All You Need Is Love: New Beatles Album Woos Fans

LONDON (AFP) - Fans have rushed to buy the first "new" Beatles album for a generation -- a radical remixing of some of the group's most famous songs -- more than 35 years after the break-up of the iconic band.

"Love", which has the backing of surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, comprises 26 of the Fab Four's hit songs, but many of them mixed together using previously unheard material from the studio.

"I hope this will help people to hear Beatles music again," said Giles Martin, son of the group's original producer Sir George Martin who is often referred to as the fifth Beatle.

Martin and his son worked for three years on the project, which forms the soundtrack to a Beatles stage show of the same name, put on since June in Las Vegas by Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil.

Using archives and master tapes at the Abbey Road studios in London originally used by The Beatles, they put together songs by a complex mixture of overlaying, dubbing and synchronizing to produce sometimes startlingly new compositions.

For example, elements of "Penny Lane" are mixed with "Strawberry Fields Forever", while "Blackbird" is combined with "Yesterday" in a process called a "mash-up" by sound engineers.

Other track combinations on the new album include "Get Back" feeding into "Glass Onion", before weaving into the chords of "Eleanor Rigby", giving an appropriately psychedelic texture to the 1960s originals.

At each stage the surviving Beatles -- plus John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and George Harrison's widow Olivia -- were consulted on the developing work, and they were almost always approving.

On one occasion though, as a test, the Martins presented McCartney with a version of "Hey Jude" featuring a reggae intro.

"It was a Jamaican 'Hey Jude'. You had to see his face. He just said: 'I don't think that really goes'. It was wonderful," George Martin said, according to The Guardian newspaper.

In theory, the producers' golden rule was that only original Beatles music could be used. But there was one exception: an acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", for which George Martin wrote an original orchestral score.

"The project was a labour of love and rounds things off. In 1965 I did my first score for "Yesterday" and this is my final score ... it's a sort of top and tail of my life," said the 80-year-old producer on Monday.

The Las Vegas show, which features an international cast of 60 acrobats performing aerial gymnastics, extreme sports and urban, freestyle dance, has been a roaring success.

It has been staged for the last five months in a custom-built theatre at The Mirage hotel with 360-degree seating and high definition video projections of 100-feet (30-metre) high moving images.

The album's producers are reasonably confident the record will enjoy similar success, and that the late Beatles Lennon and Harrison would have approved of it.

"I think they would have liked it," said the elder Martin at the album launch. "To be honest, I believe they were there with us as we worked on it."

"It wasn't just the process, such as feedback."

Ummmm .... ever heard the tune "I Feel Fine" by The Beatles? That was the first use of feedback on a rock album.

"Townsend invented longer rock songs (A Quick One While He's Away)."

Blues & Jazz artists' recorded long songs for decades before The Who came along. The Who got on the bandwagon with several other mid-sixties artists.

"Invented the Rock Opera (Tommy)."

That claim of bringing rock opera to the mainstream belongs to the band "People" - not The Who. The genre was inevitable considering the success of counter-culture's appeal on Broadway in the mid-sixties / Examples: "Jesus Christ Superstar" & "Hair" ("Tommy" was released - 1969). The Afghan Whigs are good example of a recent (90's) rock opera cd recording.

"And pioneered the incorporation of synthesizers into kick-butt rock tunes (Baba O'Reilly, Won't get Fooled Again)."

Syntheizers were used for years before The Who....as early as 1958 in various band BBC Sessions. The Monkees....yes, The Monkees... were ahead of The Who on this curve. If you tend to prefer a certain use of the organ then so be it - that's why all types of records are sold.

"In addition, Pete never went for that hippy nonsense like the Beatles did (his quote about Woodstock - "I 'ated it")."

We all know what horrible music resulted from the Woodstock era, right? /sarcasm If you don't like the genre, that's one thing ...

"The Beatles, IMO, sound stale across time with their foray into Sixties psychodelia"

The Beatles brought Syd Barrett's psycholdelic sounds to the mainstream while furher developing them. Being trail blazers is much different than hopping on a bandwagon. It's obvious you're not a Beatles fan .... you would have known that only two of their albums delved into psychedlic music.

"whereas Won't Get Fooled Again was declared the greatest conservative rock song of all time and resonates no matter what era we are in."

Rock music and conservatism are a clash in the most basic sense. And it "was declared"? I/you can declare anything at any time from our pc desks....doesn't really amount to anything.

The Who really only has a couple of songs that hold up to the mainstream today - not saying it's right - just the way it is in terms of market.

The Beatles have dozens.

Comparing The Who and The Bealtes is literally apples to oranges in terms of impact, significance, influence and fan following.

Comparing The Who and The Bealtes is literally apples to oranges in terms of impact, significance, influence and fan following.

Most of the Beatles fans I see are over the hill liberal hippies (not all).

Whereas The Who still appeal to a wide range of audiences - even teenagers are still getting into them.

It ain't about the quantity, it's the quality.

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