Love | 
| Artist: The Beatles
Label: Capitol
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.24
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Seller: Innuendo_ent
Rating:  589 reviews
Sales Rank: 354
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 79808
UPC: 094637980828
EAN: 0094637980828
ASIN: B000JK8OYU
Release Date: November 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Because | | • | Get Back | | • | Glass Onion | | • | Eleanor Rigby/Julia (Transition) | | • | I Am The Walrus | | • | I Want To Hold Your Hand | | • | Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing | | • | Gnik Nus | | • | Something/Blue Jay Way (Transition) | | • | Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter | | • | Help! | | • | Blackbird/Yesterday | | • | Strawberry Fields Forever | | • | Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows | | • | Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds | | • | Octopus's Garden | | • | Lady Madonna | | • | Here Comes The Sun/The Inner Light (Transition) | | • | Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Transition) | | • | Revolution | | • | Back In The U.S.S.R. | | • | While My Guitar Gently Weeps | | • | A Day In The Life | | • | Hey Jude | | • | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) | | • | All You Need Is Love |
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Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 21-NOV-2006
From Amazon.co.uk
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 |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 589
 A GREAT RELEASE to that will please all generations of BEATLES FANS! November 21, 2006
Paulo Leite (Lisbon, Portugal)
206 out of 259 found this review helpful
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.
Re-master the albums already November 23, 2006
PAC MAN (NEW YORK)
24 out of 28 found this review helpful
Re-master the albums already. The sound is great, but this is a tease.
LOVE deep-cleans your ears. You hear fresh music. What glory! February 20, 2007
Jesse Kornbluth (New York)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
The bullet that exploded John F. Kennedy's head on November 22, 1963 went right on to shatter the hearts of a lot of idealistic kids, mine included. I was a senior in boarding school then, with great grades and a lovely girlfriend and an early guarantee of admission to Harvard. Nothing mattered. A darkness had descended with Kennedy's murder, and it felt as if it was going to be unending.
Then The Beatles arrived, and, miraculously, spirits lifted. By March of 1964, 60% of the music sold in America was created by these four Liverpool rockers --- and kids like me were studying their music as if we'd someday have to take an exam on it.
If you are a certain age, you know exactly where you were on significant dates: the first time you heard "Rubber Soul" or "Sgt. Pepper," the day they broke up, the night Valdemort killed John Lennon. If you are younger, you just have the music. It's not the same, but it'll do.
Whatever your age, it's not likely that that you think of The Beatles often or listen to their music with any frequency. Oh, they're great --- "the toppermost of the poppermost," as John used to say --- but they're also known. There's no discovery for us in their music, only nostalgia. And there's no emotion lower than nostalgia.
But a few years ago, George Harrison and Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, got to talking, and out of that came "Love," a visual extravaganza that blends Beatles music and Cirque theatrics. It's playing in Las Vegas now, and the word from friends who have gone is "must see."
The CD is half of this hybrid. Obviously, it's constructed for dramatic effect --- you know "Sgt. Pepper" and "All You Need Is Love" will be saved for the end. But set the visuals aside. Consider this CD strictly as a pastiche of 26 songs, remixed and remastered by legendary Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles. What you get is something completely unexpected.
For the Martins do more than remix. They re-imagine. Working with every track the Beatles recorded, they take a few notes from here, a background vocal from there, a snippet of instrumentation, a shard of melody. And when they put it together, they've made something stunning --- a new Beatles CD, The Beatles as you've never heard them before. It's like having your ears power-cleaned and then listening to music for the first time.
The CD starts with bird sounds, which lead into "Because" --- with no instruments, The Beatles singing like a cappella angels. Big spaces between the lines force you to pay close attention. And then rolling thunder sweeps across the horizon, bringing with it drums so sharp they sting and Paul McCartney's vicious guitar; we're into "Get Back."
If you know The Beatles --- I mean, really know them --- this CD is a puzzle that's hugely fun to crack. Reading the message boards, I see that many are up to the task:
The first two tracks incorporate the layered vocals from "Because," the nature sounds from "Across the Universe," the opening chord from "A Hard Day's Night," the drum solo from "The End," the final piano chord and ascending orchestral line from "A Day in the Life," and then the meat of "Get Back," which itself segues seamlessly into the middle of "Glass Onion," literally without missing a beat. "Glass Onion" itself contains a few short seconds of "Hello Goodbye" and "Strawberry Fields" and melts into an echo-laden treatment of the "ahhh" vocalization that opens the lyrics of "Eleanor Rigby."
And more: I've learned that the guitar solo at the end of "Drive My Car" comes from "Taxman." The harpsichord and trumpet at the end of "Strawberry Fields" was borrowed from "In My Life." And the bass at the end of "Lady Madonna" once lived in "Hey Bulldog."
The entire CD isn't tricks. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is buttressed only by the screams of cheering fans --- exactly as we experienced it at Shea Stadium in that chaotic summer concert. Other songs are simply cleaned up, so you hear every crunch of the strings and every subtle stroke from the underrated Ringo Starr. But even what's left alone is shortened and tightened, just so expertly you can't tell how.
