I’m a big fan of the Beatles, no denying it. Just the same, I just about came out of my skin listening to an All Songs Considered podcast on a new CD of Beatles music. Produced by George Martin’s son, Giles Martin, with his father’s advice and the blessings of the surviving Beatles, it was put together to provide music for a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.

Yeah, I know, it sounds like a cheesy nightmare. It’s not—it’s absolutely astounding. Working at Abbey Road, Giles Martin took the individual tracks and digitized them into Pro Tools (and now finally there is a digital backup of the multi-track tapes; there wasn’t before, if you can believe that). What you have to understand is that all the remastering of Beatles music you’ve heard, for CDs or whatever, comes from working on the mono or stereo master tapes. It’s sort of like listening to the record and turning up the bass or treble. More sophisticated, but essentially the same process.

With this record, Giles Martin actually had access to the individual instrument tracks. Now the legendary Abbey Road engineering shines through—these tracks sound spectacular. Suddenly you realize the Beatles were one hell of a live band.

Of course, hardly any of this record is a simple remix of a single song. Rather, it’s a mashup combining bits and pieces of many songs into something new. Martin says practically the only direction he got from Paul and Ringo was to shake people up, to make them listen and hear the music with fresh ears. And of course it was an homage to the music as created, with a minimum of digital diddling to make some tempoes and keys work out.

If you are at all a fan of the Beatles, and maybe even if you’re not, this is fascinating stuff. I can’t recommend the album because I haven’t heard it yet, but I am certainly going to buy it. I can recommend the podcast. Giles Martin is a modest and charming guy, and it’s a fascinating story. To hear a streaming version of the show, go to the All Songs Considered archives page and look for “The Beatles Love” dated December 21, 2006. Right now it’s second from the top. However, the sound quality of the streaming audio leaves a lot to be desired. It is still worth listening to, but the sounds may not leap out at you the way they ought to.

The podcast I heard was a special high-bitrate version of the show, and it’s well worth the download. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any link to this particular podcast, only to subscribe to future episodes. I’ll keep looking around; if anyone reading this wants to hear the podcast, leave a comment and we’ll work out a way for you to download it.