Beatlemania again

[OldDawg]

With the release of the Beatles Rock Band and the digitally remastered box set....
What is your favorite Beatles tune??

On the mellow side, I like Yesterday and Let it Be.

[aoxo1]

Let it Be is one of my favorite songs ever.

And would also throw Norwegian Wood out there.

[dem425]

I have always liked "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

[hebner20]

That is like asking who is your favorite child? How do you even come up with less than 20 and then narrow it down from there? Once they began writing all their own stuff it was rare to have a dud per album. In my opinion, they really did not have a free bird or stairway to heaven that defined who they were - I don't think they have a "signature song".

[swerb]

Hard Days Night
Ticket To Ride
Help
Hey Jude
Ballad of John & Yoko
You Can't Do That
Yesterday

[Erie Warrior]

Here Comes the Sun
My Guitar Gently Weeps

[OldDawg]

That is like asking who is your favorite child? How do you even come up with less than 20 and then narrow it down from there? Once they began writing all their own stuff it was rare to have a dud per album. In my opinion, they really did not have a free bird or stairway to heaven that defined who they were - I don't think they have a "signature song".

Yup. +1
Almost impossible to pick a favorite.
Even moreso to identify a "signature song" as you suggest. You can't.
Best group ever??? I think so.

[swerb]

Forgot Here Comes the Sun ... definitely one of my favorites. Also Its My Life.

[aoxo1]

Forgot Here Comes the Sun ... definitely one of my favorites. Also Its My Life.

I'd just like to issue a generic reply along these lines.

"Forgot '...." ... definitely one of my favorites. Also '...'."

Never realized '4th Time Around' was a somewhat mocking response by Bob to 'Norwegian Wood'.
"And i, I never took much,
I never asked for your crutch.
Now dont ask for mine."

[Doc]

Forgot Here Comes the Sun ... definitely one of my favorites. Also Its My Life.

In My Life off Rubber Soul? Or something else I'm forgetting? In My Life is incredible.

My faves, in no particular order...

Hello Goodbye
Helter Skelter
And Your Bird Can Sing
In My Life
You Won't See Me
Mean Mr Mustard
Paperback Writer
Day Tripper (awesome riff)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Help!
Dig A Pony
Revolution
Strawberry Fields Forever

Hard to go back and think of all the great ones...I know I'm missing a bunch of good early stuff (oh, I Saw Her Standing There is a great tune).

[peeker643]

Personally like the rougher edged stuff like Helter Skelter and Come Together although Let it Be and numerous others are way up there too.

[yogi]

Its impossible for me to pick one like others have stated. My answer generally is, whichever song I hadn't heard in the longest.

I'm older than most on these boards and I was 5 in 64 when the Beatles arrived in America (and the Browns last one the Championship!). To me everytime I hear, "She Loves You", memories of Beatlemania come back.

Maybe the best 45 ever released, If I Fell/And I love Her, a double A sided gem, one written by Lennon the other by McCartney.

[Larvell Blanks]

How can you pick just one?!? The entire catalog is incredible. As I've grown older I've learned to appreciate their later material so much more. Some of my favorites:

Don't let me down - B-side to "Get Back". Billy Preston on organ makes this song

Something - one of Harrison's best songs
Goldeb Slumbers/Carry that weight/ The End
Come together
A Day in the Life - probably my favorite song by the Beatles

[British_Pharaoh]

I had no idea about the beatles Guitar hero

I'm buying that


Helter Skelter, I'm so Tired, Sexy Sadie and Taxman are my favourites

[Cease]

The White Album is my #1 influence- Side 1's Dear Prudence/Glass Onion/Ob-La-Di/Wild Honey Pie/Bungalo Bill/Guitar Gently Weeps/Happiness is a Warm Gun made me listen to music for the first time. I was like 16 and I remember just sitting and staring at the speaker.

Faves? That's an arm wringer, but...

1. Last 5 songs on Abbey Road are the best 15 mins in recorded pop music, IMO.
2. I can't go on, all others tied for second: She's Leaving Home, Norwegian Wood, I Am The Walrus?

I heard Maxwell play some old/remasters yesterday on-air. Very different songs when converting those monos to stereo. Be ready for deeper sounds and balanced lead & background vocals. Very cool.

