Screw
the Playstation 3! The new release I’m
really
stoked about is Tuesday’s launch
of the first “real” Beatles album of the millennium, George and Giles Martin’s
mash-up called “Love.” On the surface,
it’s the soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil collaboration of the same name in
Las Vegas, but lift the veneer of hype and you find the true Surprise—this not
only exceeds expectations by light years, it breathes new relevance into both The Beatles and the Cirque.
The
Beatles, while undisputedly the soundtrack and conscience of a generation, were slowly
succumbing to a numbing state of nostalgia and over-merchandising. They morphed into sellers of lunchboxes and
ties, not of revolution and spirit. And
where else could the Cirque go after demolishing the definition of the circus
with early shows like “Alegria” and “Mystere” and then smashing their own
standards with one-syllable tech marvels like “O” and “Ka”?
The
answer, my friend, ain’t blowing in the wind. The answer is a near miracle of taking raw material that we all know
all-too-well and spinning it into something so fresh and innovative, it’s like discovering
the band for the first time. The Martins
take what Danger Mouse did with The White Album, go one step further with a fuller slice of
the Fab Four oeuvre, and actually improve on the original. Then Cirque plies it with visuals so
hallucinatory that the music almost takes a back seat. What
a feat for both parties!
I saw
“Love” in Vegas about a month ago with 12 high school buddies; hacks all of
‘em, none of whom I thought would appreciate it one iota. When they emerged
shell-shocked, some teary-eyed, I knew that this show and its sonic band had
transcended mere entertainment.
That’s
why as bowled over as I was with the show, I came out of it depressed, because
I knew that no creative project I could ever muster up on this earth—not even
this blog!—could even approach the brilliance I had just borne witness to.
If you
can’t make it down to the Strip, “Love” is well worth standing in line at
Wal-Mart or Best Buy for. Just don’t mug
anyone.