Most Useless Effort - 2006

A stick-in-the-mud would simply dismiss 'Love' as unnecessary. "Why try to improve on perfection?" he or she might say.

A optimistic adventurer might celebrate the application of 21st Century mash-up aesthetic to the 20th century's richest trove of pop music treasure. Especially when Sir George Martin's legendary hand guides the project.

A cynic might note Sir Paul's and Yoko's recent legal bills.

But who could have dreamed how aggressively the project could diminish the Fab Four, underscoring a reality that most of us never really were aware of - that some of the gems they generated contained interchangeable parts.

JPG&R are ,in fairness, also elevated, in a back-handed sort of way, by the end product. No track on this ridiculous disc merits a second listen. No new insights, no brilliant (or even smart or clever) ideas appear. We simply see that, much as we hate to admit it, the stick-in-the-mud is (at least this time) both prescient and entirely correct. Each track is simply a reduction of a work of genius to a work of Muzak.

If you own this, burn it in the 20th century fashion - with fire.