Interesting Thoughts

Here are some of the music/Beatle related stories circulating the net:


Apple iTunes 9 announced

Apple has announced the launch of iTunes 9 at It's Only Rock and Roll event in San Francisco.

The new music download software will add a host of new features bringing with it a Snow Leopard style interface allowing you to access the navigation menu from the top of every page.

Other features include greater preview and buy features as well as the much rumoured iTunes LP that gives users a visual experience of old vinyl records - so they get the feeling they've bought a LP rather than just a selection of digital tracks. That includes lyrics, artwork, but will be applied by the record companies, not Apple.


Read the rest here:
www.pocket-lint.com/news




REVIEW: Apple records finally gets it right with Beatles CD reissues

People laughed at me in the early 1990s when I refused to submit to the hegemony of the compact-disc world.

I was a vinyl man, through and through.

CDs might have been smaller and easier to maintain but they didn't have the sound quality or dynamic range of records, I said. Pish-tosh, other said.

Why didn't I go ahead and trade in my light bulbs for some nice kerosene lanterns while I was at it?

I bring all this up because it was not long before that time that Apple Records released The Beatles catalog on CD.


Read the rest here:
www.lehighvalleylive.com/music




Beatlemania sweeps the world again

Fab Four create global stir with revamped 14-set CD collection - and a video game

The scenes were familiar: long, snaking queues of ardent fans waiting eagerly to lay their hands on the latest Beatles album. But the photos were taken in 2009, not 1969, and there were 14 different CD albums up for grabs, rather than just the one on vinyl.

Beatlemania returned around the world yesterday with the release of remastered copies of the Fab Four's studio recordings and a new computer game to draw in a new audience.

The new CDs are designed to appeal to those who want to upgrade their collections and to potential younger fans whose interest has been sparked by classics from their parents' – or grandparents' – albums, or from bands who have name-dropped their influence.

Read the rest here:
www.independent.co.uk




Beatles for Sale (Again)

It's an event that happens once a generation. If you'd had a child in 1987, the last time the Beatles catalog was re-mastered for release (on CD, for the first time), the kid wouldn't be a kid anymore. Voting rights? Check. Able to purchase alcohol without a fake ID? Check and mate.

On September 9, at long last, the re-mastered (again) catalog was released on CD, this time in conjunction with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band video game (how very 21st century). It includes the Beatles' 12 albums as originally released in their native UK, along with Magical Mystery Tour and non-LP song collections "Past Masters Vol. I and II," which have now been combined as one title.

Read the rest here:
www.phoenixnewtimes.com




Record shops across Canada flooded by fans looking for Beatles reissues

TORONTO — Record stores were overrun Wednesday with devoted Beatles fans clamouring to get their hands on yet another round of rereleased Fab Four material, this time remastered and repackaged in box sets, individual CDs and even the first-ever Beatles video game.

Those diehard fans - at least those who actually managed to walk away with product in hand - said they were more than happy to open their wallets for the latest and greatest Beatles package, even if they've bought into the hype before.

"The cynic in me would normally come out and say, 'Come on, how much money can you guys get from us?"' said Toronto radio DJ Stu Jeffries, who picked up both versions of the new box sets.

"But I think the fan in me says, 'Great, if it's better, I want it, and if there really is never before seen stuff, then I want it."'

Read the rest here:
canadianpress




Beatles Wizardry Charms Again as EMI Issues Remastered Albums

From Paul McCartney’s excited “one- two-three-FOUR” kick-start on “I Saw Her Standing There” to the surprise sign-off of “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl ...,” the Beatles took little more than six years to record more than 220 songs and 620 minutes of music.

Today, the band’s output is released on CD after being digitally remastered at last -- a process that took four years. Many fans will be asking if the time was well spent on what was probably the biggest sonic makeover to date.

In a word, yes. These recordings are the purest version of the most revered repertoire in rock. The quality of tracks such as “All You Need Is Love” shone through in the 1960s even when played through tinny transistors. Now, it’s easier to hear why the British foursome became the most successful group ever -- with more than a billion records sold, according to their label EMI Group Plc, owned by Guy Hands’s London-based Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd.

Read the rest here:
www.bloomberg.com