This is somewhat of an oddity in The Beatles back catalogue. It’s not a traditional album by the group at all. It is basically a Sir George Martin remix project, on behalf of Cirque Du Soleil. Still, we can take a listen to it and see how it sounds, and certainly hope that it lives up to the hype.

We begin with Because which has a very slow intro with birds chirping in the background, before those killer harmonies and singing from the original enter. It sounds completely different from the original, and only has the vocals going here, along with some birds make noise. This shows how good the original singing was. Excellent. Lovely to hear, even though this not what you’d expect. Towards the end is a prolonged rush into the next song.

Next is Get Back which has a mixture of wonderful songs by The Beatles, which eventually launch into a strange version of this piece by itself. This is really good and sounds like a real trip. Some differently sampled sounds from other songs by The Beatles are hear for your pleasure.

Glass Onion is next, and has a mixture of strange samples from The Beatles, over the top of the song itself. A really excellent piece of music, this sounds ridiculously good and fades out very quietly. A short piece at one minute and twenty seconds, this is an interesting listening experience.

Eleanor Rigby / Julia is next which kicks with those harmonies, which are heavily treated, and the beautiful string section here is gorgeous as usual. The song itself, although butchered, is a good listen as usual. That is the feel of this album. Probably not the best way to hear The Beatles, but good nonetheless. Reversed ghostly vocal harmonies occur over an acoustic guitar to finish, along with some freaky noises.

Next is I Am The Walrus which sounds good, like the original, but is probably not the best given that these tracks are somewhat butchered, as mentioned before. Still, it is a real classic and this version of this song is as Psychedelic as it can be. Brilliant. Not much else needs to be said here about this, but the fact remains that this remix project is a bit awkward sounding. The outro is pretty superb, mind you.

Some screaming kicks off I Want To Hold Your Hand which is a shorter version of the original song. This is really fantastic to hear and sounds almost like a real live version of the song. It isn’t, mind you. Great to hear however.

Drive My Car / The Word / What You’re Doing kicks off with the first part, which is euphoric sounding, and sounds a bit different with added horns to the mix. The guitar solo and mixture of sounds is really good. It quickly merges into the other two songs here, an excellent listen from the middle era of The Beatles songs, fading out gradually.

Gnik Nus is Sun King backwards. This has some backwards singing from the group via reversed tapes, and some dark sitar like sound in the background. Very short, less than a minute long.

Following is Something / Blue Jay Way which is as beautiful as it always has been. A lovely and nicely mixed piece of history and the listening experience here is awesome, as per usual. A fine listen, and good sonic exploration of The Beatles here. It quickly goes into the second song, with a mixture of other songs by The Beatles in the background, and some laughter as well.

Next is Being For The Benefit Of My Kite! / I Want You (She’s So Heavy) / Helter Skelter which kicks off with marching drums and goes into the famous Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band piece. A brilliant sounding piece with some extra sounds to boot, this sounds ridiculously good. Before long, it quickly goes into a load of laughter and the end part of the second song here. The last song quickly enters, and this sounds a bit eerie here. It ends with howling wind.

Help! is the famous track from earlier on in The Beatles career. It is a pretty straightforward piece and sounds more wholesome than previous cuts on this album. Nice to hear this great song. It just sounds amazing here and is not really cut up to the nth degree, unlike tracks here.

Blackbird / Yesterday comes next which sounds like it has been pitch shifted at the beginning of this song, before it leads into the very well known second half. A good effort of cutting and splicing together different songs by The Beatles, this does sound pretty awesome. Good, as per usual.

After that is Strawberry Fields Forever which sounds vastly different to the original, as this is an outtake of sorts by Sir George Martin. It is a different pitch, and honestly, sounds a lot worse than the original did. Not really a good remix of the original song, the Magical Mystery Tour version is a lot better than the Love version, no question about it. The extended outro here isn’t really necessary, either. Awful. Hello Goodbye sampling at the end is followed by a sitar sound.

Next is Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows which is an interesting remix. Once again, this is not as good as the original, due to pitch shifting. There are many sitars and other interesting sounds to hear on this track, but it still is a bit of a botched job. The original is a lot better. The second half of the song then enters and sounds very Psychedelic indeed. It gradually leads into the next track.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds comes next, with its iconic keyboard and Psychedelic imagery here. A great song, sounding very good here. One of the highlights of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, it sounds a little different here. Also, being one of the better remixes here, there are some extra sounds here, which are interesting. The outro has quite a nice bit of mixing here.

