The Beatles - Love
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Free Music Notes for Love
Free Music Review: An Exciting and Enjoyable Album For Open-Minded Beatles' Fans
Hit: 5 Stars
When I heard that these Beatles' songs were mixed together, I was not too happy about hearing it. Then I started to listen to several of the songs, and I was just blown away! I admire the way George Martin, his son, Giles, the remix engineer, Paul Hicks, and others did it. Sure, if you're a die-hard Beatles' fan, you're already familiar with the songs. But, it's great to hear them differently, as opposed to having just another greatest hits album released. (There are enough of Beatles' greatest hits albums already.) Plus, the fact that this is the soundtrack for the famous Cirque du Soleil show, LOVE is another honor.
Some highlights of the album for me are "Gnik Nus", which I realize is "Sun King" played and sung backwards. Obviously, this is nothing new, since the Beatles and George Martin recorded music backwards back in the 1960's of course. But you don't hear it much on today's music. Another highlight is where they mix together the songs "Being for the Benfit of Mr. Kite", "I Want You (She's so Heavy)", and "Helter Skelter". It's great the way George Martin and the others let the songs overlap each other, but not too much that you cannot understand what is being played. I also enjoyed hearing the two demos of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". I especially admired the way George Martin arranged the orchestral instruments on the latter song. This I read is the only new recording. Well, I say that George did a darn good job of both composing and arranging as always! You get to hear a slightly different version of "A Day in the Life", where you hear John play an acoustic guitar and sing, "Sugar Plum Ferry, Sugar Plum Ferry" at the very beginning of the song. Another fine remix is the blending of "Blackbird"(recorded a whole step lower then on the normal version of the WHITE ALBUM), and "Yesterday". Well, all the remixed songs here are well-done. I'll let you hear them for yourself, so that you can make up your own mind.
Also, there's a booklet which features a collage of photographs of the Beatles in the past years as well as photographs of the Cirque du Soleil show. All of these collages are colorful and put together well. The booklet also features essays by both George Martin and his son Giles. They basically talk about how this LOVE idea started and eventually how people like former Beatle, George Harrison and Cirque du Soleil founder, Guy Laliberte' put it all together to make it a reality. It's very interesting to read about.
Well, if you're not a purist Beatles' fan and have an open-mind about how the group's songs are remixed and recorded, you might be able to get something positive out of this album like I did. I realize that there are many reviews about this album, but this one is of course, mine. I hope it helps you out!
Free Music Review: Simply The Best
Hit: 5 Stars
I have to start by admitting that I saw the show in Vegas also and that probably taints your perception of this album greatly. 6000 speakers in one auditorium with the single most complex audio playback system ever created for a stage performance (something like 24 discrete channels of playback audio)...needless to say, it is difficult to compare one to the other. If you buy this CD and listen to it through earbuds, it ain't gonna be the same experience.
That being said, I was shocked at the audio quality of the CD. You truly have never heard the Beatles sound this clear. The reviews that mention the excellent separation of the different instruments are dead on. Every single voice or instrument is crystal. It's hard to believe that the engineers were working with some 30-40-50 year old source materials.
If this review were based solely on the CD though, I'd have to have dropped one star to say that this is just an extremely well recorded compilation album. The reason I gave it 5 stars is because I bought the DVD Audio 2-disc version. The average person reading this review probably doesn't have the playback capability to access the DVD audio track, but even if you don't, you can get full 5.1 Dolby Digital out of the same disc. The multitrack recording of this material much more accurately showcases the kind of sound quality that you hear in the Vegas show.
The engineers were creative with their use of the surround speakers in the mix and used them for various creative purposes. This recording does not sound like a live concert with ambiance coming out of the surround speakers. Instead, at different times, any number of different sounds, instruments, vocals, etc. may come through any channel. But the effect isn't hokey or overdone. It is just stinking cool.
Bottom line is that this is THE single greatest audio system show-off disc that I own now. It's not the Vegas show, but it still made the hair on the back of my neck stand up the first time I listened to it. As the Spinal Tap gang would say, "make sure you turn it up to 11." The sound in the hi-res DVD Audio is so clean that you can turn it up forever and never get a lick of static. Pretty incredible feat for music this old.
If you have a chance to go to Vegas and do nothing more than see this show, it is worth the price of the airfare and hotel. Until you can do that, buy the album.
Free Music Review: A tripper's delight
Hit: 5 Stars
I think it is cool because since they took complete liberty with the original tracks and totally remixed them (not just remastered), then they were able to employ the most modern recording techniques available and make it sound "new". Would I do that with Sgt. Pepper or the White Album? No, I would leave them as is, because they are masterpieces as they stand, and you don't want to go remixing those.
