'New' Beatles album

[Alexander]

this is all you need

I'm pretty sure I don't need this ....

Well, you'll never know if you don't listen to it, will you?

[Chuck Nessa]

shit

[Alexander]

So I got it yesterday and I listened to it last night. This has recieved some lukewarm reviews, mainly (I think) because expectations were so high. Most of the compaints have been that the Martins didn't go far *enough*. That they left the original songs intact (for the most part) and do most of the mixing during the transitions.

While it is true that several songs are played all the way through (not all, though), it would be a mistake to think that the Martins left these songs completely untouched. Like Laswell on "Panthalassa," the Martins play with the indiviual elements of each song, sometimes bringing the bass way up, other times dropping the drum track completely. At it's best, "LOVE" is dazzling in it's audacity, though. Highlights include a very cool mix of "Tomorrow Never Knows" with "Within You, Without You" (playing Harrison's vocal over the drum track of "Tomorrow...", and vice versa), an absolutely GORGEOUS version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Martin takes the beautiful acoustic demo for the "Anthology" set and gives it new orchestration. The result sounds like a perfect alternate to the version on "The White Album." I almost perfer it), and a very cool mash-up of "Drive My Car," "What You're Doing," and "The Word" (the Martins mix these into one song, and it works perfectly). Along the way, the samples come fast and furious. Snippets surface for a second, and are gone almsot before you can indentify them (the guitar solo from "Taxman" is used as the solo during "Drive My Car"). The effect is dazzling. It flows along with dream logic. I don't recommend it for everyone, but if you love the Beatles as much as I do, I think you should give this a chance.

[Hot Ptah]

Is there no end to the money making projects which will flow out of the Beatles albums? Do the surviving Beatles and the two widows need another chunk of millions of dollars so much?

[JSngry]

I think I'm going to check this one out.

I'd also like to hear objections to the concept that go beyond the facile "they're just doing it for the money" and/or "the originals are fine as they are" and/or "it's just pop music anyway, no sense in polishing a turd" etc.

Well, yes. And no. Mostly, for me, the latter.

I'm of an age, time, and place where I can honestly say that seeing The Beatles on the Sullivan show for the first time back in '64 changed my life, put me on a course that led me to being who I am today. I can also honestly say that it's not an uncommon phenomenon to have the past all sort of start to blur together as you get older. There's probably some psychological/neurological phenomenon that does that to keep us sane, just as we condense all our old belongings into scrapbooks, photo albums, etc. instead of us constantly buying bigger houses to hold it all (although there's a few freaks...). After a while, you just don't have room for it all, so you cull.

I see the mashup element as a perfectly legitimate way of doing this. In fact, I see it as culling in a proactive, creative way. No way it's meant to "replace" the originals, but it does seem a good way to go about the business of clearing up/out some of the psychic space. Mash it all up, (re)mix it all together, turn three songs into one. Kinda like condensing files on your hard drive to open up more free space. Kinda.

Anyway, I jsut wish that the Soul Source Jackson 5 remix projects would have gotten this much publicity, because although there's significantly less of the mashup thing going on there, there's also (probably) a helluva lot more "creative reinvention" going on. But that's hoping for too much, I know.

All I can say is that until the Pop music for the new world crystalizes (well, it already has, thank you, Monday, but nobody's listening yet...), I'd rather hear creative de/re-construcuctions that pick our pockets by attempting to make something new (like a "perspective") out of something old than I would endless literal recyclings of old literalisms that attempt little more than to pick our pockets by trying to convince us that nothing's changing.

Yeah, I think I'm going to check this one out.

[Alexander]

It is definitely NOT an attempt to replace the orignal catalogue (seconding Jim's comment above). Rather, it offers a new way to hear something that's become as familiar as the sound of your own heartbeat.

