All You Need Is LOVE?

Most folks are probably aware that Cirque du Soleil is performing "a Beatles show" at The Mirage in Las Vegas. According to their official web site, the show - LOVE - "brings the magic of Cirque du Soleil together with the spirit and passion behind the most beloved rock group of all time to create a vivid, intimate and powerful entertainment experience." OK, I can buy that - Cirque du Soleil is cool, and the project was partly George's idea, and was blessed by Paul and Yoko - so, no problem there.

I was prepared to completely ignore the soundtrack album, until I saw the favorable review by Robert Christgau in the most recent issue of Rolling Stone. Even then, I probably wouldn't have bought it, but when it went on sale for the holiday weekend, my defenses were shattered. Part of me felt a little embarrassed, to be honest.

But damned if the thing doesn't work, and magnificently well in some places. Sir George Martin and his son Giles have done a brilliant job of creating a Beatles pastiche, using a few dozen Beatles songs (most are credited on the packaging, but others serve only as "audio filler") to create an "audio collage." But it's more than that - in some instances, it's a re-creation of the songs - on Strawberry Fields Forever, you hear the very basic track on the first verse, one that adds a few of the background instruments on the second verse, and then the fully orchestrated version on the final verse - with the transition between the three being totally seamless. On Octopus's Garden, you hear Ringo singing that song, but the background orchestration at the beginning is from John's beautiful lullaby, Goodnight. Within You Without You and Tomorrow Never Knows are blended to magnificent effect - the list goes on and on. And I could be wrong, but I would swear that the mixes on I Am The Walrus and Back in the U.S.S.R. (and a few others) are far superior to those on the original albums.

It's absolutely terrific, but the ironic thing is that most of the people who buy it (I'm just assuming that most of the market will be folks who weren't around when the Beatles were in their heyday, but I could be wrong) probably won't "get it" - they won't be familiar enough with the source material to know that things here are any different. That's their loss, and also a reason to familiarize themselves with the originals.