George and Giles Martin are totally nuts.

They may also be geniuses. Someone would have to be both in order to create something like this. The legendary Beatles producer and his son have taken a massive chunk of the Beatles’ catalogue and re-mixed it, re-mastered it and — gasp — changed it.

These aren’t Beatles songs the way they were recorded. It’s not a Danger Mouse-style mashup album, but it’s sometimes close (“Strawberry Fields Forever,” borrows significant backing tracks from “Penny Lane”). This is literally a re-imagining of the songs Martin produced for the Fab Four decades ago.

The “Love” project is actually the soundtrack for a Cirque du Soleil show of the same name, so when songs don’t work out well — “Octopus’ Garden,” for example, is more obnoxious and less endearing than the original — it is possible to imagine that they would work better in the context of the show.

But the clunkers are far from common. Most of the songs are merely pleasant and interesting, but there are some moments of shining brilliance here, illustrating why Martin is sometimes referred to as the “fifth Beatle.” The opening to the album flows as follows:

Grade: B

The first track is a gorgeous a cappella version of “Because,” and the second track begins with the distinctive piano chords of “A Day in the Life.” Except the chord progression is in reverse. A Ringo drum solo comes in, which segues into “Get Back,” which is suitably tweaked and augmented. But that disorienting collage of sound is what greets listeners at the very beginning of this disc.

Beatles fans will find this utterly indispensable, and anyone with a passing interest in Beatles music will find this if nothing else mildly enjoyable. Non-Beatles fans will remain non-fans, but this is a very nice re-imagining of these classic songs.

Evan Thorne is a music critic for the Northern Star.