The effect? First, you think, "What great musicians." And then you think about the nature of great art. The Martins could play games with these songs because they were simply better than anything out there; their brilliance invited fresh interpretation. Mediocrity, in contrast, is what it is. Good luck to the guy tasked with making something exciting out of songs that are --- no matter how popular --- straightforward and literal.
And then there's the listener. I sat clutching my iPod for dear life, as if on an acid trip. The metaphor's not just me being groaningly cool --- it's exact. Sounds and colors and ideas fly at you, whipsawing your emotions. If ever there were a soundtrack of your life, here it is, and, with eyes closed, you'll see it all --- your glory and your shame, your pride and your hope, and mostly, if you're of a certain age and you've held on to some of your dreams, the kid who still cares about those despised `60s values.
It's quite the ride. I emerged a jumble --- weeping and laughing, turned on and dead calm, forever young and older than God. And grateful for my life.
Can you listen to "Love" often? I don't know. I gulped the joy, but the searing part --- I'm not sure many will willingly go there. Still, if you only listen to "Love" once, what a movie you'll see for $9.99!
I write in another dark time, with no sure hope for better. And, for the second time in my life, I've been rescued --- however briefly --- by The Beatles.
Here comes the sun.
SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES! (BUT LISTEN TO IT IN DOLBY 5.1) November 23, 2006
G. Engler (The Frigid Northeast)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
This disc is amazing - as soon as Because opened up the soundscape with the insects, birds, an ambient sounds providing the background for the ephemeral, transcendent, harmonic voices of the four boys, the tears began to flow. These are the voices of our life story people. And this is the soundtrack of our lives.
Anyone who has seen the old sci fi film Soylent Green (an overly polluted, resource depleted world leads to chaos, totalitarianism, and the mysterious edible of the title that feeds the starving masses) remembers the final scene. The great actor Edgar G. Robinson, tied of it all, goes to a euthanasia center to be put to sleep while viewing a 350 degree movie panorama of images showing the world the way it used to be. Mountains. Vistas, Nature. All the while, while listening to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.
I thought of this while listening to LOVE, becuase I realized, when my time comes - and I hope thats not for a long time - this is the disc I would like to hear as I fade from this life. The complete songs, the snippets, the segues, the voices, the song tags (hey-la hay-a-la-lo-wa), the Sullivan intro, the mental image of The Beatles singing I want to Hold Your Hand (Paul cocking his head, eyebrows raised, John bouncing, grinning to the camera, Ringo joyously bobbing his head, huge grin, George, well, giving that George look).
So many, many memories. Where I was when this records originally came out. The covers. Mimicing the Beatles. This disc is free association of a lifetime worth of memories.
Listening to these songs anew, for the umpteenth time, also makes one re-evaluate the players and their contributions. First, it simply must be acknowledged that George Martin was an integral part of making The Beatles who theywere. Martin brought out the full potential of this group. Each record had a unique sound, a uniquely identifiable property. And while Lennon may have felt that MArtin was better suited to McCartney's musical temperements and never truly captured the muscial soundscapes travelling through his head, Martin did a magnificent job.
For while McCartney's tunes remain timeless, it is Lennon's musical vision and voice that propels this set. Each song - Lucy In The Sky (introductory notes reimagined as dropping individual diamonds from the sky), A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields, I Am The Walrus, and of course All You Need Is Love - emerge not merely as classic pop songs, but as epochal musical statements that forever changed music.
It is perhaps Walrus that most benefits from this remastering. Virtually unchanged, though slightly shortened from the released version, this is the first truely, magnificent stereo mix of the song. The result - especially in 5.1 sound - is astonishing. Lennon's voice is front and center as the seperate strings/sound surround you from all four corners. I have heard this song in my "mind's ear" for decades in this fashion - truly hearing it pristine, clear, fresh, opened up - virtually live - is nothing short of revelatory.
The same can be said for While My Guitar Gently Weeps - yes, it's the Anthology version, but a stunningly delicate thing of beauty it is. With the addition of Martin's final Beatle score, I dare you to listen to it without mourning the loss of George Harrison and our youth. I dare you not to shed a tear.
I could go on and on. It is possible to criticize some elements of the production. It is not really a mash - too many of the songs are virtually unchanged - but let's remember that this disc is the soundtrack to a live production. Presumably, those who spends the hundres of dollars to view Cirque de Soleil's show wouldn't be content hearing 90 minutes of non-continuity cut and paste.
LOVE is an extraordinary achievement. A rare blending of artistic integrity and shrewd business acument, it succeeds beyond all expectation. Lennon probably would have hated, but then again he never liked side 2 of Abbey Road either. Then again, he only listened to it when there was such a thing as Side 2. Thankfully, Lennon gets the last word on the disc too. When Johnny Rhythm says goodbye at the end its more than the end of the disc. It's the end to our life's soundtrack.
The Beatles' Kaleidoscopic Masterpiece November 26, 2006
EveningOcean CD The Attraction (NYC USA)
20 out of 24 found this review helpful
For a band where all 4 members played their last collective note decades ago, the Beatles' "Love" is a pure masterpiece. It belongs right up there with Sgt. Pepper as a work of exploratory genius. While no track is held as sacred in the mix, every note is a diamond. Love is a beautiful hallucination that you will remember and cherish.
