Beatles For Sale

BEATLES FOR SALE

I love the Beatles.  Specifically, their music.  I have every song they ever recorded in my possession, and I listen to them quite often.  And I’ve got to admit, the Abbey Road commercial for Beatles Rock Band is about the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time, Fab Four or otherwise.

But I have to admit, I’m starting to feel a bit like I’m being taken advantage of.

09/09/09 has been looming large for some time on my planner, and I have been anticipating the Remastered Beatles catalogue since I first heard about it.  I sent a psychic Christmas list to Santa with the $260 complete set as the only item on the list.  Of course I couldn’t wait.

While stopping by a certain overpriced coffee chain the other day for my mid-morning break, I impulsively purchased my favorite Beatle album “Rubber Soul”, just to see what all the fuss was about.

I have zero knowledge of how music is produced.  I can’t tell you the tricks that were used to make these new, improved versions of songs that I’ve listened to at least 15,000 times different than before.

I can tell you that within the first 20 seconds of the first song on the disc, Drive My Car, I fully expected to look over my right shoulder as I was driving up College Avenue and see Ringo pounding on his Ludwig kit in the backseat with Paul, plucking the bass.  It sounded great!

Still, I’m feeling used and abused.  The people in charge of this stuff know by now that I, along with countless others who share my obsession, will spend our money on the same thing over and over and over again as many times as they polish it up and stick it on the shelves.

Next year, they might as well not even go to the trouble of dressing up at all.  The good folks at Apple should just print the trademarked Beatle logo with words “Send us your money” and put it on a billboard.

Got any stamps?