Do you mind if we dip into popular culture today? Like probably everyone else in the world, I purchased “Love” by the Beatles yesterday. I had some birthday money, and wanted some music for the Thanksgiving traveling. If you don’t know the background of the new album, it is a mash-up of Beatles songs by legendary George Martin and his son Giles. Although the album isn’t promoted this way (for good reason), it is also the soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil recent act.

I usually buy my music from iTunes, but since Apple and Apple are still feuding, this album was absent from the iTunes library. So I had to buy an actual cd, which forced me to critique the artwork and design of the packaging.

The cover has silhouettes of the fab four jumping around. I guess that is a reference to Cirque de Soleil and the stunts they do. It is probably appropriate, but it doesn’t seem to capture the spirit of the Beatles. While the music is true the the experimentation, invention, and musical skill that made the Beatles infamous, the cover ignores their tradition of excellence in album art. Think about how much impact the blank cover of the “White Album” had. Or the iconic “Sgt. Pepper” cover. Is there a Beatle’s album that didn’t contain engaging cover art? I think it is kind of insulting that the greatest band in the world has been reduced to little red cartoons that jump around to sell more cds.

The color scheme is red and orange, obviously trying to capitalize on the “The Beatles 1” equity, if there is such a thing. Aside from the interesting introductions written by George and Giles Martin, the guts of the cd don’t get any better. It contains the typical Photoshop montage and gratuitous psychedelic filters.

So overall, the design was pretty disappointing. The thing that strikes me is how much risk is taken with the music by remixing masterpieces, and then it gets wrapped in such a safe and trendy package. Sigh. Anybody else have some thoughts about the album?

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and enjoy the holiday!