Originally written on December 05, 2006
Sir George Martin, working in conjunction with the Cirque de Soleil has recently released Love, a sort of remix Beatles cover album for the famed theatrical group. It has the full support of the surviving Beatles and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison.
It’s a bit like any cover album in that it is full of both the old and new and comes out as both brilliant and redundant. The old and the redundant come out of it being the Beatles songs with the Beatle’s voices and mainly the Beatle’s own playing. The new and brilliant are all in the arrangement and mix.
It’s all the same songs except that some of them have been slowed down a bit, and Sir George has taken various snippets and moments and slipped them into other songs brilliantly. He’s also added a little bit of his own orchestration to smooth it all out.
It is completely enjoyable to listen to, and quite a treat to hear how it all pieces together. But after a couple of listens, it all seems a little unnecessary. I keep saying to myself, ‘I have these songs already,’ and it seems rather pointless to have yet another grouping of them. To my ears, the novelty runs off pretty quickly and expect I’ll find myself reaching more for the originals more than I’ll ever be listening to this over and over.
themidnightcafe.org 
Question: I’ve read about 50 reviews of the Love CD and the same question keeps popping into my mind. How well, really well, did the reviewer know the music of the Beatles? The seemingly casual statement “added a little bit of his own orchestration to smooth it all out” (ouch, really, you just insulted Sir George, but you’re entitled to your opinion) is very far from the truth. Sir George “labored” to write a string arrangement for one sone, period. Everything else is 100% Beatles. But, I digress. After a couple of listens by those who really know Beatle music are in awe of the “work of art” that have been made by Sir George & Giles Martin. The mixing/blending of so many songs (took over two years to do it) – all given the sonic 5.1 treatment – is just a marvelous revalation to these old ears of mine. As someone who’s listen to Beatle music for 43 years (yep! alive & well in the UK in 62) hearing what they’ve acomplished with today’s technology brings goosebumps to this old body of mine. I urge anyone who wants to read a right-on quality review of the Love CD go to this link:
leftofcentrist.blogspot.com/2006/11/album-review-beatles-love.html. Sorry for the rant, but these guys are my Beethoven & Mozarts of modern music.
You’re very welcome to your opinion and comment on my blog any time.
I don’t think, or rather I didn’t intend to insult Sir George, but I’m pretty sure my opinion means zilch to the man. This is really a very quick and short review to throw out my opinion on the disk. You’ll notice I don’t say its bad, in fact I say its pretty darn good. But to me it isn’t really a necessary Beatles artifact.
Does this disk better the originals? I don’t think so. It’s an interesting remix, but I’m not sure I’ll ever choose it over the originals.
The quality of the transfer and the care and subtlety of the mixing is what makes this album special. The opening track, “Because” nearly brought me to tears when I first heard it as i’d never heard those gourgeous harmonies shine out so strongly and clearly. Breaking the lines of the song down and interspersing them with birdsong forces you to focus on the harmonies, not the song (as it were!).
Similarly with “While My Guitar gently weeps” , the clarity and beauty of the vocal and guitar track is brought forward and enhanced by the orchestral arrangement and just blows the original version away, showing what a beautiful song this was.
This was not an experiment by George Martin, it was a labour of Love.
“Love” is exactly that… a celebration of why we love the Beatles music. This album should only be the start for many people who are just finding out about the most famous pop band ever!
Your review seemed genuine and reasonably well-informed. That said, you totally missed a very important and striking difference between this CD and others previously released … THIS CD SOUNDS POSITIVELY AWESOME. A fair amount of technology came into play on this one as George Martin’s son took the reins of production and oversaw all the mastering using the latest available means of restoration. I’m not just talking about a rise in volume, although that’s present, but a richer, fatter, more resonant sound overall. There are a few songs that appear full length. And I defy you to compare those to ANY other versions currently available. Anyway, I emjoy your blog and wish you the very best …