Love (The Beatles album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Love
Soundtrack (remix) by The Beatles
Released	20 November 2006
Recorded	Abbey Road Studios; 1963–1969, 2004–2006
Genre	Various subgenres of rock and pop music
Length	78:37 (CD, vinyl) 80:34 (DVD-Audio)
Label	Apple, Capitol, EMI
Producer	George and Giles Martin
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Blender link Entertainment Weekly (A) link The Guardian link NME (8/10) link The Observer link Okayplayer link Pitchfork Media (8.5/10) link PopMatters (6/10) link Q #245, Dec. 2006, p133 Rolling Stone #1014, 30 Nov. 2006, p112 Slant link Uncut link
The Beatles chronology
The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006) Love (2006)

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, who worked as the producer of almost all of The Beatles' records and even played piano on some Beatle tracks, 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]

Contents 1 Release history 2 Release details 3 Track listing 4 Track elements 5 Chart performance 6 Reception 7 See also 8 Notes 9 External links

[edit] 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).^[1] 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."^[1] George Martin also promised a prize to those who could crack a "code" found in the album.^[2]

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.^[3]

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving members of The Beatles, have 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."^[4][5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7] It was also successful in the United States, debuting at #4 in the Billboard 200, where it was certified Platinum in late 2006.^[8]

Love debuted at #1 in the United World Chart selling 721,000 copies in its first week and knocked off the top spot six new big releases that occupied other positions of the Top 10. With a leap of 26,000 copies, Jay-Z's Kingdom Come debuted at #2 and with 300,000 copies less than Love, U2's U218 Singles placed at #3. The following week, the album continued occupying the top spot, this time with a respectable 436,000 copies sold. Despite a sales increase of 467,000 copies in its third week, Love slipped down to #2 knocked by Il Divo's Siempre, which only sold 5,000 more. However, the following week Love returned to #1 and the same time reached Platinum certification in the United World Chart for 2 million copies sold.

Sales increased again during the next week due to the Christmas period and spent a total of six weeks at the top. It was finally displaced by U2 in late January 2007. After that, Love fell quickly in the chart and only achieved 15 weeks inside the Top 40. With only four weeks out in stores during 2006, Love became the fifteenth best-selling album of the year worldwide with 2,849,000 copies sold. During the following six months the album continued to sell steadily, at an average rate of 25,000 copies sold worldwide per week. It did so particularly in the United States, where it is still in the charts after 60 weeks.

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.

[edit] 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).

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Japan	2006-11-15	Toshiba-EMI	CD	TOCP-70200
			CD / DVD-Audio	TOCP-70201
United Kingdom	2006-11-20	Apple Records, EMI
			CD	3798082 / 0946 3 79808 2 8
			CD / DVD-Audio	3798102 / 0946 3 79810 2 3
United States	2006-11-21	Apple, Capitol Records, EMI	CD	0946 3 79808 2 8
			CD / DVD-Audio	0946 3 79810 2 3
United Kingdom	2007-04-30	Apple Records, EMI
			Vinyl

[edit] Track listing

The DVD has longer versions of "Revolution" and "Back in the USSR", increasing the total running time by nearly 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"
   "Julia (transition)" – 3:05
5. "I Am the Walrus" – 4:28
6. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" – 1:26
7. "Drive My Car / The Word / What You're Doing" – 1:54
8. "Gnik Nus" – 0:55
9. "Something" (George Harrison)
   "Blue Jay Way (Harrison) (transition)" – 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" (Harrison)
    "The Inner Light (transition)" – 4:18
19. "Come Together / Dear Prudence"
    "Cry Baby Cry (transition)" – 4:45
20. "Revolution" – 2:14 (CD version) / 3:23 (DVD version)
21. "Back in the U.S.S.R." – 1:54 (CD version) / 2:34 (DVD 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" – 3:38

[edit] Track elements

Love contains elements from 130 individual recordings of The Beatles.^[9] 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".^[10] In addition, a new recording of a Wood Pigeon was implemented "to make it more British," according to George Martin.^[10]
• "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".^[11][12]
• "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.^[10]
• "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".^[13]
• "Gnik Nus" – As suggested in its title, the track contains the vocal arrangement of "Sun King" played in reverse.^[13]
• "Something / Blue Jay Way (transition)" – The track contains vocal elements from "Nowhere Man".^[14]
• "Strawberry Fields Forever" – A review of the album noted that this version builds from an acoustic demo.^[15] 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".^[13]
• "Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows" – This track is noted as providing the most effective form of mashup in the album.^[13] It combines the vocals from "Within You Without You" with the bass and drums from "Tomorrow Never Knows."^[12]
• "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".^[13][12]
• "Lady Madonna" – As noted by the Miami Herald, the track includes the guitar riff from "Hey Bulldog".^[11]
• "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)".^[16]
• "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.^[15][17]

