The LOVE album

[melibreits]

Just downloaded the Beatles LOVE album from iTunes today and gave it a listen while I was making supper.... Very interesting! At first listen, these Beatles mash-ups reminded me of a time when I was sick in bed with the flu and left the stereo on, and the music seemed to do weird things in my head as I drifted in and out of a feverish sleep.... But having said that, this wasn't an unpleasant listening experience, just more surprising than anything! I love the way the opening song, "Because" morphs into "Get Back" with a dramatic strike of the "Hard Day's Night" chord in between, and then "Get Back" morphs into "Glass Onion," and then into "Eleanor Rigby." Very dreamlike and creative, but also a bit unsettling, since I've always thought I knew those songs and there were no surprises left! I'm now listening to the album again... This is certainly a fresh and new way to listen to the Beatles!

[servant]

My daughter bought me the CD while she was in Vegas. I listened to it once. Not because it wasn't good, but because I wanted to go see the show and didn't want to know the edits and crossfades by heart.

We finally went to Love in November and, I don't mind admitting, I was weeping during the first half of the show. There is so much going on onstage and overhead (curvy ladies flying by wire - oh my! ), weird contraptions, people diving into holes in the floor - all of this on top of that wonderful soundtrack. And I'm sitting there amazed that all generations are sitting in this one theatre, listening to some of the best pop and rock ever - more than 40 years after the last song was recorded. (People didn't do that in the sixties, listening to music from the twenties...) It was an awesome show.

[melibreits]

Yes, I think seeing the show would make the listening experience truly amazing.... I listened to the album again since I posted this, and I am warming up to those unexpected new twists and turns on the Beatles songs. In fact, I really, really love the new version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with the soft strings.... truly haunting and beautiful.

[kkawachi]

to anyone that owns the disc, be sure to pop over to iTunes for the two bonus exclusive tracks, Fool on the Hill and Girl. Both arent groundbreaking or anything, but nice to have for 3 bucks and blend with the rest of the album well.

[JakeK]

LOVE never interested me. I guess it's because I never saw the show. I never bought the album, but listened to a few previews and didn't think much of it. Maybe it's just me...?

[rickaddict]

I saw the show, and it was indeed...Amazing! My experience was similar to Dean's (above) and the thoughts running through my head were similar as well. I highly recommend it for anyone traveling to Vegas.

But I never bought the album and didn't feel the need to since I already have all of the "real" versions of all of those songs already.

[FretlessOnly]

Within You, Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows is killer.

[electrofaro]

To me the Love album is simply a remix - so they used Beatle songs? So what?
Doesn't make it Beatles. Just one of those things where they thought they could make easy bucks.

[Zurdo]

yeahh but some easy bucks they're making, I wish I could make that kind of easy bucks!

[lennon211]

I honestly thought that the Love album was really enjoyable as an artistic album. It's a soundtrack, that's all it ever was, but what a soundtrack. I have to disagree with those that say it's just for money. It has a cool history of development as it came out of an idea that was IIRC George Harrison's. The mixing of the songs and the layering of the sounds makes for a great listening experience that's honestly a little refreshing and offered something new well before the 2009 stereo albums came along. I also happen to like it since my wife and I walked into the version of "Get Back" from Love at our wedding reception. We were trying and trying to find something cool and that was it, with the Hard Day's Night chord leading into the song.

Take it for what it is, a very fun soundtrack. It's there for those that want something that is, frankly, more interesting than some of the bootlegs and other Beatles discs out there.

[Zurdo]

it's very "dreamy" and "spacy", a giant Medley, and it was done by none other than The Martins, who could ask for more?

[electrofaro]

yeahh but some easy bucks they're making, I wish I could make that kind of easy bucks!

Someone told me, and I have to agree, this is Beatles the BRand, not Beatles the Band.

Getting demos and different mixes from the actual recording sessions is interesting, but this is just a product by a brand.

[FretlessOnly]

I wouldn't say this is easy money by any stretch. George Martin was often given the arduous task of pulling together disparate elements and takes of varying utility into a coherent form and he did it quite brilliantly, I would say. Granted, he often had plenty of input from the lads, Paul typically most of all, when the recordings were new, but to suggest that Martin is somehow making easy money from all the hard work he did (and later re-did with his son to make Love) sounds like sour grapes to me.

And Paul and Ringo commented how much they liked it at the premiere, but what do they know?