Love

The Beatles: Love

I'm not sure if you remember a movie from the early 1980s, starring Sean Connery, called The Name Of The Rose. Anyway, the original novel was written by a chap called Umberto Eco, an Italian academic. His "thing" is a study called semiotics, which translated simply, could, arguably, be described as:

The science of being able to see what's around us, past, present & future...and make connections.

Now, Semiotics was all the rage at universities in the late 70s & 80s...and its utilisation could easily help understand one particularly development of rap/dance music, which "borrowed" beats & grooves from earlier tracks off vinyl albums and "scratched" rhythms from them.

Later, with advances in computers, cheeky music producers were "lifting" whole sections from established songs (which led to a slew of law suits)...and making "new" music. A little later, big name artists got into the craze after all the accountants were happy e.g. Janet Jackson with Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi...and finally, in the participation of major artists of the 80s & 90s releasing their master tapes to "DJ's" and "mixers", to create new versions of their hit songs using different beats etc.

Semiotically-speaking these were newer eras cross-referencing with older eras, lifting out segments that were "memorable", playing with the beat...and then using the listeners' associative memories to construct new "temporary" entertainment. In most cases, that's fine...a little bit of RETRO fun. In the case of The Beatles, it's a big deal!

LOVE: Big media release + cool images

"...I can't even begin to tell any Beatles fan how amazing this album, and show, is. After a long 3 years of waiting to turn 21, my man took me to Las Vegas to celebrate. I had only seen one other Cirque du Soleil show before, but was convinced I would like it just because it was set to the wonderful music of The Beatles. Was I ever right!! This show is so moving, mostly in part to the strict care given to the show's ever-important soundtrack..." Amazon reviewer Marja E. Tensen "nobunka"

"...The show was WONDERFUL! The music is blended together to create a story that is ALL Beatles. I did not know prior to buying the album that it was mixed by George Martin and his son using many original tracks. They literally fit the music together into an inspirational mosaic of sound that will be treasured by any Beatles fan.

Fear Not!! "Love" is ALL Beatles!..." Amazon reviewer M. E. Redden. "BeatleManiac"

Commissioned by Apple & Cirque de Soleil, original Beatles producer, George Martin & record producer son, Giles worked 130 Beatle songs into 27 pieces, for a 78 minute audio collage.

Cirque de Soleil then took the soundtrack and built a visual extravaganza around it...as well as a state-of-the-art $100 million theater, The Mirage, in Las Vegas. The show opened in June 2006 and the soundtrack was released for Christmas 2006, so unless you can get to Vegas...this is the best you can do:

Tomorrow Never Knows / Within You And Without You

I'll be honest, I don't have the "education" to tell you whether this is is a "good" remix or not and I certainly don't know whether you want your memories tampered with. Will you enjoy:

the shredding, sometimes minor, sometimes major
the cross referencing...or even
that the next two or three generations of your family could only get some idea of the great music that was going on in the Sixties

...by breaking it apart? I don't know.

What I do know...is that few modern pop artists would have the sheer variety or inventiveness of work to have a similar retrospective done 35 years after they stopped recording, especially when their music had been recorded on such "primitive" equipment.

Anyway, some specifics:

Love opens with the the birdies from the beginning of the Anthology 2's Across The Universe
quickly segues into the acapella version of Abbey Road's Because from Anthology 3
then there's a sneaky little trick that builds the tension &
Kerrang...the opening chord from A Hard Days Night:

...and that's just the beginning. Then we're off on a rollercoaster of:

nostalgia
celebration of The Beatles' capacity for invention &
sonic playfulness

Of course, some listeners may have complaints, that's to be expected when tampering with the past...and others will complain that the remixing hasn't gone far enough. Bear in mind that Love is the soundtrack to a show with a narrative, apparently, about The Beatles as a phenomenon...and certain sequences may make more sense during the show.

Love soundtrack

"...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 ...the strangeness diminishes with every subsequent play, though, leaving only pleasure at every new twist. "...Amazon reviewer Laurence Upton

"...Not only is it a joy to hear the songs remastered and blended together in such creative ways, but also to hear some of them stripped down to a glorious pure form (like While My Guitar Gently Weeps or my favorite, Because) is almost heavenly. It flows evenly, swirling around our ears and painting pictures in our mind, taking us beyond our imaginations...just as the Boys would have hoped..." Amazon reviewer Reyesparson

"...Now, I'm not a die-hard Beatles fan. I knew several of their songs, but nothing ground breaking...but this album is amazing, it's made me go and listen to all their original stuff which is just as good. It's great for background music or blasting in your car on the way to work..." Amazon reviewer J. Ryan

"...It's obvious a lot of work went into this. The results are impressive. This is THE soundtrack of and for the '60s'. Just when I thought I couldn't bare to listen to another Beatles set, comes this, my favorite album of the last 40 years..." Amazon reviewer Exit Stage Left, "Abe"

Love soundtrack, enhanced

Normal CD + audio only DVD, to be played on a surround-sound home theater system.

"...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..." Amazon reviewer Martin A. Hogan

"...Amazon reviewer M. E. Redden. "BeatleManiac"

As a piece of audio, an album, I like it...I may even Love it.

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