Love (Beatles album)

Love
Soundtrack album / Remix album by The Beatles
Released	20 November 2006
Recorded	1963–1969
Studio	EMI, Trident, Olympic and Apple studios, London, EMI Studios, Bombay and Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles; mixed 2004–2006 at Abbey Road Studios
Genre	Rock
Length	78:38 (CD) 80:28 (DVD-Audio) 86:41 (iTunes)
Label	Apple/Capitol/Parlophone
Producer	George Martin, Giles Martin
Compiler	George Martin
The Beatles chronology
The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006) Love (2006) The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) (2009)

Love is a soundtrack remix album of music recorded by the Beatles, released in November 2006. It features music compiled and remixed as a mashup for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name. The album was produced by George Martin and his son Giles Martin, who said, "What people will be hearing on the album is a new experience, a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period."^[1]

Release history

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Blender	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A[5]
The Guardian	[6]
NME	8/10[7]
The Observer	[8]
Okayplayer	[9]
Pitchfork Media	8.5/10[10]
PopMatters	6/10[11]
Q	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Slant	[14]
Uncut	[15]

George Martin and his son Giles began work on Love after obtaining permission from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison (the latter two representing the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison, respectively).^[1] The idea for using the Beatles' music in a Cirque du Soleil production had originally come from Harrison, who died in November 2001,^[16][17] through his friendship with the company's founder, Guy Laliberté.^[15]

Speaking to Mojo editor Jim Irvin in December 2006, Giles Martin said that he first created a demo combining "Within You Without You" with "Tomorrow Never Knows", which he then nervously presented to McCartney and Starr for their approval. In Martin's recollection, "they loved it", with McCartney saying: "This is what we should be doing, more of this."^[18]

In discussing the project, Giles Martin noted that elements were used from recordings in the Beatles catalogue, "the original four tracks, eight tracks and two tracks and used this palette of sounds and music to create a soundbed".^[1] Because he was concerned that they might not get the green light to proceed with Love, he began by making digital back-ups of the original multi-track recordings, just to get started on the project. He also said that he and his father mixed more music than was eventually released, including "She's Leaving Home" and a version of "Girl" that he was particularly fond of, which was eventually released in 2011 as a bonus track on the album on iTunes.^[19]

McCartney and Starr both responded very positively to the completed album. McCartney said that it "puts The Beatles back together again, because suddenly there's John and George with me and Ringo". Starr commended the Martins for their work, adding that Love was "really powerful for me and I even heard things I'd forgotten we'd recorded".^[20][21]

Love was first played publicly on Virgin Radio's The Geoff Show. DJ Geoff Lloyd, the show's host, chose to play the entire work uninterrupted, to allow younger fans to experience an album premiere.^[22]

Love placed at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart during its first week of release, trailing Westlife's The Love Album and Oasis' Stop the Clocks compilation.^[23] It was also successful in the United States, debuting at number 4 on the Billboard 200, where it was certified Platinum in late 2006.^[24] At the 50th annual Grammy Awards on 10 February 2008, the album won Grammys in two categories – Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Surround Sound Album.

Release details

The album was released as a standard Compact Disc version, a two-disc CD and DVD-Audio package, a two-disc vinyl package, and as a digital download. The DVD-Audio disc contains a 5.1-channel surround sound mix (96 kHz 24-bit MLP), downmixable to two-channel. For backwards compatibility it also contains separate audio-only DVD-Video content with two-channel stereo (48 kHz 16-bit PCM) and 5.1-channel surround (448 kbit/s Dolby Digital and 754 kbit/s DTS).

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Japan	15 November 2006	Toshiba-EMI	CD	TOCP-70200
			CD/DVD-Audio	TOCP-70201
United Kingdom	20 November 2006	Apple, EMI
			CD	3798082 / 0946 3 79808 2 8
			CD/DVD-Audio	3798102 / 0946 3 79810 2 3
United States	21 November 2006	Apple, Capitol, EMI	CD	0946 3 79808 2 8
			CD/DVD-Audio	0946 3 79810 2 3
United Kingdom	30 April 2007	Apple, EMI
			Vinyl	0946 379 808 11

Track listing

George Martin assembled over 100 clips from Beatles songs; he is seen here at a performance of the Love stage show

The DVD-Audio and iTunes release have longer versions of "Revolution" and "Back in the U.S.S.R.", increasing the total running time by about two minutes. The track listing for both discs is as follows: All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except where noted (see also: Lennon–McCartney).

