scapp70's Full Review: Love (Special Edition) by The Beatles
In a sense, I consider myself a Beatles purist. I'm not to the extreme where I would reject the release of Let it Be...Naked, but I'm a purist in the sense that I believe that the structure of the Beatles songs are perfect as they are. On the other hand, I will always welcome a much needed improvement for sonic quality. When The Beatles started releasing some "new" releases in the mid 90's with their Anthology series, and when they released 1 and Let It Be...Naked it was obvious with what can be done with the quality of the sound of these classic tracks when using more advanced equipment 40 years later. Since those releases, there have been many rumors that The Beatles back catalog would be getting a much needed facelift. When the DVD releases of their movies Yellow Submarine and A Hard Day's Night had produced their music in a surround sound format, more rumors have circulated that all of The Beatles music would be released in this format as well. With their new release Love, both have happened...sort of.
The idea for Love is said to have all started with George Harrison's friendship with Cirque du Soleil's founder, founder Guy Laliberte, and an interest with Cirque du Soleil as a show, which is sort of like an acrobatic circus act interpreting music with dance and amazing acrobatics. Cirque has some different shows in different places in the world, and in Vegas this year they wanted to create a new show that involves the music of The Beatles. With the enlisting of the one and only fifth Beatle, producer George Martin with the assistance of his son Giles Martin, it was just about guaranteed to be a quality soundtrack.
The whole idea of how to bring the music of The Beatles to sound fresh and new was to create a "sound collage" of many of their greatest songs. The idea of mish mashing existing songs together to make one new song is not a new idea. The first time I came across something like this was from the Allen Dean Project and Go Home Productions. Their ideas of mixing totally different sounding songs into one cohesive and entertaining tune blew me away. My favorite, which I bought, was Crazy Little Fool, it's a mixture of Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love and two Beatles songs, Fool on the Hill and Dear Prudence. Although, George and Giles Martin did not go to the same extremes as Go Home Productions has in the passed, it still borrows from the same idea.
Side Note: If you wish to hear what I'm talking about go to http://www.gohomeproductions.co.uk/allendean.html and click on one of the songs.
The CD starts off with an a capella version of Because. Now before you dismiss this as nothing new, as in you've heard it before on Anthology 3, rest assured it is different. Although the amazing three-part harmonies of Paul, John and George are the same, the timing is different in this version with more space between some of the lyrics. Also to add color and imagery there are soothing bird chirping sounds (taken from a version of Across the Universe. When you insert the DVD into your home theater, you are transported into a soothing and colorful world where only the music of The Beatles is your soundtrack.
Nearly every song segues into one another or bridges over via a snippet or two from another song to truly make this a "sound collage". One of my favorite transitions is between the first and second song. After Because ends there is the sound of a discarded idea from their 1969 album Abbey Road, a gradual build up of sound that eventually explodes into that infamous first chord of A Hard Day's Night, and while that chord is ringing out, Ringo comes in with a drum solo (taken from The End) add the audience noises, giving it the feeling of the beginning of an exciting show and it melts into Get Back as Paul's voice immediately begins to sing the lyric ♫Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a loner...♫
You know right from these first couple of songs that you are in for a brand new Beatles experience for the ears.
On the first few listens of this CD, you really do not know what to expect next. There are so many surprises around each corner that it would be unfair for me to describe each one, but it would also be nice to highlight a couple of my favorites. For instance, after I Am The Walrus fades into background chatter and the high pitched female screams of Beatlemania taken from their famous Shea Stadium concert, and then an introduction from Ed Sullivan, "Here they are, The Beatles!" and then a powerful condensed version of I Want to Hold Your Hand. It's powerful and produces chills and the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end.
Also, there is Strawberry Fields Forever. The song begins with John Lennon counting in to a demo version that consists only of John and his guitar, but it magically morphs into a more polished demo that involve the other three Beatles and then into the finished single that we all know. Right there you get a sonic history lesson of the evolution of one of the greatest Beatles songs ever. During the jam at the end, the Martin production team have added the fade out from Hello, Goodbye and some music from George Harrison's Piggies as well.
To try and describe the sound quality seems a bit futile. When I first purchased my copy of Love I listened to it in my car and was very impressed with the finished results. The music sounds as if it were recorded this year instead of 37 or more years ago. It gives the Beatles fan even more hope that the re-releases are going to be an amazing listening experience, whenever they come out. The 5.1 mix on the other hand is really the only way that this should be heard. The stereo version is great, but the 5.1 mixes do actually transport you to another place, a different plane of existence. Even on songs that were originally mono, like the demo version of the aforementioned Strawberry Fields Forever, or the reworked George Harrison demo of While My Guitar Gently Weeps seem to still fill the room as this once mono version is heard in every speaker through the perfectly timed and rich reverb. On the songs that have so much going on like Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite or Eleanor Rigby your ears are treated to pure Beatles magic. I have never been so blown away from any of my multi channel discs. Love as it stands today is the best sounding disc that I own. The DVD comes with four mixes, a stereo PCM mix, a DVD-Audio 5.1 mix, there is a Dolby Dogital 5.1 mix and to top it all off there is a DTS 5.1 mix.
The packaging for this CD/DVD version is quite attractive. It unfolds to show two disc side by side, the tracks on either side of that and the autumn psychedelic color scheme flows throughout. There is also a 26 page booklet that is mostly a collage of Beatles pics that sort of represent the sound collage you hear. On the first four or so pages there is an overview from George Martin and Giles Martin.
When I first heard about Love coming out, I knew that I had to buy it because if I didn't own it, I wouldn't be able to sleep. Yet, I prejudged the release as a cheap shot that wouldn't contain any real listening enjoyment. I was very surprised with how much I loved it right away. Then I was surprised that I was surprised in the first place that a Beatles CD would ever be some cheap contractual obligatory throwaway release. In my memory, there has never been a Beatles release that fits that description. With the enlisting of legendary Beatles producer George Martin with the help of his son Giles the quality of the release is even greater. I would recommend this CD/DVD to everyone who is a fan of music, yet having said that the real Beatle fans are going to be the ones that enjoy this CD the most, because even though there are many big hits there are some real obscure songs on here as well (Blue Jay Way, Tomorrow Never Knows, Glass Onion for some examples), plus trying to hear and decipher what sound effect comes from what Beatles song is going to be much discussion for a long time to come.
the songs
1. Because
2. Get Back
3. Glass Onion
4. Eleanor Rigby/Julia (Transition)
5. I Am the Walrus
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing
8. Gnik Nus
9. Something/Blue Jay Way (Transition)
10. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter
11. Help!
12. Blackbird/Yesterday
13. Strawberry Fields Forever
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
15. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
16. Octopus's Garden
17. Lady Madonna
18. Here Comes the Sun/The Inner Light (Transition)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Transition)
20. Revolution
21. Back in the U.S.S.R.
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. A Day in the Life
24. Hey Jude
25. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
26. All You Need Is Love
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦More Beatles-related Epinions from Scapp70♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Track Listing 1. Because 2. Get Back 3. Glass Onion 4. Eleanor Rigby Julia (Transition) 5. I Am The Walrus 6. I Want To Hold Your Hand 7. Drive My Car...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.