jeff hawkins and love

I picked up  The Beatles Love over the weekend, and on each listen it literally surprises me.  Leaving aside for a moment whether this is a "good" or "bad" thing, the record is an object lesson in Jeff Hawkins' memory-prediction framework as outlined in On Intelligence.  Your brain, wired for years to expect one thing, gets something else entirely, triggering the "whoa" response.

It's impossible to listen to the record as "background music" while trying to perform other tasks, because your brain keeps interrupting you with "you need to pay attention to this thing over here." While remixes aren't anything new, the deep grooves the original tracks have worn inside any Beatles fan's head makes listening to Love a very different experience.

Comments

[Doug]

Yeah - I love all the songs however am not sure that I love the experience. However the sound quality is amazing and it is hard to believe that these songs are over 40 years old! Did anyone in the 1970's listen to pop music from the 1930's and say "wow - this is good". Happy New Year Michael - Doug

[sippey]

Thanks, Doug! Isn't amazing? My way of introducing my kids to rock and roll is to have them listen to the Beatles... If they can start there and build a pop sensibility with Lennon/McCartney as the foundation, then it's got to be all goodness from there on out. Happy New Year!

[Nick Bradbury]

I'm also a fan of the "new" Love CD. It's worth buying just for the digitally remastered versions of "I Am the Walrus" and "A Day in the Life."

And while I'm not wild about some of the mashups, mixing Mr. Kite with "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was brilliant.