Do I wish the Martins had gone further? In a way. I think it would have been really interesting to merge the two versions of "Revolution" (maybe even throw in some sounds from "Revolution 9" while they're at it). I loved what they did with "Strawberry Fields," btw. In the space of one peformance, we hear the song's evolution from demo through the various versions, ending with an extended coda that incorperates elements of "Hello, Goodbye" and "Penny Lane."

The thing that really struck me is how you really *can* mix and match songs from throughout the Beatles' career and end up with something that sounds consistant.

[JSngry]

Alex, you might want to consider checking out those Soul Source J5 remixes (especially the first volume). Don't let the fact that it's The Jackson 5 (i.e. Motown bubblegum) dissuade you. Some of that stuff is more than a little radical in concept. Talk about hearing old things in new ways, the people who did this are all the way there. Plus it's musical in a big way.

[BruceH]

I heard this at the Amoeba store the other day. It was better than I expected, I must say. Had some intriguing moments...

[Alexander]

Alex, you might want to consider checking out those Soul Source J5 remixes (especially the first volume). Don't let the fact that it's The Jackson 5 (i.e. Motown bubblegum) dissuade you. Some of that stuff is more than a little radical in concept. Talk about hearing old things in new ways, the people who did this are all the way there. Plus it's musical in a big way.

I'd like to hear it. I actually LOVE the Jackson 5. I think Michael was a force of nature when he was kid. Pity his brain eventually melted...

[JSngry]

Alex, you might want to consider checking out those Soul Source J5 remixes (especially the first volume). Don't let the fact that it's The Jackson 5 (i.e. Motown bubblegum) dissuade you. Some of that stuff is more than a little radical in concept. Talk about hearing old things in new ways, the people who did this are all the way there. Plus it's musical in a big way.

I'd like to hear it. I actually LOVE the Jackson 5. I think Michael was a force of nature when he was kid. Pity his brain eventually melted...

Volume 1 (strongly recommended): http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=534...p%3Bincl_cs%3D1

Volume 2 (less strongly recommended, but very enjoyable nevertheless): http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=kk6...p%3Bincl_cs%3D1

[Rooster_Ties]

It is definitely NOT an attempt to replace the orignal catalogue (seconding Jim's comment above). Rather, it offers a new way to hear something that's become as familiar as the sound of your own heartbeat.

And THAT, my friends, is the reason that until this past Tuesday (when I bought "Love"), the only legit Beatles CD's I've ever owned were the 6 discs (three 2-CD sets) of the Anthology series.

I mostly don't need to hear the originals (or don't think I do, anyway), and thus and so I don't have them to hear. But I still hear them, here and there, all over the place. Not as much as in days gone by - but here and there, still, sure.

Now, if I can just get my wife to stop singing along with the new "Love" CD in the car -- so I can hear what isn't what I'm expecting it to be and/or where I'm normally expecting it to be. The one three-way mashup tune that finished as we drove into the driveway -- was a fourway cluster-fark with my wife trying to sing over the thing the way she knows the song -- the only way ANYONE has ever known the song (at least until last Tuesday).

The originals might be "better" -- but these new versions are bound to be WAY more interesting -- at least for quite a while anyway.

( And no, I didn't have the heart to ask my wife to pipe down so I could hear. But I'm sure I'll be hitting the "play that track again" button more than a few times when we're in the car together with this disc. )

Edited November 23, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[robert h.]

I was just as cynical as the next guy about this, but found myself buying it Tuesday regardless.

Glad I did.

It's superb, and the sound is absolutely great. A revelation, lots of fun.

And it really puts us on notice that the remastering of the Beatles catalog coming next year, assuming it hits the same sonic standard, will be fantastic.

Thumbs up on this all the way.

[BFrank]

Heard this last night at a friend's house in 5.1. The remastering was excellent, but in the end I just ended up wishing they would get their act together and do a definitive remaster on the original catalog.

I wouldn't listen to this much if I had it myself. As the CD played, it was also too apparent that it was crafted for a "live" show. The segues, the pacing and choice of tunes leading up to a series of "hits" was just a little too formulaic.