The Beatles were known for experimenting with sound. Some of the modern day effects processors such as the "flanger" used today were invented specifically for a Beatles record. Whether it was a string section or a sitar player flown in from halfway around the world, the Beatles had every thing they asked for to make great music. It was George Martin who brought it all together and made it work.
Years after their break up, their recorded work began to be weighed down with nostalgia, marketers stripping their legacy for spare parts, gutting their vital work for greatest hits CD's and sneaker commercials.
George Martin was reduced to spend his remaining years rehashing the same stories over and over for countless books and dvds like a forgotten museum curator or a bored librarian.
Love changes all of that.
George and Giles Martin break into the Beatles museum, perform a musical séance and resurrect a rock band to change the music world one last time. They open the cage doors wide and let the songs run wild, thawing every note that's been frozen in our minds. The Martins turn our old Beatles upside down and set them (and us) free in the process.
Nothing is where it "should" be; shooting us through the rabbit hole before we have a chance to change our minds.
Welcome to the Beatles' Fun House.
Just when there's a lull, mischievous Beatles leap from behind corners to scream "Help". Relax too much, and John Lennon jumps out screaming to start Revolution. Unpredictable, reckless, dangerous- how's that for a Beatles record?
Martin keeps you off balance the way a great record should. You're not falling asleep to this record. One minute later, the floor will drop. There's no sentimental fluff here.
Don't skip tracks. Listen to it in one setting. Don't bother previewing snippets. It's a waste of time. Telling you what happens in all 26 songs is like spoiling the cliffhanger of a movie. Every song has a purpose to the CD. There is perfect pacing.
Have you heard rare Beatles tracks before? Memorized all the Mark Lewisohn studio diaries that tracked every recording they made? Then little new material will surprise you. But you will hear the Beatles in a way you never have.
To call it a "mash up" is to cheapen it. Mash ups usually include more than one band and from different genres.
It's not a remix. It's a reconstruction from the person who helped build it in the first place.
The sound quality is ridiculously good. Every note sounds new. This is a living and breathing CD. It's not a greatest hits; but you will be sorry when it's over.
We are meeting the Beatles in a new way. George Harrison sounds beautiful in a way I might not have known. John Lennon's voice is a revelation. Paul McCartney's bass is perfect. Ringo Starr's drums sound incredible.
Every sound you hear is a high point flashing by in seconds.
Some highlights:
John Lennon shares parts of Tomorrow Never Knows with George Harrison's Within You Without You.
The Martins mix the hard edge of I Want You with Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.
George Martin may have lost some of his hearing but that didn't stop him from writing a nice string section for George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Gnik Nus (sun king played backward) is a gorgeous acapella vocal that segues perfectly into Something. You can play the Beatles backward, forward or all at once and it will still be beautiful.
Stare at your watch and you'll miss it. In fact, you'll want to listen to it many times to capture all the treasures on this CD.
Some of the best parts of the CD are the drop dead gorgeous intros. But you have to hear the ending of the previous song to appreciate it. So if you skip tracks you'll never hear them. Hidden in the ending of Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows, the intro to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is slowed down to a dramatic ambient crawl, the kick drum echoes like a heartbeat before the song is sped up to normal like a music box and the Beatles come to life again.
Here Comes the Sun is rethought to begin with vocal harmonies at the beginning over a raga beat, and as the guitar begins playing the melody we remember, a sitar plays on the right channel to heartbreakingly beautiful effect.
When you hear the drums stop in the middle of Hey Jude and just hear their voices, you will be blown away. As Hey Jude fades, the horns keep playing. It is right at home as Sgt. Pepper reprise begins. You have 2 endings at the same time. One for an incredible song (Hey Jude) and one for a landmark album (Sgt Pepper).
The album ends with John and the Beatles in a playful mood, saying good night.
This isn't some producer who the Beatles never met hacking away at their legacy. George Martin looked John Lennon in the eye when he recorded almost every song as a Beatle. He wrote the string arrangement for Paul McCartney's Eleanor Rigby. Without George Martin, Sgt Pepper's orchestral arrangements might just be a wish. He is considered the "fifth Beatle" for a reason. This wasn't made in some back room against the wishes of the Beatles.
George Harrison had become good friends with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté and wanted this project to happen. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and George Harrison's wife Olivia all heard mixes and gave feedback, suggestions and encouragement.
To be fair, without C D S, this CD would not have happened. The good news is it is great on its own merit. You don't need the show to appreciate it.
Credit should also be given to Giles Martin, who obviously helped the project a great deal. He was also trained by the one person who the Beatles trusted with their music: his father.
This may be the last Beatles project George Martin works on.
As the master tapes are put back in their boxes and the vault door closes, George Martin can rest knowing he made something very special with "Love", if only for one last time. Thank you, George Martin.
Highly Recommended. -EveningOcean CD "The Attraction" Evening Ocean com
THE ATTRACTION
Showing reviews 1-5 of 589
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