Octopus’s Garden comes next and has a string section to match it. Ringo’s singing is isolated here, before the song itself eventually kicks in. A good piece, with some mixed in samples from Yellow Submarine here, this sounds rather decent. Towards the end, some of Sun King is played here, just before the next track.

Next is Lady Madonna which takes the more quirky side of the song and mixes it in with some other samples. A good mix of an underrated piece by The Beatles, it is quite short, at under three minutes. The outro has some weird mixes of different sections of songs by The Beatles. Different.

Following is Here Comes The Sun / The Inner Light which has a ghostly intro, before the singing from the first song kicks in. The harmonies here really sound wonderful. Before long, the rest of the song kicks in and we have an awesome listening experience. This sounds really awesome here. The second piece enters straight after and shows the underrated and underappreciated strength of George Harrison here.

Come Together / Dear Prudence / Cry Baby Cry comes along next, with its distinctive drum rolls and singing. This legendary song sounds good as it always does here, being a fine piece by The Beatles here. It hasn’t been edited too much here, which is good. A very catchy piece of music. Good effort of mixing and production here, before the next two parts are mixed into this track. The outro has the last song’s repeated outro mixed here. Not bad.

Revolution comes next and is the rawer, rockier version by The Beatles. It is very much good and short listening here. This sounds very good indeed. The track is very much keeping faithfully to the original, which is good. Nicely mixed and delivered here. A decent addition to this compilation.

After that is Back In The U.S.S.R. which has the aeroplane intro and the unmistakable sound of this classic by The Beatles. The upbeat piano and humourous lyrics here showcase a great song by the group. Great as always to hear this track here. Great song to hear.

The next song While My Guitar Gently Weeps begins with an acoustic take on The Beatles piece. This is definitely different, as the acoustic guitar replaces the piano here. Very different. There are some beautiful strings in the background that are really top here. This piece is a must-listen for fans of The Beatles. Great to hear. It fades out gently, with some sample of John Lennon chatter, leading into the next song.

A Day In The Life is next and begins with the memorable piece of music that it is. Sounding just like the original, this is really excellent. This piece sounds really great here, and the song sounds like it is a wonderful and epic journey of music. The orchestra build up here is really full-on, more so than the original song. A terrific piece, as always. The outro is eerie as it was on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It fades out into oblivion.

Hey Jude comes next and is a classic song by The Beatles here. The piano and other instrumentation here is really brilliant to listen to, as always. This is a much shorter piece than the original song was and sounds nice regardless. Some different mixing here makes this less of a repetitive listening experience, which is a huge improvement. Instead of being an extended piece of music, this sounds nice and short. Towards the end, the instrumentation is cut out for a bit, whilst the singing goes on. Great stuff.

Up next is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Reprise which has some of the previous song mixed into it at the start, which is annoying, A short piece of music and we are approaching the end of the album here. Nice to hear anyway. It ends abruptly.

Following is All You Need Is Love which begins with its iconic trumpets and other sonic textures. Very much sticking to the original song here, this is a landmark of a song, as it was in late 1967. A terrific effort by The Beatles and well mixed by Sir George Martin. Very catchy throughout. The outro is different, with parts of other songs by The Beatles mixed in together for your enjoyment, with some weird chatter as well.

The Fool On The Hill sounds completely different from the original piece at the start, before launching into the excellent piece that this original song was. A lovely song before this compilation ends. Some extra sounds are mixed into this piece, which are different. Good to hear.

Girl is the very last song here on this album. Keeping much to the original song here, this is a nice addition to this album. There are some extra sounds here, such as a sitar in the background. A good way to finish off this album and has some extra guitar parts mixed in.

This is a decent album, but not without flaws. Some of the sounds mixed into the songs are neither tuneful nor necessary. Also, this is a very lengthy listen, at around an hour and a half long in total for this album. This isn’t a good starting point for fans or newcomers to The Beatles. Why? There are other albums out there by The Beatles that do the job better. Still, this is good, but not great.

Interesting.

7/10