[OldDawg]

I had no idea about the beatles Guitar hero

http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/

The Beatles Rock Band Review link:
http://www.kansascity.com/433/story/1435651.html

Beatles and the digital age: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Mus ... id=8500515

I don't do Rock Band. My only question is will I pony up and buy the digitally remastered box set. The review says it is awesome. It is amazing that technology can take something recorded over 40 years ago and improve it now... and bring out things you couldn't even hear originally.

Link on the remastering:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html

Link to a review:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html

And by the way, BP, ... that cat in your avatar has some serious hops!!

[OldDawg]

I heard Maxwell play some old/remasters yesterday on-air. Very different songs when converting those monos to stereo. Be ready for deeper sounds and balanced lead & background vocals. Very cool.

I was just reading about their monos. Its funny. When you listen to their original stereo music, it was not "mixed" like we are now used to. Much of the sound is literally split into two... certain parts/voices coming out of one speaker, others out of the other. I have listened to all those tunes turning one side of speakers completely down. Interesting. At that time, stereo was a new toy and they really hadn't figured out how to "mix" songs.

[Cease]

I heard Maxwell play some old/remasters yesterday on-air. Very different songs when converting those monos to stereo. Be ready for deeper sounds and balanced lead & background vocals. Very cool.

I was just reading about their monos. Its funny. When you listen to their original stereo music, it was not "mixed" like we are now used to. Much of the sound is literally split into two... certain parts/voices coming out of one speaker, others out of the other. I have listened to all those tunes turning one side of speakers completely down. Interesting. At that time, stereo was a new toy and they really hadn't figured out how to "mix" songs.

If you listen to the monos through on speaker, you hear how good a drummer Ringo is. I know the guy takes sh*t for not being Neil Peart, but Ringo was a Pro, a damn good studio drummer, and he was a Beatle. Good Morning and I Am The Walrus through one speaker is an ear opener.

[jfiling]

I love their softer songs the best.

Something (maybe best song)
Norwegian Wood
Yesterday
Let It Be

Others I love:

With A Little Help from My Friends
A Day in the Life
Back in the USSR

[hermanfontenot]

"Penny Lane"

"Getting Better All the Time"

"Fixing a Hole"

Among others. I'm a big fan of their pop tracks. There aren't many who can craft a pop song better than Mr. McCartney.

[BruceK]

I'm just trying to figure out how to get that $199 box set in the house without my wife knowing about it - because then she'll feel the need to spend $199 on clothes, effectively doubling the cost of the CDs.

[Cease]

OK, I just heard the remastered "Only A Northern Song." Have heard that song two hundred times and I couldn't wipe the amazement off of my face. So much more textured, clean, deep background tones. It's Beatles in 3-D. Now approaching must have status. Kid's first birthday party budget be damned.

[OldDawg]

It's Beatles in 3-D. Now approaching must have status. Kid's first birthday party budget be damned.

Edit: Hey, the kid's only one. He won't know the difference!!!

[OldDawg]

I'm just trying to figure out how to get that $199 box set in the house without my wife knowing about it - because then she'll feel the need to spend $199 on clothes, effectively doubling the cost of the CDs.

Wow. Our wives are different. Mine multiplies what I spent by the sum of the date and time of day of the purchase to figure out how much she is going to spend in "retaliation." You are getting off easy!

[RC]

I will be playing it when I get back from my business trip on Saturday. My wife has already been playing the Beatles:Rock Band. She says the story line about their history is fantastic especially with the actual recordings in the studios between songs.

I was thinking about writing a review about it after I play it a bunch this weekend.

Oh and one quick thing. It's not Beatles Guitar Hero, it's Beatles:Rock Band. I understand from someone that doesn't play those games that they look the same but the details are VERY different between Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

It would be like saying that college football and the NFL are the same because they both play football.

[OldDawg]

Well, I'm hopping in my car to head home and popping in my Beatles 1 CD that features all of their #1 hits. All 27 of them.

[jack_tors]

That is like asking who is your favorite child? How do you even come up with less than 20 and then narrow it down from there? Once they began writing all their own stuff it was rare to have a dud per album. In my opinion, they really did not have a free bird or stairway to heaven that defined who they were - I don't think they have a "signature song".

Yup. +1
Almost impossible to pick a favorite.
Even moreso to identify a "signature song" as you suggest. You can't.
Best group ever??? I think so.

