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Love
I got a comment at some point last week on this blog (can't remember on which post) that basically said, "run, don't walk, to your local music store and get the new Beatles album, Love".
I didn't run and it took me a week, but I followed those instructions yesterday on the way home from work. I ripped the CD onto my digital music system (it would be so much easier if The Beatles were available digitally). And by dinner we were listening as a family to the new record.
And we listened all the way through to the end while we finished off the gingerbread house. I'll say this about The Beatles - we knew every song and sang along with most of them. That's from a 45 year old indie rock fan to a 10 year old Red Hot Chili Peppers fanatic.
The record - well its a great listen. But some of the greatest parts of the songs are missing. "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" is missing from the end of All You Need Is Love, for example. Jessica was super bummed about that.
If you are looking for a reason to put The Beatles back in heavy rotation, this is a good one. Some will enjoy the new production. Others will hate it. You can check the comments on Amazon to see the discussion. You can also pick up the CD while you are at it if you are so inclined.
Here's one of my favorite Beatles songs, Octupus's Garden, from the Love record. This will give you a good sense of what the record is all about.
December 8, 2006 My Music | Comments (11)
Comments
is on my xmas list for my wife - we pretty much have every permutation of beatles output in all forms of media (even reel to reel tapes). regards being available digitally, i am sure i heard recently 'they' (ie, apple corp, one assumes) are about to do a deal for digital distribution. will result in a nice explosion of royalties, from a whole new demographic, i am sure.
bet heather mills-mccartney is rubbing her hands with glee!
;-)
when we get the spare funds we're going to get over to vegas to see the live show - sounds superb.
Posted by: carl rahn griffith | Dec 8, 2006 6:57:06 AM
Hi Fred,
If you have a home theater setup, try the DVD. Much higher quality music and in 5.1 surround sound. Just an awesome reengineer and remix.
Posted by: Dan Cornish | Dec 8, 2006 8:03:10 AM
The exact same thing is happening in my house - indeed, my 14-year-old Killers fan is bragging about converting her friends to Beatlemaniacs.
Not everything on the disc is great - there are some poor decisions. But the souns quality is superb. My personal fave is the version of Strawberry Fields.
Posted by: Tom W. | Dec 8, 2006 9:06:34 AM
It really is a bummer that you can't get the Beatles on iTunes. The reason has to do with the Apple Computer vs Apple Records law suit. Doesn't look like Mr. McCartney is giving in anytime soon.
Posted by: Greg Harris | Dec 8, 2006 10:08:50 AM
I loved it... Some people have asked me about it, and I basically describe it as a mashup--Beatles mashed with more Beatles. And I don't think you can *be* an indie rock fan and _not_ like the Beatles...
Posted by: Dave! | Dec 8, 2006 10:11:29 AM
I am glad the Beatles have forced you to go buy the CD. It's better for the economy, and the quality of sound is better. People have jobs, they need to work. Downloading music takes money out of the mouths of people who work in retail, who manufacture cd's, who design album art, ect...
Do you have a plan to re-employ these people in your new model?
Posted by: jackson | Dec 8, 2006 11:11:29 AM
Honestly this makes me sick. What a terrible rendition of Octopus' Garden. :-(
Posted by: Bosko | Dec 8, 2006 1:20:04 PM
Hi,
Really pity that Beatles are not avaialble for ITunes. Hope they sort out their legal hassles soon.
Posted by: Deepak Samaga | Dec 9, 2006 12:36:58 AM
Funny though, if the records good enough people will go out and get it - even if its not on iTunes. And that no matter what kind of music you're into (personally I'm an electronic, R&B, rock, jazz and classical guy) everyone loves the Beatles. Oh and I shared Jessica's bummedness.
Posted by: Farhan Lalji | Dec 9, 2006 7:34:02 AM
Are you lookin' for trouble? I think it'd be better to remove the file before someone of the musical industry gets to know. That's my advice. But maybe I'm wrong?
Posted by: Keith Mosley | Dec 12, 2006 8:54:49 AM
'Twas I that hollered in the general direction of Fred and exhorted him to pick up "Love."
Allow me to propose a new revenue stream for EMI & the Beatles publishing rights holders.
Getting George Martin et al to remix the Beatles is great and they did a good job. Why not release the multitracks to a handful of tunes for the public to remix?
How do you monetize this??? Legal distribution is the major scarcity here...GarageBand and Acid are ubiquitous and extremely powerful. Everyone has an internet connection [aka "global distribution"].
So, trade margin for volume. Rather than wait around for someone to offer $20 million to sample a Beatles track, allow people to distribute their own remixes on a legal EMI web site [www.emi.com/remix]. Moderated by G Mart?.
$10/month for all the remixes you want to upload? Would they be able to get 1 million people to pay for the right to distribute their derivative works of the Beatles [or Stones, or Lilly Allen, or Jay-Z]?
I say, absolutely. By making the fee reasonable and the site well-designed, you create a strong value proposition for remixers. The potential for wider exposure on a platform like this is massive. Much greater than just putting your Beatles remix on MySpace or on P2P.
Let's see...$10 fee X 1 million people X 12 months...sounds like about $120M to me, with ZERO marketing costs [PR on this would be crazy], and maybe a million a month in bandwidth.
And how about this...share ad revenue with remixers that make popular tracks. Gasp!
Talk about "the greatest of all the arts" being changing a consumer into a producer. Lowering barriers to expression creates vastly more value than artificial scarcities [eg DRM].
Got to be good lookin, cuz he's SO HARD TO SEE!
;-)
Posted by: EthanB | Dec 13, 2006 2:30:00 PM
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