The Beatles: LOVE

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Elly Roberts reviews

The Beatles: LOVE
Distributed by
Apple Corps Ltd./EMI Music

    Cover

  • Released: November 2006
  • Rating: 10/10+

All you need is LOVE to make your Beatles collection complete.

Week commencing December 3rd it was at No.5 after two weeks on chart.

Endorsed by surviving members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and widows ofGeorge Harrison and John Lennon, legendary Fab Four producer George Martinwas commissioned to re-work their back-catalogue for Cirque du Soleil.

If proof was ever needed that Martin is the greatest producer of all time –then this is it. Tampering with the past can be dodgy business, but it has tobe said that this is UNBELIEVABLE. Co-produced with son Giles Martin, they’veeffectively dusted down the originals and perfectly made them adaptable forthe Las Vegas show.

Some might say it’s just a mash-up of originals which it is; nevertheless theoverall work is another masterstroke by the Martins. Having seen a productionby Cirque du Soleil in Manchester, I can see exactly how it would fit theirmagnificent artistic creations.Choosing songs principally from their hippy period, including hit song andalbum tracks they elected to ignore most of their early period except I WantTo Hold Your Hand (’63) Help! (’65).

Opening with the a capella Because (featured in the flick AmericanBeauty) it lays the perfect template for Cirque to lead into a thumpingGet Back with its misleading Help! intro which thrusts into abelting 1 minute 20 seconds of Glass Onion followed by Martin’ssensitive and emotion drenched string prefix of Eleanor Rigby.I Am The Walrus is typical Lennon at his best…’Cookoo cactchoo’ toperfection which is something CdS will have a ball with.

Neatly dropped in, is I Want To Hold Your Hand complete with dubbedhysterical fans. Further in, the lead to Something, a reversedSun King – Gnik Nus – is yet another clever bit of fiddling, bringingthe Harrison classic to greater heights than the original. Bursting out ofthe drippy – hippy splash is Help! as it goes out to remind us of theswinging ’60s.

By now you’re sure to be tingling with emotion – as I am right now. A pinchof Blackbird fuses into Yesterday. Then it’s back to the ‘SummerOf Love’ as Strawberry Fields Forever takes us all retro as does thepsychedelic Lucy In The Sky with Lennon doing some deft vocal dexterity.

The hand-clapping intro to Lady Madonna is magnificent as The Fab Fourgo Ba Ba Ba Ba, clunk click … Lady Madonna. Haunting tabla sequences bring newlife to Here Comes The Sun, one of their most memorable songs ever,segued by the funky stripped pub rocker Come Together that eventually flowsinto rasping rockers Revolution and Back In The USSR.

Following the blistering crescendos, it goes downbeat – Harrison’sWhile My Guitar, A Day In The Life (voted best Beatles song ever)and anthemic Hey Jude with Macca singing out of his skin. Closing,there’s the seamless join of St.Pepper’s, going right into hippy anthemAll You Need Is Love leaving us in awe at its wonder.

Ok, so we’ve heard it all before , but not quite like this.

Next stop – Las Vegas !

The full list of tracks included are :

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
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (transition)
20. Revolution
21. Back In The USSR
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. A Day In The Life
24. Hey Jude
25. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)

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