Love (album)

Love is a Grammy Award-winning soundtrack compilation album of music recorded by The Beatles, released in November 2006. It features music compiled and remixed 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."

Release history
George Martin and his son Giles began work on Love after getting permission from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison (the latter two representing John Lennon and George Harrison, respectively). In discussing the project, Giles Martin noted that elements were utilized 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." George Martin also promised a prize to those who could crack a "code" found in the album.

Giles Martin said in an interview that he was afraid they wouldn't get the green light to do the project, so he started 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.

McCartney and Starr, the two living members of The Beatles after the release of "Love", responded very positively to the album. McCartney noted that "This album puts The Beatles back together again, because suddenly there's John and George with me and Ringo". Starr commended George and Giles Martin for the album and said that the album is "really powerful for me and I even heard things I'd forgotten we'd recorded."

The album was first played publicly on Virgin Radio's The Geoff Show. Virgin Radio DJ Geoff Lloyd, a self-proclaimed fan of The Beatles, chose to play the entire album uninterrupted to allow younger fans to experience an album premiere.

Love placed at #3 in the UK Albums Chart during its first week of release, trailing Westlife's The Love Album and Oasis' Stop the Clocks compilation. It was also successful in the United States, debuting at #4 in the Billboard 200, where it was certified Platinum in late 2006.

At the 50th annual Grammy awards on February 10th, 2008, the album won Grammys in two categories - Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Surround Sound Album.

Release details
The album was released in three versions — a standard CD version, a two-disc CD and DVD-Audio package and a two-disc vinyl package. The DVD-Audio disc contains a 5.1-channel surround sound mix (96 kHz 24-bit MLP), downmixable to 2-channel. For backwards compatibility it also contains separate audio-only DVD-Video content with 2-channel stereo (48 kHz 16-bit PCM) and 5.1-channel surround (448 kbit/s Dolby Digital and 754 kbit/s DTS).

Track listing
The DVD has longer versions of "Revolution" and "Back in the USSR", increasing the total running time by nearly two minutes. The version which was finally made available on iTunes is based on the DVD version, as probably are versions available from other download sites. 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). "Julia (transition)" – 3:05 "Blue Jay Way (Harrison) (transition)" – 3:29 "The Inner Light (transition)" (Harrison) – 4:18 "Cry Baby Cry (transition)" – 4:45
 * 1) "Because" – 2:44
 * 2) "Get Back" – 2:05
 * 3) "Glass Onion" – 1:20
 * 4) "Eleanor Rigby"
 * 1) "I Am the Walrus" – 4:28
 * 2) "I Want to Hold Your Hand" – 1:26
 * 3) "Drive My Car / The Word / What You're Doing" – 1:54
 * 4) "Gnik Nus" – 0:55
 * 5) "Something" (George Harrison)
 * 1) "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! / I Want You (She's So Heavy) / Helter Skelter" – 3:22
 * 2) "Help!" – 2:18
 * 3) "Blackbird / Yesterday" – 2:31
 * 4) "Strawberry Fields Forever" – 4:31
 * 5) "Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows" (Harrison, Lennon/McCartney) – 3:07
 * 6) "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – 4:10
 * 7) "Octopus's Garden" (Richard Starkey) – 3:18
 * 8) "Lady Madonna" – 2:56
 * 9) "Here Comes the Sun" (Harrison)
 * 1) "Come Together / Dear Prudence"
 * 1) "Revolution" – 2:14 (CD version) / 3:23 (DVD/iTunes version)
 * 2) "Back in the U.S.S.R." – 1:54 (CD version) / 2:34 (DVD/iTunes version)
 * 3) "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Harrison) – 3:46
 * 4) "A Day in the Life" – 5:08
 * 5) "Hey Jude" – 3:58
 * 6) "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" – 1:22
 * 7) "All You Need Is Love" – 3:38

Additionally, the version of this album sold on iTunes includes two exclusive bonus tracks which were mixed by Giles Martin but not used in the final production:


 * "The Fool on the Hill" – 3:29
 * "Girl" – 2:42

Track elements
Love contains elements from 130 individual recordings of The Beatles. 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". In addition, a new recording of a Wood Pigeon was implemented "to make it more British," according to George Martin.


 * "Get Back" – As reported, the track utilizes 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".


 * "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.


 * "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".


 * "Gnik Nus" – As suggested in its title, the track contains the vocal arrangement of "Sun King" played in reverse.


 * "Something / Blue Jay Way (transition)" – The track contains vocal elements from "Nowhere Man".


 * "Strawberry Fields Forever" – A review of the album noted that this version builds from an acoustic demo. It includes the orchestral section from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", the solo piano from "In My Life", the brass included in "Penny Lane", the cello and harpsicord arrangement from "Piggies" and the coda of "Hello, Goodbye".


 * "Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows" – This track combines the vocals from "Within You Without You" with the bass and drums from "Tomorrow Never Knows."


 * "Octopus's Garden" – According to USA Today and PopMatters, this track contains the string arrangement from "Good Night", sound effects used in "Yellow Submarine" and elements from "Lovely Rita" and "Helter Skelter".


 * "Lady Madonna" – The song includes 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)".


 * "Here Comes the Sun / The Inner Light (transition)" – As mentioned by Giles Martin, the track includes backing vocals from "Oh! Darling" and a bass line from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".


 * "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. This was also stated in the fifth chapter of The Beatles 'LOVE' Podcast.