Of all the possible posthumous incarnations for the Beatles, here's one of the most unlikely - as soundtrack to a Las Vegas circus.

It isn't any old circus, admittedly, but Canada's arty, super-acrobatic Cirque du Soleil, whose current Las Vegas show, "Love", is modelled on the story of the Beatles and characters from their songs: "Eleanor Rigby", "Sergeant Pepper" et al.

More importantly, "Love-the-show" - the result of George Harrison's friendship with Cirque founder Guy Laliberte - involved producer George Martin disinterring the group's master tapes from the Abbey Road vault for he and his son Giles to remix and remodel.

The results blast "Love" audiences from a state-of-the-art surround-sound system that includes speakers in individuual seats.

And the first thing "Love-the-album" does, at least in its DVD surround-sound format, is to blow you away with sheer sonic wizardry. Set to a noisy dawn chorus, complete with fluttering wings, the three-part vocal harmonies of 'Because' arrive with the clarity of an ice blue sky. The chugging introduction to 'Get Back' hurtles out of the mix like a train. The pumping fairground organs of 'Mr Kite' reek of steam and sawdust. Hearing many of the familiar tracks is like viewing an old masterpiece after cleaning: the light is brighter, the shadows deeper. Here, the trebles tingle while the bass end booms.

Some of this is painstaking technical restoration. After the Beatles swapped touring for the studio, they and Martin became experts at squeezing a quart of sound into a pint pot, extending the limits of four- and eight-track recordings by 'bouncing down' tracks.

Today's technology has let the Martins reverse the process, giving instruments and voices more autonomy. Ever notice the pizzicato violins on the middle 8 of 'Something'? You will now.

The ambitions of "Love" go beyond renovation, however. Its 26 tracks are set in an ambient flow of sound collages distilled from hours of Beatles tapes and containing fragments and echoes of 130 songs in all. Frequently the effect is ghostly, as the stalking strings of 'Glass Onion' and a snatch of 'Nowhere Man' drift like ectoplasm down a corridor. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' - one of the few numbers from the moptop days - surfaces from a scratchy haze of screaming.

The most ambitious songs emerge most improved. There is not, after all, much to be done with the rock'n'roll retro of 'Lady Madonna', whereas 'Strawberry Fields' and 'I am the Walrus' sound more than ever like avant-garde masterpieces. Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' (the slower version from Anthology 3) is given a sumptuous string setting by Sir George.

Throughout, the McCartney/Starr rhythm section has never sounded so heavy, or the group's vocal harmonies so sharp and affecting.

"Love" vindicates the Beatles' status as master musicians and conceptualists. Not only for the spirit of optimism they embodied but artistically, they remain the act to beat. On this evidence, no one else comes close.

My favourite track is 'Here Comes the Sun/The Inner Light'.

Neil Spencer

The stereo CD contains 78 minutes of music. The DVD surround sound version on DVD disc album is slightly extended version with 81 minutes of music.

FIRST OF ALL THE SURROUND IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After being asked by the remaining Beatles, Ringo and Paul, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, to make experimental mixes from their master tapes for a collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, Sir George Martin, The Beatles legendary producer, and his son Giles Martin have worked with the entire archive of Beatles recordings to create LOVE. The result is an unprecedented approach to the music. Using the master tapes at Abbey Road Studios, Sir George and Giles have created a unique soundscape. The release of this album, which is also featured in the Cirque du Soleil/Beatles collaborative production of the same name at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

This album puts the Beatles back together again, because suddenly there's John, Paul,George and Ringo.

The music is stunning. I think the most amazing thing about it is that you can pull it apart and all the elements carry with it the essence of the entire song.

George and Giles Martin highly original work in creating the LOVE album gives us a genuinely new Beatles album. It makes us respect even more, if that were possible, the creativity and brilliance of the band behind the greatest catalogue in the history of recorded music.

The 5.1 disc is a DVD-Audio/DVD-Video hybrid. The audio is presented in high-resolution 96/24 5.1 surround on the DVD-Audio part of the disc. The DVD-Video part carries 5.1 surround in DTS and Dolby Digital as well as a PCM stereo mix. This DVD album is designed to be played on DVD video equipment but will carry no video component.

Along with the Amazonian rainforest, there can be few natural resources which have been ransacked like the Beatles back catalogue. Anthologised, lobotomised, and generally pillaged in the pursuit of commercial gain, public demand appeared to have finally exhausted itself with the middling response to 2003's unfortunately titled "Let It Be... Naked".

Until now. Prompted by a long-term friendship between George Harrison and Cirque De Soleil's founder Guy Laliberté, and given the blessing of the Axis Powers (Paul, Ringo and Yoko), Love is the latest addition to that bulging catalogue.

Essentially the soundtrack to the Cirque show launched in Las Vegas last July, "Love" is a jaw-dropping 80- minute mash-up of The Beatles' more accessible tunes, slavishly compiled by Giles Martin and overseen by father George, all delivered in sumptuous 5.1 surround sound.

Those fearing a train-wreck along the lines of Twin Freaks - The Freelance Hellraiser's remix assault on the Wings back catalogue - can rest easy.

Starting off with "Because", it segues into the drum solo from "The End", hammers into the opening riff from "Hard Day's Night" and then lurches straight into "Get Back" before you can splutter "Stars On 45".

From there it's a musical landslide of Beatleology ( "Eleanor Rigby", "A Day In The Life", "Here Comes The Sun" ), all overlaid with snippets from every nook and cranny of their back catalogue.

