Walrus
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You’re Doing
8. Gnik Nus
9. Something
Blue Jay Way (Transition)
10. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She’s So Heavy)/Helter Skelter
11. Help!
12. Blackbird/Yesterday
13. Strawberry Fields Forever
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
15. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
16. Octopus’s Garden
17. Lady Madonna
18. Here Comes The Sun
The Inner Light (Transition)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence
Cry Baby Cry (Transition)
20. Revolution
21. Back In The U.S.S.R.
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. A Day In The Life
24. Hey Jude
25. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
26. All You Need Is Love They have also in (I think) one case used a demo rather than the actual released track.

Is it any good? Well I guess that depends on your take on the Beatles! "Interesting" might be a good starting point.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
Its not out here in the uk till the 20th of november.Just looked at track list its go some good tracks on it but it is just another compilation.regards munch

Munch, no it's not just a compilation. They've mixed and matched words and music to create something new.

Graham

munch, no problem. I suppose we shall all just have to wait a bit longer to hear what it sounds like. It impressed the Mojo reviewer, who gave it a (rarely given) five-star review.

Graham

I'm aurally salivating (not a pretty sight) to hear this. I heard an interview with George Martin over the summer, including some excerpts, and it sounds fascinating.

I love this kind of thing when done well, such as The Beautiful People's reworking of Hendrix on their album If 60s Were 90s.

Fred

Well it should be worth a listen. George Martin is an underrated member of the Beatles team, is still alive, has lost none of his skill and has his heart in the right place - all of which bode well.

Cheers

Mike

This is the most exciting music news I have heard in a long time. I cant wait.

Fantastic. Any plans to release on vinyl?

quote:

Originally posted by Michael_B.:
Well it should be worth a listen. George Martin is an underrated member of the Beatles team, is still alive, has lost none of his skill and has his heart in the right place - all of which bode well.

Cheers

Mike

He has, though, sadly, lost his hearing, which may explain why his son is involved.

Just heard 'I Am The walrus on Bob Harris. Didn't sound any different to me. Another yank at the tits of the Beatles buying punters?
I will, however, order my copy from Amazon sooner or later.

I am a big fan of Beatles albums but I think I will wait and hear what this new collection is about before automatically buying it. It has songs that I already have for one thing, and those same songs may be different in a way that I might not like.

Scott

I have just ordered the dvd version for £11.99, cannot wait for it to come!

Chaps

A friend of mine has heard it and evidently it is beatle stuff brought a bit up to date but still preserving the integrity of the original music.

He reckons it is bloody good.

Regards

Mick

Hear it all (yes, all of it) Here

Free, gratis and for nothing. What a treat!

June 1st 2007 will be 'twenty years ago today' since the CD issue of Sgt Pepper (which was 'twenty years ago today' after the LP release). I think we can finally expect the remastered albums to start appearing then....
Meantime apparently we can hear this remix in new glorious technicolour. I like what I've heard so far (esp the strings on While My Guitar).

quote:

Originally posted by rupert bear:
June 1st 2007 will be 'twenty years ago today' since the CD issue of Sgt Pepper (which was 'twenty years ago today' after the LP release). I think we can finally expect the remastered albums to start appearing then....
Meantime apparently we can hear this remix in new glorious technicolour. I like what I've heard so far (esp the strings on While My Guitar).

Lets hope so my fave track on sergeant peppers is a day in the life, what a sonic picture so to say

Graham, thank you for a most interesting thread.

Cheers

Larry

I got it today and, while not everything works for me (I don't think that the mashed up Strawberry Fields Forever is a patch on the original), it's a pretty good offering.

But what is absolutely clear is that, having gone to all this work, EMI must surely be in a position to rerelease the remastered original albums (ideally with the singles intelligently placed on the LP sides).

Graham

Documentary on it just now, 9pm till 10pm on BBC Radio 6. I'm listening on the website

Listened to the album late last night. Inspiring to hear the alternative version of While My guitar weeps. Seems to be good sound quality (I have crappy pc speakers).

quote:

Originally posted by Tarquin Maynard-Portly:
Three comments.

1. Sainsburys' have it for £8.97

2. It differs *radically* from the tracks you know - note the use of the word "remix"

3. If you are in the slightest interested in The Beatles you HAVE TO BUY THS ALBUM - the sound quality is just astonishing.

Groovy, man.

Where is that postman? cant wait

Wow!

Just heard Love for the first time last night with some friends ... all musicians, all having come of age back in the day, all well versed in The Beatles' catalogue. Simply put, the new album blew our minds, and blew them well. The juxtapositions are nothing short of sheer musical inspiration, endless delight.

As others have noted, this is no compilation ... this is no less than recomposition. There is so much going on, that even for musicians it will take more than a few listenings to sort out the multiple layers ... sometimes obvious, such as the melding of Within You Without You and Tomorrow Never Knows, and sometimes not so, such as the hidden snippet of the guitar riff from Ticket To Ride. It's like an aural candy store ... so many wonderful surprises to discover. Sheer brilliance, and as fresh and modern as ever.

I'm sure that some Beatleologists will be charting a diagram of all the songs and ingredients used in this delicious confection and posting it on the web any day now, if they haven't done so already.

My only disappointment is that I wanted more ... some of the songs were left intact ... I wanted them all thrown in the blender.

One of the most thrilling musical works I've ever heard.

Fred

So you are not quite sure about it then Fred?

Got my copy and really enjoying it, but it does whet the old appetite for some properly re-mastered copies of the albums.

The sound at times is astonishing.

Steve.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
So you are not quite sure about it then Fred?

Actually, I was holding back.

But really, I felt like I was 13 again and had just bought and heard a new Beatles album ... it's that visceral and exciting.

Fred

WOW, Amazing, Brillant..

By the time "I am the Walrus" (track 5) started I had the Nait 5i up around 2 oclock which is uncharted territory.

Here is an excerpt for the liner notes which I thought was pretty cool.

All the music was so well recorded by the EMI engineers that the attitude and the passion were frozen in time. Had the music not been so familiar, the tapes sounded like they’d been recorded yesterday. The guitar sound on “Revolution” for example rips your head off; even today it defines the word “distortion”. Tape after tape, I was expecting hiss and crackle and all I heard was the energy of a group of twenty year olds at the top of their game.

Giles Martin (George martin’s son)


I "LOVE" it,

Larry

I saw the Cirque Love show in Vegas last summer; it was a very emotional experience. The visuals were amazing, including actual Beatles on-screen, very imaginative stage/wire action as only Cirque du Soleil can do, and the 5.1 mix coming through a fabbo sound system which included speakers in the headrests of the seats, augmenting the main speakers in the ceiling and all around. At the risk of maudlinity, I was almost in tears several times; and in every "act" of the show there was some combination of action and soundtrack that took my breath away. I was prepared for disappointment, for a normal(?) sort of Las Vegas "entertainment"; but this show was very well done; something very special. (You'll notice that several of the tracks are labelled as "transitions", indicating points where the "in the round" stage was moved, or lowered/raised on lifts to ready the next bit.)

The stereo mix is good, but you must hear the 5.1 mix - it's revelatory.

Cheers,
Bruce