The Beatles - LOVE (+DVD) [Digipak] (CD 2006)

This album has certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons, as far as splitting 'Beatles' fan opinion down the middle is concerned.. To many it was a case of 'how dare you,' while too others it was simply nice hearing songs you both know and love so well, just sounding different..

I must confess that I drop firmly into the latter category... Although not a Beatles fanatic by any stretch of the imagination, it would still be a safe bet to say that I am a fan, and I do like most of their material.. To me, right from the opening strains of 'Because', done in a wonderful accapella style, you get a foretaster of what's in store, and over the course of 79 minutes and 26 songs you are certainly run the gauntlet of classic Beatles songs, done a different way.. To be fair to George Martin and his son Giles, they could probably have stepped a great deal further over the edge than they actually did, with several numbers not sounding radically different from the original tracks..
But it is when they take little chances and blend tunes, or take the string parts (as in Eleanor Rigby)and remove the vocals, that it really comes to life.. I think if you can just keep your purists head in the cupboard and take these tracks purely for what they are, then this is a cracking album. A further very worthy point of note.. By remastering this material from the multi tracks, The Martin's seemed to have cleaned up the sound significantly and you can be assured of one thing... Your Beatles classics never sounded so full and vibrant..
I'd certainly give it a five star rating, whether it stands up to the test of repeated playings, remains to be seen. Though I can quite easily imagine it playing away as a really pleasant bit of background music for many months to come....