Love (2006)- The Beatles Review (Sorta)

Before delving into the subject of this post, first an aside…. Yes, I have failed and reneged on my initial promise to be more forthcoming with posts in my current avatar as a blogger. This post is dated a whole 7 months and 9 day after my previous rant. While blaming the pressures of work is the easy (and default) way out, more than that, I must confess to a distinct lack of interest(motivation?) in keeping this page alive. Why? Maybe because I am not the most natural of writers. Plus, the paucity of ideas stimulating enough to make me write the sort of paras you can see below. So, that’s it for my role as a two-penny intellectual. Atleast, for now.

So, starting now, more posts like the one you are going to read now. I dont expect (m)any comments, because it will be harder to flamebait with a music review.

I got my first Beatles tape when I was in 12th. It was the ‘Ones’ album, a compilation of No. 1 singles by the Beatles. Those were the days when I had long outgrown the Backstreet Boys et al, and was desperate for a proper musical education, at Dad’s expense. I was already well versed with U2, Pink Floyd and a smattering of others, atleast well enough to advance my cred as a ’serious’ music lover. The Beatles, however? Nah. They were clubbed with Elvis and the other old timers. Rock n roll, outdated, still powered by the misty eyed nostalgia of the baby boomer generation. Finally, just out of curiosity, I decided to set aside my prejudices and plunked down 18 dirhams of Dad’s hard earned money and brought home a pyschedelic looking cassette with a cover looking like it had been designed by my sister.

As with most compilations, this was also nothing more than a money minting scheme at best. For the sake of authenticity and the ‘warmth’ so often cited by LP apologists to pick holes with digital audio formats, the tracks werent remastered and most of them sounded, well, old. The early tracks like ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘I Want to Hold your Hand’ were fun but nothing more. No signs of much musical genius there sir. However, nearing the end of Side A, there was a perceptible change, in the songs, the lyrics and most importantly, the workmanship. ‘Something’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ sounded remarkable, especially considering the fact that they were decades old and still managed to be fresh and familiar at the same time.

College wasnt very kind to the Beatles either. My roomie, Beno, laughed out loud when i first put the tape in our player…and that was that. The tape was consigned to the bottom of our stack. I still had mp3s though, but they only warranted a once-in-a-blue-moon playtime in Winamp. So, its all the more refreshing to rediscover the Beatles, again, through this new album.

Love is actually a companion soundtrack to the Cirque Du Soleil show of the same name. Which in itself is not as weird as it sounds, seeing that many of the Beatles songs would naturally place well in a circus setting (Yellow Submarine??). The real draw of this album is the fact that all of the tracks have been remastered, by George Martin, their original producer, with the help of his son. A few subtle touches have been added as well. Songs merge into each other with nary a pause and some are even spliced together with samples from other songs. The overall effect is astounding. You will never have heard the Beatles sound better and if you have a reasonably good audio setup, this CD will make full use of it.

Another plus point is that the early years are only represented by a solitary track. The rest of the album devotes itself to the musically richer latter years. The opening accapella, ‘Because’, shows how good the Beatles were at harmony. It segues into a rocking rendition of ‘Get Back’ and the album truly takes off from their on. ‘I Am a Walrus’ is weird and complex. ‘Something’, on the other hand, sounds even simpler and more heartfelt than before. Same holds for ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. In between, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Lucy In the Sky’ come and go in a sonic blur. Towards the end of this long album (26 tracks), ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ is enriched by the addition of a string quartet.

Their honestly isnt a single filler track on this disc. Even the kiddish ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and the opulent ‘For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’ reveal the geniuses these four guys from Liverpool really were. Sitars, tablas, oboes and a lot of stuff I cant place are seamlessly integrated into the tunes. ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ rises and falls, pyschedically, as if it was meant to put you in a trance (Pink Floyd fans, you can stop gloating now). Top drawer production plays its role, but this album will open a lot of eyes to the fact that The Beatles were truly one of a kind.

The album closes with ‘All You Need is Love’. True, if the Love is of the Fab Four kind. Move over, U2, Pink Floyd and all others in that ilk. The Kings are back. And we missed them.

PS: This album really shows why MP3 players need to put gapless playback/crossfading in. This album is meant to be heard at a stretch.