1. "Because" – 2:44
2. "Get Back" – 2:05
3. "Glass Onion" – 1:20
4. "Eleanor Rigby" (with "Julia" transition) – 3:05
5. "I Am the Walrus" – 4:28
6. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" – 1:22
7. "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" – 1:54
8. "Gnik Nus" – 0:55
9. "Something" (with "Blue Jay Way" transition) (George Harrison) – 3:29
10. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter" – 3:22
11. "Help!" – 2:18
12. "Blackbird/Yesterday" – 2:31
13. "Strawberry Fields Forever"  – 4:31
14. "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" (Harrison/Lennon–McCartney) – 3:07
15. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – 4:10
16. "Octopus's Garden" (Richard Starkey)  – 3:18
17. "Lady Madonna"  – 2:56
18. "Here Comes the Sun" (with "The Inner Light" transition) (Harrison) – 4:18
19. "Come Together/Dear Prudence" (with "Cry Baby Cry" transition) – 4:45
20. "Revolution" – 2:14 (CD version) / 3:23 (DVD and iTunes version)
21. "Back in the U.S.S.R." – 1:53 (CD version) / 2:34 (DVD and iTunes version)
22. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Harrison) – 3:46
23. "A Day in the Life" – 5:08
24. "Hey Jude" – 3:58
25. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" – 1:22
26. "All You Need Is Love" – 3:39

iTunes bonus tracks

27. "The Fool on the Hill" – 3:30
28. "Girl" – 2:43

Track elements

The elder Martin was assisted by his son Giles in the studio, compiling and remixing the various fragments

Love contains elements from 130 individual commercially released and demo recordings of the Beatles,^[25] and is a complex remix and polymix of multiple songs known as a mashup.^[26] While a complete list has not been disclosed, highlights of how the elements were mixed have been noted by the press.

• "Because" – An interview in Entertainment Weekly revealed that the opening track includes the bird sounds used in the World Wildlife Fund version of "Across the Universe".^[27] In addition, a new recording of a wood pigeon was implemented "to make it more British," according to George Martin.^[27]
• "Get Back" – As reported, the track uses the opening guitar from "A Hard Day's Night", the drum and guitar solos from "The End", percussion from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", and the orchestral swell from "A Day in the Life".^[28][29]
• "Glass Onion" – This track is much shorter than the original version, containing less vocals. The track contains McCartney's falsetto "Oh, no" and "Hello, Hello" both from "Hello, Goodbye", guitar from "Things We Said Today", brass from "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Penny Lane" and elements from "Only a Northern Song". ^[30]
• "Eleanor Rigby" (with "Julia" transition) – After the "Julia" transition it contains elements from "A Day in the Life" and "Strawberry Fields Forever".
• "I Want to Hold Your Hand" – An interview with George and Giles Martin stated that elements from both the studio recording and the Hollywood Bowl live performance were mixed to create this version.^[27]
• "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" – As reported, the medley features the guitar solo from "Taxman" and the horns section from "Savoy Truffle".^[3][31]
• "Gnik Nus" – As suggested in its title, the track contains the vocal arrangement of "Sun King" played in reverse.^[31]
• "Something" (with "Blue Jay Way" transition) – The track contains vocal elements from "Nowhere Man"^[26] in the "Blue Jay Way" transition.
• "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter" – As the title suggests, the track contains the whole of "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite", the guitars from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and heavily delayed vocals from "Helter Skelter". This track also contains horse sounds from "Good Morning, Good Morning", harmonium and other elements from "Cry Baby Cry" and laughter from "Piggies".^[32]
• "Strawberry Fields Forever" – A review of the album noted that this version builds from an acoustic demo.^[33] It includes the orchestral section from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", the piano solo from "In My Life", the brass included in "Penny Lane", the cello and harpsichord from "Piggies" and the coda of "Hello, Goodbye".^[31]
• "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" – This track combines the vocals and the dilruba from "Within You Without You" with the bass and drums from "Tomorrow Never Knows".^[29]
• "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – This track contains the drum roll from "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", the clavioline from "Baby, You're a Rich Man", horns, guitars, bass and drums from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and sound effects from "Tomorrow Never Knows".^[34]
• "Octopus's Garden" – This track contains the string arrangement from "Good Night", sound effects and vocal elements from "Yellow Submarine" and elements from "Lovely Rita" and "Helter Skelter".^[29][31]
• "Lady Madonna" – The song includes the percussion intro from "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?", the piano from "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", the guitar riff from "Hey Bulldog", Eric Clapton's guitar solo from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and Billy Preston's organ solo from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".^[35][36]
• "Here Comes the Sun" (with "The Inner Light" transition) – As mentioned by Giles Martin, the track includes tabla from "Within You Without You", backing vocals from "Oh! Darling" and a bass line from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".^[37]
• "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" – A BBC article reported that George Martin chose to use an early version of the recording for the album and wrote a new orchestral backing for the track; the demo version used is found on Anthology 3. This was also stated in the fifth chapter of The Beatles 'LOVE' Podcast.^[33][38]
• "All You Need Is Love" – This track is mostly unchanged until the fade out which contains vocals from "Baby, You're a Rich Man", "Rain", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the guitar riff from "Ticket to Ride". The track ends with orchestration from "Good Night", the sign off from The Beatles Third Christmas Record. ^[30]
• "The Fool on the Hill" – This track includes sitar from "Sea of Holes", piano from "Dear Prudence" and vocals and horns from "Mother Nature's Son", and drums from "Maxwell's Silver Hammer".
• "Girl" – This track includes sitar from "Within You Without You", guitar from "And I Love Her" and drums from "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!".