[Alexander]

So I brought "Love" to my dad's house when we went for Thanksgiving dinner because I wanted to play him the version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." When I played it for my dad, we went crazy for it. He insisted that we play it during dinner. So we all sat there, eating turkey, listening to the Beatles (which my wife had to listen to in the car all the way to my dad's). Everybody went NUTS. It was huge. I think every person at that table is going to go out and buy a copy tomorrow.

LOVE when that happens!

[md655321]

Like everyone else, I am morally opposed to this travesty of an idea. It is essentially musical necrophilia, pick through the dead remnants of the most important recordings in history.

But GODDAMN it sounds great. Very interesting, and does a great job of maintining the integrity of the original recordings. The opening 'Because' is a capella and just plain gorgeous.

Highly recommended (even though im only on halfway through so far...) I am positively giddy to hear the other remasters they intend on doing.

I love this album

Edited December 8, 2006 by md655321

[Quincy]

I'm not opposed to the mixing up concept. There is the initial fun of hearing the long note from "A Day In A Life" in the background while something else is playing, and so on. Like Alexander & AMG I think they could have been bolder, but I'm not going to knock it too much for not being so. There are a few "Stars on 45" moments but soon enough it moves onto to other things.

I'm not sure what kind of staying power it will have though. I'm already done with it after 2 plays. Part of it is I know that "Hey Jude" is on it near the end, and that's a song that I wore out on from playing my parents copy on the Magnavox cabinet stereo and the years that followed. It's just not that much different. I'm not sure that I need the Beatles story arc to the disc either. The live mop top section, the use of backwards tape, and ending it with "Goodnight." But I'm sure I'll pull it out in the future when I want to hear a little of this era & a little of that rather than an album.

But it does sound gorgeous. I refused to buy the shoddy official CDs and stuck with my vinyl (as a teen I bought UK & German albums thru mail order using money orders), though 2 years I traded for Dr. Ebbett's versions of the albums (all the appropriate monos, plus the German stereo of Magical Mystery Tour and the first 2 UKs remixed as well.) I thought I'd be happy with all that but I may indeed buy some of the remasters if they sound like this. If nothing else there will be 100 page thread on the Hoffman forum complaining of the brightness and mix.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Quincy

[Adam]

What about the sound on those more recent Capitol Masters boxes vol 1 & 2? Tower had stacks of Vol. 2 for sale, and I never pulled the trigger.

[Aggie87]

What about the sound on those more recent Capitol Masters boxes vol 1 & 2? Tower had stacks of Vol. 2 for sale, and I never pulled the trigger.

If you do buy one, be careful. There are two editions out there, and many stores are still selling the original, which has "fold down" versions of one or two of the albums included, instead of the proper stereo & mono versions. There was alot (too much actually) of discussion on the Hoffmann board about this.

The problem is that Capitol didn't recall the defective boxes, so retailers who ordered large quantities ended up with the defects and can't return them. Consumers who buy them either won't know the difference and will be happy, or can contact Capitol for replacements.

I think the "correct" Vol. 2 box will have a sticker with an "SK1" or some text like that in the very tiny print. Otherwise they're pretty much impossible to differentiate.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Aggie87

[Brad]

I think the sound is good and some of the transition are quite interesting. Because is a little weird because there is so much spacing in it. I would have liked to see the approach taken with some of the older songs but it's possible that they didn't lend themselves to the approach taken by the Martins.

[Van Basten II]

When are they gonna remaster the Beatles originals CDs, considering we are already through the 4th generation of Elvis Costello CDs. Seems a new generation is not too much to ask.

[Alexander]

When are they gonna remaster the Beatles originals CDs, considering we are already through the 4th generation of Elvis Costello CDs. Seems a new generation is not too much to ask.

Supposed to happen next year, from what I've heard. Of course, that promise has been made several times during the last decade and change...