[edit] Chart performance

Chart (2007)	Providers	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Argentina	CAPIF	1	Gold (2x)	40,000[18]
United World Chart	Media Traffic	1(6)[19]	2x Platinum	5,028,000
United World Chart	+7,5%, which's not covered by Mediatraffic	1[19]	2x Platinum	5,405,100
Billboard 200	Billboard	4[20]	Platinum	1,669,712 [21]
Billboard Comprehensive Albums		4[22]
Billboard Top Internet Albums		1[23]
Euro Album Chart	IFPI	1[24]	2x Platinum[25]	2,000,000+
Canada Album Chart	Nielsen Soundscan	1[26]	2x Platinum[27]	200,000+
France Album Chart	SNEP/IFOP	1[28]	Platinum	211.200[29]
Greek International Album Chart	IFPI	1[30]	Gold	20,000
Ireland Album Chart	IRMA	1	3x Platinum	45,000
Poland Album Chart	ZPAV	2[31]	Platinum	20,000+
Australian Album Chart	ARIA	2[32]	2x Platinum	140,000+
New Zealand Album Chart	RIANZ	2[33]	Platinum	15,000+
German Album Chart	Media Control	2[31]	3x Gold	300,000+
Sweden Album Chart	GLF	2[34]	Gold
UK Album Chart	BPI/The Official UK Charts Company	3[35]	2x Platinum	769,000 (to June 8, 2007)
Japanese Album Chart	Oricon	3[36]	Platinum	242,822
Swiss Album Chart	Media Control Europe	3[37]
Belgium Album Chart	Ultratop / Nielsen	3[38]	Gold	15,000+
Austria Album Chart	Media Control Europe	3[39]
Netherlands Album Chart	Megacharts	4[40]	Gold	47,130
Czech Republic Albums Chart	IFPI	4[41]
Portugal Album Chart	Promusicae/Media Control	5[42]	Gold	10,000+
Finland Album Chart	GLF	5[43]
Brazil Album Chart	Hot100Brasil	7[44]		90,000
Italy Album Chart	FIMI/Nielsen	7[45]	Platinum	150.000
Spain Album Chart	Promusicae/Media Control	9[46]
Estonia Album Chart	Media Control Europe	17[47]

Preceded by Doctor's Advocate by The Game	United World Chart number-one albums (first run) December 9, 2006 - December 16, 2006 (2 weeks)	Succeeded by Siempre by Il Divo
Preceded by Siempre by Il Divo	United World Chart number-one albums (second run) December 30, 2006 - January 20, 2006 (4 weeks)	Succeeded by U218 Singles by U2

[edit] Reception

At the 50th Grammy Awards, Love won for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Surround Sound Album.

[edit] See also

• All Together Now (DVD)

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

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

v • d • e The Beatles' compilations Bert Kaempfert recordings (Polydor/Bear Family) My Bonnie (Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers, Germany, 1962) • The Beatles' First (Germany, 1964 / UK, 1967) • In the Beginning (Circa 1960) (1970) • The Early Tapes of The Beatles (1984) • Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days (2001) 1962–1970 (Parlophone/ Apple/Capitol) Hits: A Collection of Beatles Oldies (1966) • 1962–1966 (1973) • 1967–1970 (1973) • 20 Greatest Hits (1982) • 1 (2000) Themes: Rock 'n' Roll Music (1976) • Love Songs (1977) • The Beatles' Ballads (1980) • Reel Music (1982) Non-album tracks: Hey Jude (US, 1970 / UK, 1979) • Rarities (UK, 1978) • Rarities (US, 1980) • Past Masters, Volume One (1988) • Past Masters, Volume Two (1988) Alternate versions: Yellow Submarine Songtrack (1999) • Let It Be… Naked (2003) Other: The Beatles' Christmas Album (US) / From Then to You (UK) (1970) • Love (2006) Unreleased: Sessions (due date 1985) Live albums (Parlophone/ Capitol/Lingasong) The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977) • Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 (1977) • Live at the BBC (1994) Anthology (Parlophone/ Apple/Capitol) Anthology 1 (1995) • Anthology 2 (1996) • Anthology 3 (1996) Box sets (Parlophone/ Apple/Capitol) The Beatles Collection (UK, 1978 / US, 1979) • The Beatles Box Set (1988) • The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 (2004) • The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006)