So when you hear Love, it does not sound like an "old" group. This is great for appealing to a whole new generation of beatles fans that want not only top notch sound quality, but also something with more of a "pop" to the sound - you know, pumped up like today's recordings are. Most kids today would think that the original beatles recordings sound "thin".
Of course, since it is the genius of George Martin, he has all of the original tracks available to him. (Not just the mixdowns, but original individual vocal tracks, guitars, drums, etc.) It is an art in itself the way he has woven those tracks together into a tapestry.
I am sure some purists will complain about the little snippets of other songs that you hear here and there throughout the mix, but I think that is part of the fun!
Maybe it is just me - being a former stoner and having "experimented" with the ultimate and original "psychedelic" substance, but I think that this disc holds true to the psychedelia of the Beatles.
It starts out pretty etherial in nature with the acapela "Because", and continues to induce psychedelic imagery here and there through the first 12 tracks, most notably the "Gnik Nus" (Sun King played backwards.)
Then, by the time you get to the middle of the disc, it becomes an out and out psychedelic explosion. The center cuts (Strawberry Fields Forever -> Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows -> Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds) is truly the "peak" of this tripper's delight.
There are times when the added orchestration gives you that "show tune" effect. I can really see this being the soundtrack for a show - as if a story is being told.
Of course, with the name of the disc being "Love", one can expect the finale to be "All You Need Is Love."
Free Music Review: The 5th Beatle moves forward
Hit: 5 Stars
When I first heard about the "LOVE" CD, I did not know that the songs were actually remixes and overlayed on top of each other. After spending 17 years of my life doing remixes and editing songs, I was NOT ready to hear this done to the "sacred" work of the Beatles. And I found out (from reading other reviews of the CD) that I was not the only person that felt this way. To a lot of fans, doing this to Beatle songs was the same as painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa would be to art lovers.
After listening to the "LOVE" CD, all I can say is, "Hand me the paint brush and tell Mona I'm coming". The job done by George Martin and his son is a work to be appreciated, even if you are a die-hard Beatle fan.
In order to pull this project off and make it "work", you would need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Beatles recordings, from the ground up, which Sir George certainly does. You also need the studio chops to do the work. Again, no problem there. But most importantly, you would need to understand that the Beatles were innovators and were willing to experiment with not only sound but also with recording techniques, new instruments, different arrangements, playing tracks backwards, multiple track recording etc. All of these things have been taken into account in the creation of the "LOVE" CD. It comes very, very close to being, in effect, a new Beatles CD.
The flow of the CD is very well done. Even if the material was pulled together for a "soundtrack" to a Las Vegas production, it is well thought out for a listening experience. The choice of material is a good representation of the Beatles entire recording career, from Parlophone to Apple. And the production values are stellar, considering that these recordings are 40+ years old. I have never heard John, Paul, George & Ringo sound THIS GOOD!
I would recommend this CD to anyone who:
1. Appreciates the Beatles
2. Appreciates creativity and the willingness to experiment, and
3. Anyone who has never heard the Beatles (if such people truly exist)
George Martin gets a big ol' thumbs up from me for this effort. Now..... Howzabout "LOVE 2"????
Free Music Review: Love is the Answer!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Love is the answer. All you need is love. Love is the flower, you gotta let it grow. All these things are true, but Love is also the adaptation of The Beatles catalog to the antics of Cirque du Soleil. What if the music of the 60's included DJ cross fades like those made popular in modern dance circuits? It might sound a little like Love. Some of the combinations chosen are intriguing ~ "Blackbird" blended with "Yesterday" ~ "Come Together" with "Dear Prudence". But while these new mixes are probably necessary to sample a large swath of The Beatles catalog during the limited time of a Cirque du Soleil performance, I find most of them unnecessary for an album. That is not to say that some of the results are not spectacular. The melody of "Within You, Without You" sung over the tribal drumming of "Tomorrow Never Knows" is both hypnotic and eminately pleasing. Likewise the version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" which replaces the Eric Clapton jam with a George Martin string arrangement adds new dimensions to this classic. But the real star of Love is the remastering where the integrity of the individual songs is respected. Thankfully, that is most of the album. The songs and sounds come through as though they were recorded "yesterday", as beautifully clear as a sonic artisan spring where the cool waters of creativity and emotion flow forth without a hint of crackle or distortion.
I have listened to these songs all my life. I try to take care not to listen to them too often, least they lose their power to move me. Love has allowed me to listen to these songs again as if for the first time and that is a gift. The Beatles at the hight of their creativity were an artistic force to be reckoned with. Each one of them shines on this album ~ the soaring vocals, the better then perfect harmonies, and the excellent and innovative musicianship. They took everything to the next level and Love takes them to the next level. I hope with all my heart that similar care and attention will be given to the whole Beatles catalog. The poetry of it all be dammed for the moment, "Love" is not all we need.