I agree and anyone to argue this doesnt understand how they shaped music as we know it today. In the matter of 8 years, they redefined rock n roll and how it was viewed. Sgt Pepper was the first album that made the world stand up and realize that rock n roll wasnt noise or some passing fad, that it truely was an art form. When you add in how they defined other genres (punk, metal, pop), it cant be argued. As Ozzy Osbourne said of Black Sabbath, "Of course we were trying to be the Beatles, everybody at that time was."

[Doc]

I will be playing it when I get back from my business trip on Saturday. My wife has already been playing the Beatles:Rock Band. She says the story line about their history is fantastic especially with the actual recordings in the studios between songs.

I was thinking about writing a review about it after I play it a bunch this weekend.

Oh and one quick thing. It's not Beatles Guitar Hero, it's Beatles:Rock Band. I understand from someone that doesn't play those games that they look the same but the details are VERY different between Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

It would be like saying that college football and the NFL are the same because they both play football.

Having played it through, it's an incredible game. Word of warning...I've read that the "Beatles instruments" in the $250 set aren't really up to snuff. If you already have Rock Band of Guitar Hero instruments, use those and save the money.

Back to the game...it's a beautiful game. 8 different sets of music...the first 4 are set at the Cavern Club (Germany IIRC, where they got their start), The Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, and the Budoken in Japan. All are really nice to look at. The best part is the next 3 sets, which is basically set in a studio (as they didn't play live at this time). All songs begin in the studio, and all morph into "dreamscapes", sort of a visual representation of maybe their states of mind, or other things representing the drug-influenced Beatles era. It's certainly not all like that, but a lot of it is psychadelic-looking. It's really nice...actually, it's almost more fun to sit back and watch this as opposed to playing and not being able to take in the visuals. Hello Goodbye is nice as it sort of replicates the music video...



...which I thought was really cool. I am the Walrus, IIRC, shows them in their animal outfits, which is kinda cool. Anyways, the game finishes out with the famous rooftop "concert" with hits like Get Back (Abbey Road/Let it Be era). The game isn't incredibly hard like other GH or RB games, but it shouldn't be. It is, however, very fun to play on all instruments. I believe there's a drum training mode that replicates a bunch of Ringo's beats, which is cool. Haven't played that yet, but the few drum songs I've played have been fun/challenging. To the point raised above...I think Ringo's drum abilities are incredible. He wasn't Peart or Moon or Bonham, but he didn't have to be. He was good at what he did, the sound fit perfectly, and he didn't try to do too much. Songs like The End or Helter Skelter show his abilities...but even seemingly slow/simple songs like Come Together have some tougher technical parts. Getting to play some of his songs in the video game (which replicates the drum sections realistically) reinforces his abilities. Not much of a singer...but I no longer consider him just an average drummer.

[yogi]

Back to the game...it's a beautiful game. 8 different sets of music...the first 4 are set at the Cavern Club (Germany IIRC, where they got their start), The Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, and the Budoken in Japan. All are really nice to look at. The best part is the next 3 sets, which is basically set in a studio (as they didn't play live at this time). All songs begin in the studio, and all morph into "dreamscapes", sort of a visual representation of maybe their states of mind, or other things representing the drug-influenced Beatles era. It's certainly not all like that, but a lot of it is psychadelic-looking. It's really nice...actually, it's almost more fun to sit back and watch this as opposed to playing and not being able to take in the visuals. Hello Goodbye is nice as it sort of replicates the music video...

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game. The Beatles will market well again, always have. Good music always sells and never goes out of style.

One correction though, The Cavern Club was the local Liverpool underground celler club where the band played and where Brian Epstein (their first manager) first heard them play. After they became famous, it became a sort of shrine and place of pilgrammage. But they tore it down back in the late 60's and I think its a parking lot today. Too Bad.. If some visonary back then woulda bought the place on the cheap, he'd most likely would have made a ton of money.
The Hamburg Germany Clubs they played in were The Star Club and The Kaiserkeller. Excellent movie on the early Beatle years called "BackBeat". Lots of time in Germany where they perfected their craft.

[TIMMAH]

Got the Beatles Rock Band for PS3. LOVE IT!!!!!

Favorite songs would be (in no particular order):

Hey Jude
I am the Walrus
Yesterday
Daytripper
Come Together
Across the Universe
Let it Be

[Bill the Butcher]

Favorite songs? Geez, I'll need a computer to type all mine. I'm on my iPhone right now. It'd take me a week to put em all down.

