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List Price: $73.98 | | Label: Toshiba EMI Japan
Salesrank: 220414
Released: December 4, 2006 |
| Our Price: $96.88 |
| Used Price: $44.69 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Editorial Review:
FIRST TIME EVER SPECIAL EDITION will include both the stereo CD and a BONUS AUDIO DVD packaged in a digi-package with O-card. The DVD is audio only and will contain 81 minutes of music in both 5.1 surround sound and stereo (presented in DVD-Audio MLP, DTS, Dolby and PCM).
"Love" is a fascinating reworking of numerous classic Beatles recordings by the band's original producer, Sir George Martin, and his son Giles. "Love" is also the title of the highly successful Cirque du Soleil show, a co-production with Apple Corps featuring the music of the Beatles, currently wowing audiences in Las Vegas. In creating the music for the show and for the album, George and Giles have created a continuous "soundscape"--a series of well-known Beatles songs augmented by additional instrumentation and vocals taken from their vast bank of original multi-track tapes. If you can imagine "Strawberry Fields Forever" beginning with John's original demo before going into an early take of the song and then climaxing in a musical collage including the piano solo from "In My Life" and the harpsichord pattern from "Piggies" and lots, lots more--or "Get Back" prefaced by the "Hard Day's Night" opening guitar chord, the guitar and drum solos from "The End," and segued into "Glass Onion," you will begin to get the picture. But hearing is believing! The guys have pushed back the boundaries and come up with a brand-new work that will add to the enduring legacy of the band. The result is an amazing album that not only reinforces the timeless quality of the group's recordings--the fans will have fun enjoying the roller-coaster experience of the album whilst trying to spot where all the pieces come from--it is also destined to open up a new legion of fans to the Beatles experience.
Description of LOVE:
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. Whereas the Beatles' last release, 1, delivered the (over?) familiar hits in a nice, simple package, Love 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 "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You/Helter Skelter"), 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), Love is 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
More from the Fab Four
The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 | 
Revolver | 
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band |
Anthology 1 | 
Anthology 2 | 
Anthology 3 |
LOVE Reviews:
Love, love love, the Beatles Love album from the Cirque show 
2009-11-28 - I saw this Beatles Love Cirque show at the Mirage Theater and absolutely loved it. I recently received this album as well as the documentary as gifts and I love both as a remembrance of the show and as a celebration of the Beatles music as well. From reading some of the reviews I think some folks are not getting that this is a soundtrack to a live show, not just a new compilation of previous work. While it's not necessary to have seen the Love show to appreciate this album, it does help place it context.
If you have the opportunity to see or rent the accompanying documentary, All Together Now: A Documentary Film you can see the time, work, and care that went into creating the Cirque Beatles show, it was a long arduous process! Ringo and Paul were very involved, as were the families of George and John along with the brilliant George Martin--just imagine trying the make all of them happy. Aside from the Beatles themselves, few knew or understood their music as well as George Martin and his input, along with that of his son Giles, on this soundtrack was invaluable. Just as he guided most of the Beatles albums, his sure hand shows here as well.
In the end, it's not like any of them need the money, they knew this was a way to introduce their music to folks who might think the Beatles was just that group their parents listened to, people who don't understand that there were once actually music groups that composed their own music, wrote their own lyrics, did their own arrangements, played their own instruments, recorded on only 4 tracks instead of 75, and played live concerts without lip-syncing. Yes, Virginia, such a creature once existed.
Be aware, the DVD on this package is NOT the video documentary-that's sold separately. The DVD here is 5.1 audio disc for enhanced music systems. I play it on my Home Theater sound system at home and it sounds fantastic, truly amazing you can hear all nuanaces you just can't hear on your car stereo. However, if you don't want or need this, just buy the cheaper single CD that is also sold on Amazon that's playable on any CD player. Love
But back to the soundtrack, in the end, I found this to be celebration of Beatles's music, just as the show is. Yes, I have all my Beatles albums and this soundtrack certainly doesn't take the place of those, but it does augment them. Hearing the music in different context than the original albums, enhances, it doesn't detract. The sound is impeccable, and the song choices from all points of the Beatles albums and anthology are interesting. For example, the vocal from My Guitar Gently Weeps" is from a demo recording of Harrisons (found on the anthology) that had a more emotional tenor to it than the cut that finally ended up on the album. Martin conducted the music to lay behind the original vocal and the end result is stunning and emotional. The way the many songs and snippets of music are interwoven is beautiful.
Amazon Never got it to me
2009-11-19 - Definitely can't wait to get this, but the problem isn't the product, its the fact that Amazon shipped it to the wrong address, it was returned, but they never credited my account nor shipped it again despite customer service calls to fix this, so I find it a bit ironic now that their automated process is asking me for a review for a product they have not yet delivered (1 month later). :(
The DVD is a waste 
2009-09-22 - I was very excited to get the CD after seeing the show. I wasn't really paying attention, probably should have known that the DVD didn't offer anything extra, but figured since I was going to buy the CD, I better go all-out and get the DVD as well. Anyway, it was a huge waste to pay the extra for the DVD. Don't know why they would even package it with the CD. Does anyone out there have a time when they would only want the DVD and not the CD? Or would somebody be in a situation where the DVD worked better? There's no video whatsoever (at least not that I could find) on the DVD, and I was very disappointed.
Great CD, great music, but skip the DVD.
An aural surround experience 
2009-08-20 - YIKES. Listening to Love in 5.1 is quite an audio experience unlike anything else. I'm not a "hardcore" Beatles-fan, but this (along with other projects) has really sparked an interest, and I'm beginning to see what was there back when our parents first enjoyed the band. The whole experience is a seamless "best of"-journey with razor sharp sound and some really clever editing. I'm glad they stuck mostly to the "old" Beatles, as the earlier "boy band"-stuff wouldn't sound as good nor fit along as captivatingly as this. My overall favourite moment is when the rather mundane "..Mr. Kite!" segues into an incredibly strong and rocking medley of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Helter Skelter", the screams echoing across the channels, the riffs roaring. But there are other highlights here as well, songs like "Hey Jude", "Because", and a clever combination of "Blackbird" and "Yesterday" sound pretty stunning. If you're ever to drop a tear, it's here.
Don't get me wrong - the album itself sounds great (and sharper than any old mono LPs), but if you have the chance (and a good surround-system), pop the DVD Audio into your DVD player, select DTS, and experience The Beatles like never before. It's only a shame that the lyrics aren't presented on-screen (seems like a no-brainer), and that more artists of all sorts haven't come to embrace the much underrated DVD Audio format!
Know what you are buying.
2009-08-17 - Some people might not like the songs being mixed together. The songs fade from one to another because it is the exact same music from a stage show. They wouldn't have time to play each song from start to finish, nor would it go with the visual effects. After seeing the show you will not be able to stop listening to this music, at least until the show comes out on DVD. So for what it is, a soundtrack, it is great.
