Disco de The Beatles: “LOVE [Bonus DVD]”

For anyone who's a serious die-hard Beatles fan who thought they heard 'every little thing' the group ever did (the hours of 'Get Back' bootlegs, the mono 'White Album', all the 'rarities', Anthologies, and all the original LPs then CDs) will be amazed and impressed at what Sir George Martin & son did for 'Love' -- it must be heard, especially in 5.1 surround sound, to be believed. The original idea that George Harrison and Guy Laliberte (founder of Cirque du Soleil) to make a soundscape of Beatles music for a CDS show has been wonderfully realized. Songs we all heard for decades and hundreds of times over sound new again -- more so, the 'mash-up' concept literally re-invents the songs -- hearing 'Mr Kite!/She's So Heavy/Helter Skelter' yesterday for the first time was astounding -- the riff of 'Hey Bulldog' that makes a brief appearance in 'Lady Madonna', the string arrangment put to the demo of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', the newly remastered and remixed 'I am the Walrus' (finally!) -- it's a new day for Beatles fans. Some might view the Beatles' catalog as a sacred cow that should remain fixed and 'as was, as always should be' as they recorded it, and not be 'mashed-up' (all the superimposing of parts of one track onto another, time-shifting and altering the recordings to match tempos and keys). Understandable, since how indeed can really improve upon what they did way back when? But I very much enjoy 'Love' -- and appreciate that in with today's modern recording (Pro Tools was among the credits), Martin & son were able to present the timeless and beloved Beatles tracks in a new light, while making it clear how incredibly gifted the Beatles were -- you can hear all the instruments, vocals, sound effects better than ever before. While 'Love' might not be the best choice for a casual fan (one who has the red and blue best-ofs and/or '1'), it is an aural bonanza for a serious fan, in particular of the 'Revolver' era onwards with a focus on the psychelic years. To paraphrase the dearly departed George Harrison, I dig 'Love'!!

This album is a true masterwork. Produced over many months by veteran producer George Martin and his son Giles, this album - especially in the 5.1 DVD-Audio format - reveals both the sheer quality of recording and performance of the original multitrack recordings, and the enormous possibilities of the modern digital recording studio in the hands of true masters of the craft.

Many of the original multitrack masters had a multitude of instruments crammed on to just a few tracks: disentangling them to permit the remixes present on this disc must have taken weeks on its own. Yet here you will find elements from the original songs presented more clearly than ever before, alongside elements lifted from other songs and spun in forwards, backwards and sideways. You'll hear things clearly you could never quite hear before, and some things you simply never knew existed.

Tracks from the early days feature quite traditional mixes while later, more psychedelic offerings are brim full of interesting little features that repay multiple listening, especially in surround. The audio quality is, quite simply, stunning: the DVD-Audio surround content is at 24-bit, 96kHz, which means, essentially, that you're hearing the masters as they were heard by the Martins at Abbey Road when they played them back - no other audio system can offer this. Even the CD is excellent, with none of the over-compression so prevalent on modern recordings.

There is only one new piece of recording here - a poignant new string arrangement for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" recorded at Air - every other sound you hear is from the original mulitracks. The 26-track album is a more or less continuous segue of songs, some including transitions that contain elements from several different numbers, with a natural flow, development and conclusion.

Yes, it's the soundtrack to a show; yes, you have literally heard it all (almost) before; but in another way no, you have never heard this before - and you should take a listen. Congratulations to everyone concerned.

Be sure to buy the DVD version if you have a halfway-decent surround system (especially a DVD-Audio player, though any DVD player will play this disc in surround or stereo), though the CD sounds fine - and leave your preconceptions at the door.

In the Music Industry, few releases generate the controversy among fans as the release of a new Beatles album. There are those who welcome it and those who, for some justifiable reason, reject it. This is my take: The Beatles have an extensive catalogue of great songs (perhaps the greatest catalogue in Music History...) anyway, we all know that half of them are dead and we will never hear a new recording from them ever again. They are gone. Deffinately gone.

And yet, we fans never get tired of them. We always listem to their songs as if they were here. For us, they are not a band with half their members dead. They are very real and living. And deep inside I believe we never really think we'll never hear from them again.

LOVE is an album where several of the Fab Four's greatest songs were remixed, remade and adapted for a great show put on stage by Le Cirque du Soleil. Wisely, this soundtrack was made by George Martin himself... with Paul, George, Ringo and Yoko's blessing. I am sure that, like in everything regarding The Beatles' releases, all the people involved with this are hard working and serious people commited to give us nothing but the best treatment of the greatest material ever composed in pop music.

So, for me, this is a great thing and we'll never have anything better than this. People (like myself) may prefer the original songs... it's ok. But we must also understand that this new album is not meant to replace the older, original recordings. They are a just the soundtrack for a stage show... made by the best people we could think of... and made with the blessing of those could bless it. I was lucky evough to get a copy of this today... and after listening to it back to back... I was very very pleased to hear the great work they made.

All the songs sound beautiful with lots of new insights and several propositions that must work very well on the stage. This album gives a new view at these classic songs. For example... joining ELEANOR RIGBY (my favorite Beatles song) with a transitional use of JULIA is a very interesting proposition that the Beatles never thought of doing, obviously. Or the putting together of BLACKBIRD and YESTERDAY is another example of the experimentations made here.

The treatment of WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS is, I am sure, the thing that would end up happening with the song if the Beatles (in the end) did not go for the well know "heavier" approach we listen to on The White Album... and I'm glad George Martin did it here... because, since the Anthology, I'm sure we all thought of that.

This album is the closest thing we'll ever get to a new Beatles album... and it will certainly bring new fans into our club. I am very happy with it... and I am thankful that more than 35 years after these recordings were all made, people are still fiding in them new sources of inspiration. This album should NOT be mistaken for those hundreds of lousy cover/homage albums made by third rate people (The Beatles Salsa... or the Beatles go Reagge... etc)... or those bootleg albums whose sound quality leaves a lot to be desired.

Like the great Anthology series, the Capitol box sets, the "one" album, and the "Naked" album, Love is an obvious labour of passion, care, taste and love. It is a great celebration of the music we all love... from four musicians who are eternal.

It's a big yawner. Anybody with a reasonably respectable Beatles MP3 collection and a $40 computer program (Goldwave) could have created this album. There is frankly nothing new or imaginative. Not only that, the remixes detract from the originals. This music would likely work well in the context of the show, but fails to stand on its own as an album. All the hype is nothing more than yet another McCartney/Ono Christmas money grab.

i had high hopes for this one. not unrealistic high hopes, but i am VERY DISSAPPOINTED!

I really expected some stellar stuff, songs reinterrpreted and fresh.

George Martin is a genious, but he bombed on this one.

There are apx 20+ songs on here. They are fantastic songs, but they sound completley unchanged. I feel like I just rebought a greatest hits album I already own! The Beatles songs are gourgeous on their own, but the thing that upsets me, is this album was completely FALSELY ADVERTISED.[...]

I originally bought this album after listening to the 4 tracks on the beatles myspace[...]

Those songs were so gourgeously redone and are truly novel gems.

Bad news, is the rest are so minimally altered, you cant even tell the difference.

If you are a purist this is fine, it is like being tricked into rebuying another greatest hits album.[...]