As for the game, I got the Limited Edition bundle... Awesome game. A bit biased opinion since I'm a HUGE Beatles fan, but whatever. The only thing I have a problem with is that All My Loving, the song they debuted with on The Ed Sullivan Show, is not on the track list. Hopefully they release it soon as DLC.

[OldDawg]

Again, I am not a Rock Band video guy, but a huge Beatles guy. I was looking at the Beatles Rock Band Game and noticed they had just the game for $60. Does that mean if someone has the Rock Band instruments from a previous version, all you need is the $60 game?

Didn't see the digitally remastered set. Has anyone listened to it at any length yet?

[Bill the Butcher]

OldDawg -- yep, if you have a previous Rock Band instruments, you can use them on Beatles.

And haven't listened to the remasters yet. I plan on getting Sgt. Pepper very soon. But I noticed the songs sound really really good in the game, so I'm assuming they're the remastered cuts as well.

[Orenthal]

Does anyone not care for the Beatles?

Just me...

[RC]

Bought Beatles:RB and played it a ton this weekend.

Yes, you can use old Rock Band or some Guitar Hero instruments to play the Beatles game. My wife's guitar was starting to have issues so she also bought the Rickenbacker replica that John Lennon used so we paid 160 bucks for both.

The game was an absolute blast. If you are a beatles fan and play any video games at all you must buy this game. My folks are in their late 50s and they were playing with us. You can map 3 microphones to one xbox controller and sing all of the harmonies on the game and also still have the bass, lead guitar and drums going.

They left out some of their songs but you still get around 50 songs from them. I'm guessing they are going to release other songs as DLC to buy.

Well worth the money. They also had a bunch of behind the scene stuff in the game. One example is they had a video about their album they sent to fan club members in 1964 for Christmas. Pretty cool.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

I'll go by favorite songs on each album, with some albums necessitating two. I'll be looking at them in the form they were just released in.

Please Please Me: I Saw Her Standing There (that was an easy one).

With The Beatles: All My Loving (just a tremendous song).

A Hard Day's Night: Things We Said Today (lots of great candidates on this one).

Beatles For Sale: Baby's In Black

Help!: Ticket To Ride and Yesterday

Rubber Soul: Too hard to pick just two.

Revolver: See above.

Sgt. Pepper: A Day In The Life is a standout, though just because of what it is. Lovely Rita, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds... everything is great.

Magical Mystery Tour: Yay, a US release that turned into an official album. Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane are obvious ones. I Am The Walrus. Hello, Goodbye. Baby You're A Rich Man and the title track are also good. All You Need Is Love has worn a bit thin on me, though.

The Beatles (White Album): Back in the USSR, Dear Prudence, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and a lot more. Not everything here, but still a lot of great stuff.

Let It Be: Let It Be. Not the only great track, but one of my favorite songs of all time from any one.

Abbey Road: Everything. One of my favorite records ever.

Past Masters: The cover of Long Tall Sally is awesome. I Want To Hold Your Hand. She Loves You. Hey Jude.


It's just impossible to pick a favorite Beatles song or even just a handful. They're The Beatles. That's all you need to say. They transcend all genres.

[Bill the Butcher]

I will finally reveal my two favorites tunes for each album by the greatest rock and roll band of all time...

Please Please Me
I Saw Her Standing There - great vocals and bass lines by Paul
Do You Want to Know a Secret? - all this time I thought it was a Lennon song, until I played Rock Band and saw animated George singing it. great song either way.

With The Beatles
All My Loving - first song on the Sullivan show, great vocals and bass lines by Paul again, great song
Till There Was You - yea, it's not Beatles-written, but great cover anyway

A Hard Day's Night
If I Fell - love the vocal harmonies
I'm Happy Just to Dance with You

Beatles For Sale
Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey

Help!
The Night Before
Another Girl

Rubber Soul
If I Needed Someone
You Won't See Me

Revolver
She Said, She Said
I Want to Tell You

Sgt. Pepper
She's Leaving Home
A Day in the Life

Magical Mystery Tour
The Fool on the Hill - Paul painting a beautiful picture with words and melodies
Hello Goodbye

The White Album
I Will
Martha My Dear

Yellow Submarine
All Together Now

Abbey Road
Maxwell Silver Hammer
The Medley

Let It Be
Two of Us
One after 909

The Beatles, ftw.

[Bill the Butcher]

Honorable mention for songs not on any albums...