Charts and certifications

Charts Chart (2006–07) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[39] 2 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[40] 3 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[41] 3 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[42] 1 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[43] 1 Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[44] 23 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[45] 4 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[46] 5 French Albums (SNEP)[47] 1 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[48] 2 Irish Albums (IRMA)[49] 3 Italian Albums (FIMI)[50] 7 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[51] 8 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[52] 2 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[53] 2 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[54] 5 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[55] 2 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[56] 3 UK Albums (OCC)[57] 3 US Billboard 200[58] 4 Chart (2011) Peak position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[41] 84 French Albums (SNEP)[47] 183 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[51] 24 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[55] 38 US Billboard 200[58] 37

Certifications Region Certification Certified units/Sales Australia (ARIA)[59] 2× Platinum 140,000^^ Canada (Music Canada)[60] 2× Platinum 200,000^^ Germany (BVMI)[61] 3× Gold 300,000^^ United Kingdom (BPI)[62] 2× Platinum 600,000^^ United States (RIAA)[63] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^^ ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

See also

• All Together Now, a documentary following the creation of the Cirque du Soleil show and its soundtrack
• Cirque du Soleil discography, a complete list of Cirque du Soleil's music releases with track listings

References

1. "Beatles to release new album". NME. 2 October 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2006.
2. "Love - The Beatles". Metacritic.
3. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Beatles / Cirque du Soleil LOVE". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
4. "Critic reviews for Love". Metacritic. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
5. Willman, Chris (17 November 2006). "Love: Music Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
6. Petridis, Alexis (16 November 2006). "CD: The Beatles, Love". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
7. Mackay, Emily (17 November 2006). "NME Album Reviews – The Beatles: LOVE". NME. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
8. Spencer, Neil (11 November 2006). "CD: The Beatles, Love". The Observer. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
9. Book, John. "The Beatles: Love". okayplayer.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
10. "The Beatles: Love | Album Reviews". Pitchfork. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
11. Lundy, Zeth (15 November 2006). "The Beatles: Love". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
12. Q magazine #245, Dec. 2006, p133
13. "Album Reviews: The Beatles: Love". Rolling Stone. 30 November 2006. p. 112. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
14. Jones, Preston (22 November 2006). "Album Review: The Beatles – Love". Slant. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
15. Moody, Paul (December 2006). "The Beatles – Read and have your say on the year's most controversial album". uncut.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
16. Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc, "Magical mystery tours, and others trips: Yellow submarines, newspaper taxis, and the Beatles' psychedelic years", in Kenneth Womack (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, UK, 2009; ISBN 978-1-139-82806-2), p. 105.
17. Holmes, Bill (10 March 2010). "All Together Now". PopMatters. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
18. Irvin, Jim (December 2006). "The Beatles Love". Mojo. p. 100.
19. "The Beatles Fan Club". Norwegian Wood. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
20. ""Love" Released in Stereo and 5.1 – on November 20th 2006". The Beatles. 16 October 2006. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
21. "The Beatles' new album: full details here". NME. 17 October 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
22. Dignan (24 February 2011). "Beatles Love iTunes". The Original UnOriginal. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
23. "Westlife beat Oasis, U2 and the Beatles in UK album battle". NME. 26 November 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2006.
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25. "The Beatles – Love". About.com. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
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27. Willman, Chris (29 November 2006). "Labor of LOVE". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 6 December 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2006.
28. Cohen, Howard (21 November 2006). "It's hard not to LOVE the new Beatles album". Miami Herald. Retrieved 23 November 2006.
29. Gundersen, Edna (13 November 2006). "A likely lament: 'You can't do that to The Beatles". USA Today. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
30. Martin, Giles (21 November 2006). "Beatle's Love Track Notes". Retrieved 28 January 2015.
31. "The Beatles: Love – PopMatters Music Review". PopMatters. 15 December 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
32. Corliss, Richard (30 June 2006). "The Beatles Come Together". Time. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
33. Watson, Greig (17 November 2006). "Love unveils new angle on Beatles". BBC. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
34. Friedman, Roger (20 November 2006). "Tom Cruise: Was Wedding the End of His Career?". Fox News. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
35. "2006: LOVE. Single CD or Deluxe package 1CD / 1DVD-A". Norwegianwood.org. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
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37. The Beatles Love Site
38. "The Beatles 'LOVE' Podcast". The Beatles. 11 January 2007. Archived from the original on 19 January 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
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42. "Ultratop.be – The Beatles – Love" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
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48. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Beatles – Love" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
49. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 47, 2006". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
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51. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Beatles – Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
52. "Charts.org.nz – The Beatles – Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
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54. "Portuguesecharts.com – The Beatles – Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
55. "Swedishcharts.com – The Beatles – Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
56. "Swisscharts.com – The Beatles – Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
57. "Beatles | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 17 May 2016.
58. "The Beatles – Chart history" Billboard 200 for The Beatles. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
59. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2007 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
60. "Canadian album certifications – The Beatles – Love". Music Canada. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
61. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Beatles; 'Love')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
62. "British album certifications – The Beatles – Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 May 2016. Enter Love in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
63. "American album certifications – The Beatles – Love". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 May 2016. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

• Love at Discogs
• Love at Metacritic
• DVD-Audio specific review at HFR