What We Learn From Love

Dr. X posts this from that Best Buy next to Applebee's:

"The legend of the Beatles will never die. As Bruce McCall has commented in another context, 'you couldn't kill it with a stick.' But if you have any Beatles-loving brain cells left, I highly recommend Love, a 2006 Beatles soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil, produced by George Martin and his son Giles.

"Some reasons why it is good:

• Sound quality. This Guardian review is right to point out that the album would be less valuable if we could get all the original tunes digitally re-mastered to modern standards. But this CD, along with Let it Be...Naked (a.k.a. McCartney's Revenge) is all we get for now. You notice right off the bat - playing the CD through a real stereo with real speakers, there is an immediacy and level of detail I've never heard before. And, because Beatles music is very detailed, there's a lot to hear.
• Mashups. I like mashups, such as the now-famous "Paperback Believer". Giles Martin (George's son) does a couple really nice ones - my favorite delivers "Drive My Car", "What You're Doing", and "The Word" in one convenient wrapper. "Drive My Car" is an important song because it's catchy and fun and sort of odd, but not really very good, and therefore deserves this kind of treatment (the Punkles also have a fun, if not good, version).
  
• New arrangements. With all due respect to Billy Preston, the Fifth Beatle was George Martin. For this album, Martin did his last Beatles string arrangement, around a George Harrison demo take of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (original take is here). It is the only 'new' music on the CD. The result is very, very, very, good.
• More drum and bass. In the modern style, this mix turns the drum and bass way up. And this is the best thing that could happen, because McCartney and Starr were hellacious rhythm players. McCartney on "Come Together", Ringo's fills on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" are lucid, decorative, and powerful. And good, too.
  

"It has its problems. It scores easy points and leaves the hard ones for someone else. But it's still sweet. Thanks to being old and having a paycheck I have a good stereo now, and this CD sounds great in it.

"Dr. X's rating: xxxx out of 5"