So we get "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" as one continuous ebb'n'flow of mid-period drugginess, "Come Together/Dear Prudence" as an acid-fried soundscape and - best of all - the cosmic drones of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Within You Without You" fitted together like a glove.

Wherever a song is allowed to stand alone ("Back In The USSR", "Revolution"), it arrives with double-tracked vocals, stripped back instrumentation or - why not? - the faint tinge of sitar.

If the scale is almost beyond comprehension, "Love" also represents a sonic Da Vinci Code for Beatles trainspotters, who could spend the rest of their lives arguing over whether the snare sound is derived from "No Reply" or "Paperback Writer".

Completists will enjoy a newly unearthed demo version of "Strawberry Fields Forever", but it is the Martins' obsessive quest for innovation which deserves the garlands.

Paul Moody

www.uncut.co.uk

My first two listens where of he 5.1 mix and the sound was great. The vocals are emphasized in this mix but at times I thought the instrumentation was too buried. Maybe it is the fault of my set-up. I then put on the phones and listened to the stereo mix. These are the best stereo soundscape I have ever heard and I've been listening to recordings before stereo was released. The stereo sound is so clean, well balanced with each sound being distinct and perfectly placed. Start with I am the Walrus to see what I mean.

I classify the songs on this album into three categories: Bascially intact (usually only minor changes to entrances and exits), Slightly re-invented, or Re-invented. Here's the breakdown by song:

Basically intact

Eleanor Rigby

I Am the Walrus (best stereo remix ever)

Something

Help!

Yesterday

Come Together

Revolution

A Day in the Life

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (least effective stereo remix)

All You Need is Love

Slightly re-invented

Get Back

I Want to Hold Your Hand (shortened, background screams)

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Hey Jude (vocals and base freed up in the shortened ending course, beautiful base line)

Re-invented

Glass Onion

Drive My Car (great driving beat and blending with What You're Doing and The Word)

Sun King (Knik Nus) (suprisingly effective)

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite (most experimental, one song where the 5.1 mix is better)

Strawberry Fields Forever

Within You and Without You (most effectve combination)

Octopus's Garden (real fun and entertaining)

Lady Madonna (a better version than the original)

Here Come's the Sun (not better than the original but a masterpiece on its own)

Back in the USSR (different vocals, more casual fun)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (undescribably beautiful, another masterpiece reinvention)

Lastly, many of the transitions are remarkably, inventive and some will blow your mind. Starting with Because to Get Back will lift you out of your seat. Glass Onion to Eleanor Rigby, Something/Inner Light to Being for the Benefit Mr. Kite, Within You and Without You to Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds (the most subtle and best), Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to Octobus's Garden, Lady Madonna to Here Comes the Sun, Revolution to Back to the USSR (so smooth and flawless), Hey Jude to Sgt. Pepper's Club Band.

George is 80 years old and not likely going to have time to do much more re-invention (and he is probably the only that should be allowed) but let's hope they immediately put him on cleaning up the sound and creating the stereo soundscapes on the rest of the catalog.

I've been a fan since I first saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, and I've stuck around their music long enough to place it on a godlike pedestal. I don't care much for anyone messing around with their music, and I definitely didn't care for "Revolution" getting used in a commercial for athletic shoes. So I can say that I'm not really open to reinterpretations of the Beatles, their music, and what they brought into world.

Having said all of that, let me tell you that this project turned out a lot better than I expected. I was intrigued to learn about the Las Vegas show, and now I will definitely go to see it in the coming months. What excited me the most were the possibilities for new musical directions because of the mash-ups, and I felt confident that George Martin, Paul and Ringo would make it all sound fresh and alive while keeping it reasonable, tasteful, and respectful. And in my opinion they have succeeded.

"Love" impresses me for two reasons: (1) on almost every song the underlying beats and rhythms are very prominent - let's face it, a lot of us fell in love with their music because it was great, r'n'b-influenced, joyous rock'n'roll that could get you moving; and (2) the inward-focused, dreamlike direction (found in "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Within You Without You" and "Tomorrow Never Knows") is also emphasized a lot in some of these new interpretations (what always knocks me out is when Lennon shouts "nothing is real" in the new version of "Glass Onion" - at first it was startling for me to hear, but now it's exciting and comforting to me at the same time). I'm also impressed that George Martin and his son Giles were able to fit all that different source material into fairly cohesive new songs. I guess that says a lot for having fairly good taste, a talent for digital music editing, and Pro Tools software.

I know that there are millions of people who'll be upset that the music has been "tampered with" - I was concerned about that, too. The only criticism I have is that a couple of the songs seem too abrupt ("I Want To Hold Your Hand" comes to mind), but I'm guessing that has more to do with the limitations of an 80 minute CD for a Las Vegas show. Still, I can enjoy this CD knowing that Ringo and Paul gave their approval, and I'm sure that the widows of Lennon and Harrison kept a watchful eye on the integrity of the project, too. I can't help but believe that John and George would have gone along with this, if for no other reason than to prevent their music from collecting dust as preserved museum pieces (how much dancing goes on in a museum anyway?).

Let's be honest: we who have been Beatles fans for forty-odd years (if we're still among the living) aren't getting any younger, and we can't go back to the 60's, no matter how much we might want to. Everything changes. To me, music is a nice little semi-perfect replica of the universe at large, and it's going to keep moving forward and expanding into lots of new directions, with or without me. Really good music can get me lost within a bigger experience far beyond what my stupid, inadequate words try to express, and in that regard I have no problems with this album. The music of the Beatles has always made me feel blessed, glad to be alive and a part of something magical and uplifting, and this new chapter in their musical legacy doesn't disappoint me at all.