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Scott Murphy

The Beatles

Love

(EMI)

Just when it seems as though every possible repackaging of the Beatles has been exhausted along comes Love. Far from a beats-driven 'mashup' as previous reports had indicated, this is  an edit-intensive mix of some of the Fab Four's greatest moments, which  serves as  soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil's latest Las Vegas show.

Giles Martin, the son of long-time Beatles producer George Martin, created the soundscape, and was granted full access to original masters and multiple takes by the group. During the first several listens the results are astonishing. Opener Because is the best a capella number this side of the Beach Boys. This morphs into a single guitar chord from A Hard Day's Night before dissolving into an exciting virtual live rendition of Get Back. Midway through the 80-minute release it gets even more interesting.

An acoustic demo rendition of Strawberry Fields Forever mixes into a drum-driven take of the original, before blending with horns from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the sitar-driven Within You Without You, and a suitably spacey Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The result is a crunchy, fresh, powerful version of the group as they've never been heard before.

Once the novelty wears off though, one wonders why  Martin didn't do more. Beatles anoraks  will have a field day picking up the snippets of songs and alternate versions that he's weaved  throughout the 26 'tracks'.

Several songs, including A Day in the Life, are included in their entirety -  Martin must have  thought there was no point messing with perfection. Though he may have a point, one marvels at what might have been if say, Timbaland or Dr Dre were let loose with the catalogue.



The Beatles