You need to be a Beatles fan to read this post.  Simple as that.  It will not likely make sense or be appreciated by anyone else…

I usually avoid re-mastered oldie CD’s.  Especially favourites like the Beatles.  The “Love” collection re-mastered CD was not the Beatles. And to tell the truth, the CD’s I have of the Beatles just ain’t the same as the original vinyl.  Good sound, but missing something.  I could never put my finger (ear??) on it, but it’s more than the snap crackle pop that goes with those big old fashioned antique analogue disks (notice the “k” – that’s how we spelled “disc” back then)

I was browsing through the CD’s at Wal-Mart today. I picked up and put down and walked around and came back and picked up and put back and pondered some more about a hundred times before I finally decided I would get the remastered Sgt Pepper CD.   Honestly, I’ve bought cars with less consideration.  Oh well, if nothing else, it came with a T-shirt.

And to be really daring, I grabbed the remastered “Let It Be” CD. The one without the T-shirt.  I wasn’t convinced that these new versions would really be better than the ones I already had at home, so a second free collectors t-shirt (for an additional 10 dollars) didn’t seem necessary.

My old records are back!  At least the way I remember them…

As soon as I plugged in the CD, heard the orchestra tuning up, and then Sgt Pepper and his buddies start playing, I knew the band was back.

The bass thumped  the way it should – not the car window rattling,  my-sub-woofer-is-bigger-than-yours stuff, …real bass thump.  The kind you get in front of a live band.  Like the record had.  The original record on thick un-bendable vinyl with a bright green Capitol records label. Definitely not the flimsy floppy thin replacement album I bought later on.

The closed high hat cymbal made the ssstt ssstt sound it was supposed to.  The ride cymbal actually ting tingety tings. And the floor toms had that good old slightly harsh almost too loud maybe even distorted quality.  Exactly how it was supposed to sound.  Not corrected, not filtered.  Exactly as I remember it.

The CD  is a great memory. Best memories?

“Somebody needs to know the time, glad that I’m here”  BVVWOOM (sliding bass note, kick drum, crash cymbal) in Good Morning Good Morning

The chicken at the end of Good Morning, that squawks perfectly in tune and in time with the first guitar note of Sgt Pepper Reprise.  “Bckk Bckk BckkAWWWK!” My old CD seemed to have some sort of corrected volumes that ruined the effect.

The open-close high hat sound in Mr Kite.

The punchy walking bass in A Day in the Life – “found my way upstairs and had a smoke, and somebody spoke and I went into a dream”

The clarinets and oboes, (I think) tubular bells,  and old fashioned guitar background stuff in When I’m Sixty Four.  A new find I never noticed – the rolling “R”s in “grand children on your knee – Vera, Chuck and Dave”

If the first line wasn’t “what would you think if I sang out of tune” would you think or notice that good old Billy Shears might actually be  singing out of key on “With a Little Help From My Friends”  Or is he?

The almost ear-piercing, shrill guitar at the start of “Getting Better” (What do you mean, turn the stereo down…)

And of course “Lovely Rita”  – “got the bill and Rita paid it,” my favourite line, for some unknown reason, with it’s hard strummed guitars… always liked this song

Unfortunately, “She’s Leaving Home” still is almost unbearable.  Never liked it.

There’s even something for your dog -  they’ve included the sound at the end of the long fading note of A Day in the Life that only dog’s can hear.  It was removed from the North American version, so only European dogs had the opportunity previously.

Don’t bug me for a day or two – I’ m on a day trip to the 1960-1970’s  – just because I can and it’s kid of fun.  Now if only my hair would grow back.