Unheard Beatles album 'planned'

Producer Sir George Martin is making background music for the forthcoming Cirque du Soleil show by remastering unheard recordings by the band.

Variety says the band's label Apple Corps plans to release an album of "completely new music" from the show.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are said to be overseeing the project.

The families of George Harrison and John Lennon have also been involved.

Announced in 2004, the Cirque du Soleil show is expected to open at the Mirage resort in Las Vegas this summer.

Remastered singles

Sir George's son Giles Martin, who is working on the project, told Variety they were trying to "achieve the same intimacy we get when listening to the master tapes at Abbey Road".

"I think we will achieve a real sense of drama with the music," he said.

"The audience will feel as though they are actually in the room with the band."

The Beatles remastered the unfinished tracks Free as a Bird and Real Love for release as singles in the mid-1990s.

The singles were taken from the band's Anthology sets of demos and rarities.

An album of the band's number one singles, entitled 1, was a chart-topper around the world in 2000.

Box sets such as the Capitol Albums collections of the US versions of the band's albums have also been released in recent years.

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