Throughout the sixties, it was a yuletide tradition: a new Beatles album for under the Christmas tree. With The Beatles in 1963 (UK only), Beatles For Sale (1964, with Beatles '65 being released instead in America), Rubber Soul (1965), A Collection of Beatles Oldies... But Goldies (UK only, 1966), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), and The Beatles (White Album) (1968) were all timed for release at Christmastime.
Now, 38 years after the last Beatles Christmas album, we get Love - perhaps the closest we are going to get to a truly "new" Beatles album. Love, the soundtrack to the Beatles-based Cirque du Soleil show of the same name, is not merely a compilation or greatest hits package. George Martin (along with his son, Giles), having been given unfettered access to EMI's library of Beatles recordings, have mixed up a very fresh, very new, very modern-sounding Beatles album. To be sure, there are plenty of moments that sound very familiar (indeed, I'm not sure what changes were made to "Help!", except that the acoustic guitars sound crisper). But so much of Love sounds... well... new!
I ran out and bought the CD/DVD version on the day it was released, and waited to listen to it until we took off for Indiana. And so it was, at 4:15 on Thanksgiving morning, I popped Love into the car stereo.
Wow...
The first thing that grabs you is the sound quality. How on earth do tapes that are, on average, forty years old, sound so doggone good! And - amazingly - almost every sound on the album comes from a Beatles recording (exceptions: sirens before "I Am The Walrus"; new - and beautiful - George Martin string arrangement on the acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"). There are moments one is left to wonder: where did all these sounds come from? Drums from here, backing vocals from there, guitars and sitars and tablas from everywhere converge and merge to create whole new sounds and audio surprises galore.
Love has moments of genius aplenty. The rhythm track from John's "Tomorrow Never Knows" marries perfectly to George's "Within You, Without You". Out of this mix fall drops of sound that gather together to form an incredible new mix of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (which interpolates snipets of tape loop from "Tomorrow Never Knows" and horns from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"). Likewise, the mixing of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" with "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is an unexpected treat, and "Drive My Car / The Word / What You're Doing" is not a medley - it is a song all it's own.
"Strawberry Fields Forever" grows seamlessly from charmimg John Lennon home demo to take one to the more familiar (albeit much faster and more echoey) version Beatle fans know and love, ending in a controlled cacophony of Ringo's heavy drums with more "Sgt. Pepper" horns, the piano solo from "In My Life", "Penny Lane"'s picollo trumpet solo and the harpsichord from "Piggies" mixed in, closing with the ending of "Hello, Goodbye".
Perhaps the most charming moment of the disc comes with Ringo's "Octopus's Garden". The track opens with the strings from "Good Night" and sound effects from "Yellow Submarine", creating a beautiful, etherial opening before launching into the more rocking song we know from Abbey Road. However, more surprises are in store as the middle-eight launches into a bubbly double-time rhythm with unused vocals and exclamations from "Revolution 9" thrown in for good measure.
"Octopus's Garden" slips smoothly into the opening of "Sun King", which gives way to a quick, interesting, almost native sounding rhythmic intro (again - where did these sounds come from?) to "Lady Madonna" - another mix-up that features the guitar solo from "Hey Bulldog" and electric guitar that I believe comes from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
There are gorgeous moments as well. "Here Comes The Sun" is a lovely mix, incorporating percussion from "Within You Without You", crisper acoustic guitars, improved sound on the strings, and a beautifully remixed piece of "The Inner Light" as a closer. (This was the moment that nearly moved me to tears as I drove down I-94 in the pre-dawn hours of Thanksgiving morning.)
I'll stop here - I don't want to ruin all the surprises for you. But, when you get a chance to listen to Love, don't skip to "Hey Jude", "Eleanor Rigby" or "Get Back" because they may be your favorites. Love is a piece of work all its own, to be taken as a whole, in its entirety. This is a nearly eighty-minute work, cohesive and perfectly matched. Also... listen to Love with headphones. Otherwise you will miss the intricacies of the new mix of "A Day In The Life", as well as some of the sounds that are buried deeper in the mix. (You can actually hear the bass and guitar strings vibrate, as well as other sounds one misses when listening to "A Day In The Life" on their Sgt. Pepper CD. Likewise, the new stereo mix of "I Am The Walrus" - which does not slip into fake stereo when the Shakespeare radio broadcast begins - is amazing through earphones.)
Love has moments of beauty, freshness and surprise. Best of all, this CD is exactly what a Beatles CD should be: fun. Grab it and enjoy. Better yet, ask Santa to put it under your Christmas tree this year! And, if you've been extra good this year, maybe Saint Nick will leave the deluxe edition with the audio DVD, so you can experience Love in 5.1 surround sound.
