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Mashed Potatoes and Beatles

Submitted by bloggityblog07 on 25 November 2006 - 2:47pm. | | | |

The recently released Beatles album entitled Love has got me thinking... and blogging. Though I have yet to hear the entire album, Love is a mash-up of old Beatles songs which was created as the soundtrack for a Las Vegas stage show featuring Cirque du Soleil. The album was produced by the slicing and dicing of the Beatles catalog primarily from the years of 1963-1970 and features songs which mix elements of Penny Lane with Strawberry Fields Forever or one song that uses the guitar riff from Blackbirds as the introduction to Yesterday.

LOVE is an interesting example of the 21st century phenomenon of "mashing" because unlike most mash-ups, the record is comprised of Beatles music and Beatles music only and made with the explicit authorization of the group. But some fans are wondering if the manipulation and reconstruction of the Beatles' music is sacrilege?

Prior to the album's release, producer Sir George Martin joked about putting a notice on the cover that said "No original Beatles recordings were harmed in the making of these tracks."

One reviewer said that the tone of the album is "respectful" unlike many mash-ups that mock their sources. "The album doesn't devalue or dethrone the original songs it illuminates them."

Has anyone heard the album? Have any thoughts on the matter of mashing in this particular context? Want to write my term paper for me? Just let me know.

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beatles love

Submitted by lrob on 26 November 2006 - 12:09am.

as a disclaimer: i might be incredibly biased in writing about this, since i've been a huge beatles fan my entire life (i remember sitting on the couch in fifth grade and recording the entirety of the beatles' anthology, aired on abc, onto videotape)...

so i read your post and found samples of the tracks from "love" on myspace: www.myspace.com/thebeatles.

a part of me loves this mash-up, and a part of me hates it.

the new versions have a certain thrill about them, as though they're long-lost, rare beatles tracks that just recently surfaced on napster, limewire, or the like. i know these songs by heart, yet they sound remarkably different. there are times when i wish i could hear a beatles song again for the first time. the tracks from "love" come really close to creating that feeling for me.

...and yet, they seem somewhat bastardized (this is the part where i start feeling biased, like a beatles purist of sorts, so please bear with me). these aren't beatles songs as the band originally intended. these are mash-ups done years later by people who just plain weren't in the group. i can appreciate them on some level, but they just can't live up to the originals. but i guess if you're gonna have a beatles cirque du soleil show in vegas, it has to be new and over-the-top.

still, i heard that paul mccartney and ringo starr approve of the remixes / mash-ups / whatever you want to call them... so i guess that makes it all a little better (i.e. the author's endorsement, in this case, is reassuring to me). but would john and george have gone for it? the world will never know...

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Beatles Remixes

Submitted by BuildingsAndFood on 27 November 2006 - 1:58pm.

Also being a huge Beatles fan, I have to say I love these tracks! I haven't listened to all of them, but I'd say that the ones on the mySpace page are mostly remixes and not true mashups. "Lady Madonna" was nice when they threw in that guitar solo/instrumental (was it "Baby You're a Rich Man"?). As I'm hearing now, this seems to be a pattern, where they just throw in random snippets of other Beatles song in the midst of an instrumental break in the original track, like this weird medley in the middle of "Strawberry Fields". Now, the moment where the drums from "Strawberry Fields" are supporting the harpsichord from "Piggies" with the the refrain from "Hello Goodbye" chanting in the background is a true mashup moment. And I think it's just genius. The Beatles are not a group that has made the use of their work widely available to be used in many settings, let alone screwed with by DJs. The fact that they have finally stepped into the 21st century is great, and to me just another innovative step in the evolution of a band that has always been on the cutting edge of so many different trends. They're a little behind on this one, but I think it really will legitimize the art form of the remix/mashup in the eyes of the older music critic/fan. And, lrob, if it helps at all, it sounds like most of the base tracks being used are from the Anthology, themselves versions of the songs that the band never originally intended to release. We weren't meant to hear this gorgeous "While my Guitar..." with the different lyrics and the acoustic guitar, but we got it, and now we have it drenched with strings, as well. The Beatles have already plundered their own back catalogue for fascinating material, and they just continue to do so. Now if only they wouldn't sue other innovators like DJ Danger Mouse.

PS I just put on "Octopus' Garden" and it is incredible over the orchestral part from "Good Night" on the White Album. I love this!

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