-She's a Woman
-I'm Down

It's official; Paul McCartney was the most talented of the group.

[Doc]

Honorable mention for songs not on any albums...

-She's a Woman
-I'm Down

It's official; Paul McCartney was the most talented of the group.

I've always felt that way until recently. I always liked the Beatles, but it's been the last year or so where I really got into more than just what you might hear on the radio. McCartney is probably a better technical musician (I think he played bass, drums, some guitar, piano, etc.) and I think he's a better singer than Lennon. But, there's just something about Lennon that really brings it together for me. I think I'm to the point where they're about equally important (and equally good) to me. And that's not to say the others weren't important. George Harrison was really talented, and as mentioned above, I never realized how many good songs he sang until I played the game and saw him singing them.

[Bill the Butcher]

Totally agree with you, Doc. I never meant to say the others weren't good enough, just that McCartney was the most talented (I mean, his first solo album was basically all him playing the instruments and singing). I find myself enjoying Harrison's songs more. It just seems like the stuff he sings about, I can relate too. I was never a big fan of Lennon's solo work after the Beatles, but I still give him his credit he deserves. And Ringo... Well, Ringo was just silly.

Damn, the stars, planets, and galaxies really aligned for The Beatles, didn't they? Oooweeee.

[papacass]

I was never a big fan of Lennon's solo work after the Beatles, but I still give him his credit he deserves.

Agreed, but "Instant Karma" is pretty catchy. Most people will point to to "Imagine" as his definitive post-Beatles work, and they're probably right. But there's something about "Instant Karma." Minimal layers of production, Lennon tearing through the lyrics in the chorus, the hall-echo effect on the piano and hand-claps.

It's played as an homage to '50s rockabilly, but with a Lennon twist. It has a jam session quality to it, but it's still a driving song, mostly due to the vocal intensity that Lennon brings. Not great melodic singing, but shouting beyond his natural vocal register.

The song is a great example of defining the rules, then intentionally breaking them.

[Bill the Butcher]

Beautiful Boy is a great Lennon song as well.

[Cease]

So, I picked up The Beatles remastered in stereo (the white album) last night and have listened to it 2 or 3 times. I've always loved that album for it's layering and song textures and it did a ton open my ears to music.

...And now it's even better. All of the backing vocals are brought to the front, with unmuddied clarity. Cases in point: Back in the USSR. A song I might typically skip to get right to Dear Prudence and the meat of disc one. On the remasters, that Airplane in USSR moves from ear to ear with clarity throughout the song and plays a more understandable role. The guitar parts on Blackbird are cleaner, twangier, more life-like. Revolution 9 is even more bizarre, My Guitar Gently Weeps has even more feel.

Sorry to drool in public, but when it comes to these remasters, IMO, you can believe the hype.

[Bill the Butcher]

That's great to hear. I have a $20 FYE giftcard, but I'm torn whether or not I should get Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road.

[Bill the Butcher]

Well, I picked up the newly remastered Please Please Me and Abbey Road.

The first thing I did when I went home was compared the '87 releases with the new ones. My conclusions: I can't really tell a difference between the '87 Abbey and the '09 Abbey, but as for Please Please Me... oh my.

The Beatles: Rock Band kind of spoiled it for me because the tracks on the game are actually the remastered versions, but listening to the entire album again was like hearing them for the first time again. But in stereo.

One thing I realized a few minutes ago was that Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You from Please Please Me is only a remastered mono, not stereo. I looked up why this was, and this is what I got...

No stereo mixes exist for the 1963 single "She Loves You" and its flipside "I'll Get You" or the 1962 single "Love Me Do" and its flipside "P.S. I Love You". The master two-track session tapes were wiped, as was common practice at Abbey Road studios, once they were mixed down to mono for single release.[3] Every release of these four songs has been in mono (or fake stereo) and they appear in mono on the stereo version of Past Masters and Please Please Me. This is also the case for the single version of "Love Me Do" with Ringo on drums but at some point even the mixed down mono tape of this version of the song was lost. Since the 1980s, a new mono transfer sourced from a reasonably clean 45rpm from a private collector has been used as the master for this version of the song.

Next album will probably have to be With the Beatles because I would very much like to hear the drastic difference.

[OldDawg]

This may sound funny, but...

Question: The Legend of the Beatles. Is it more a tribute to their ability to perform music or to write music. I know the easy answer is "both." I am not sure it isn't more attributable to their ability as writers of music. When I hear other folks perform their music, I still think it sounds like pretty darn good music (I know, sacrilege!!).

What made me ask myself that question was the commercial for the tribute band Rain, who is coming to Cleveland in October. I have heard other tribute bands as well.

[rebelwithoutaclue]

Damn, the stars, planets, and galaxies really aligned for The Beatles, didn't they? Oooweeee.

Read Outliers: The Stories of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell and you'll realize the Beatles aligned their own planets. 1200 live shows (some as many as 8 hours in length) before even entering a studio will do that for you.



That being said, I'm not a Beatles fan. I like some individual songs, but don't own, and don't plan to own any albums. Blackbird is probably my favorite song.

[hebner20]

So, I picked up The Beatles remastered in stereo (the white album) last night and have listened to it 2 or 3 times. I've always loved that album for it's layering and song textures and it did a ton open my ears to music.

...And now it's even better. All of the backing vocals are brought to the front, with unmuddied clarity. Cases in point: Back in the USSR. A song I might typically skip to get right to Dear Prudence and the meat of disc one. On the remasters, that Airplane in USSR moves from ear to ear with clarity throughout the song and plays a more understandable role. The guitar parts on Blackbird are cleaner, twangier, more life-like. Revolution 9 is even more bizarre, My Guitar Gently Weeps has even more feel.

Sorry to drool in public, but when it comes to these remasters, IMO, you can believe the hype.

OK, I am considering getting 1 of the remastered CD's. If you were to pick 1 remastered CD which one would it be? I have about all of them on "old" CD's already. I heard on a previous post that Abbey Road was no different than the prior CD release. I am partial to the later stuff starting with about rubber soul/revolver. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Cease]

So, I picked up The Beatles remastered in stereo (the white album) last night and have listened to it 2 or 3 times. I've always loved that album for it's layering and song textures and it did a ton open my ears to music.

...And now it's even better. All of the backing vocals are brought to the front, with unmuddied clarity. Cases in point: Back in the USSR. A song I might typically skip to get right to Dear Prudence and the meat of disc one. On the remasters, that Airplane in USSR moves from ear to ear with clarity throughout the song and plays a more understandable role. The guitar parts on Blackbird are cleaner, twangier, more life-like. Revolution 9 is even more bizarre, My Guitar Gently Weeps has even more feel.

Sorry to drool in public, but when it comes to these remasters, IMO, you can believe the hype.

OK, I am considering getting 1 of the remastered CD's. If you were to pick 1 remastered CD which one would it be? I have about all of them on "old" CD's already. I heard on a previous post that Abbey Road was no different than the prior CD release. I am partial to the later stuff starting with about rubber soul/revolver. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hebs- make like Ray Kinsella and "Go the Distance." Walk in to the store and pull the trigger on Rubber Soul. Sounds like you are leaning toward it anyway. With Norwegian Wood, it's Low risk/high reward, right?

I never thought I would ever give anyone shopping advice, maybe I should do so professionally.

[hebner20]

So, I picked up The Beatles remastered in stereo (the white album) last night and have listened to it 2 or 3 times. I've always loved that album for it's layering and song textures and it did a ton open my ears to music.

...And now it's even better. All of the backing vocals are brought to the front, with unmuddied clarity. Cases in point: Back in the USSR. A song I might typically skip to get right to Dear Prudence and the meat of disc one. On the remasters, that Airplane in USSR moves from ear to ear with clarity throughout the song and plays a more understandable role. The guitar parts on Blackbird are cleaner, twangier, more life-like. Revolution 9 is even more bizarre, My Guitar Gently Weeps has even more feel.

Sorry to drool in public, but when it comes to these remasters, IMO, you can believe the hype.

OK, I am considering getting 1 of the remastered CD's. If you were to pick 1 remastered CD which one would it be? I have about all of them on "old" CD's already. I heard on a previous post that Abbey Road was no different than the prior CD release. I am partial to the later stuff starting with about rubber soul/revolver. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hebs- make like Ray Kinsella and "Go the Distance." Walk in to the store and pull the trigger on Rubber Soul. Sounds like you are leaning toward it anyway. With Norwegian Wood, it's Low risk/high reward, right?

I never thought I would ever give anyone shopping advice, maybe I should do so professionally.

Hebner: Am I in Heaven? Clerk: No, record mart. Hebner: OK, Rubber Soul me!
Thanks Cease.