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Beatles remasters are here!


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Actually I prefer LIB naked. None of the Phil Spector choir shit. Plus it has Don't Let Me Down. It's closer to the bootlegs I heard on a college radio station back in 1969 long before Let It Be was released. Actually when I did hear Let It Be I was was disappointed it didn't sound like the Glynn Johns version. Naked is closer to the original intent according to Paul I read somewhere. The recent expanded version of Yellow Submarine is far superior to the original movie soundtrack version so I won't be buying that one either.

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The "awful choir" of Spector on LIB concerns three songs, "Across the Universe", "I Me Mine" and "The Long & Winding Road" (out of ten, not counting two bits of other ones). It's only awful for the third. It's rather fine for the first. All the rest is quite live.

 

In my opinion, that naked version must please Paul McCartney who never liked Spector's production of his "Long & Winding Road" song. But I'm afraid to say it's as boring naked as heavy on strings. I suspect Spector didn't know what to do with that "long and whining one".

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Naked's The Long & Winding Road, freed of Spector's shackles, is a revelation.

And it's not just the production on those few songs that make Naked essential - since its release, it's rendered the original album nearly* useless. And growing up, it was sometimes my favorite Beatles album.

*except "I dig a pygmy!..."

 

The recent expanded version of Yellow Submarine is far superior to the original movie soundtrack version so I won't be buying that one either.

 

No Sea of Time, Holes or Monsters for you!

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from Salon.com today

 

"The Beatles: Rock Band" -- finally, a video game even old people can get excited about

 

By Alex Koppelman

 

Sep. 02, 2009 |

 

The best way to understand "The Beatles: Rock Band" is to think of it as something completely separate from its predecessors in the wildly popular "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" series of video games, something different from all the video games that have preceded it, really. Because it's not a video game, not really -- it's a whole new kind of thing, an interactive Beatles experience.

 

And yes, the previous paragraph might as well have been written by the public relations team promoting the game. But that's because they were aiming to make something completely different this time around -- and, for the most part, they succeeded.

 

From the beginning, these musical video games have been a whole new genre. By offering facsimiles of musical instruments instead of the traditional game controller, they appealed to people not usually interested in figuring out that the "A" button means punch and that if you collect 100 stars you'll earn a new life. And they gave gamers the chance to live out their fantasies of rock stardom.

 

Adapting the game for the most iconic band in the history of pop music offered a new opportunity, an even wider audience. That, of course, includes older people who were even hesitant about playing the original "Rock Band" and "Rock Band 2."

 

The designers needed a way to draw in those added potential consumers; the solution they came up with should make everyone happy. The game ends up being sort of a history lesson about the Beatles. The "story mode," for instance, allows users to progress through the various stages of the band's career and play the venues they played, from the Cavern Club in Liverpool to Shea Stadium and the rooftop at their record label. As players achieve certain goals in that mode, they're rewarded with bits of digital memorabilia from the group's history: a photo album with captions fact-checked by Paul McCartney, video outtakes, rare audio like the limited-edition Christmas album recorded for members of the fan club.

 

There are a number of other details added to give the game an authentic Beatles feel, from actual studio chatter between the group's members to a new feature for the "Rock Band" series, vocal harmony parts. And throughout all elements of the game, stunning visual elements -- for the first time, it really can be enjoyable to watch others play -- make you feel as if you're watching it live.

 

True Beatles devotees will of course find reasons for disappointment -- there's the absence of keyboardist Billy Preston, for one thing, never mind Ringo predecessor Pete Best. And despite all its attempts at authenticity, the game leaves out the more complicated aspects of the band's time together, contributing to the ever-growing mythology surrounding the Beatles. Still, you're not likely to get a more accurate, or more entertaining, history class from any other video game out there.

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Billy Preston, for one thing, never mind Ringo predecessor Pete Best

 

I bet that was due to the powers that be not wanting to pay them for the use of their likeness or whatever. Of course, in the case of Billy Preston, it would have gone to whoever controls his estate.

 

I still don't get that game. I suppose it partly has to due with the fact that I grew up around a lot of dudes playing guitar. And most of them learned by way of listening to record albums, including records made by The Beatles.

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Nevermind the absence of Billy Preston - is George Martin in the game??

 

The thing I don't like about the guitar hero/rock band genre is that it lacks most of the things that make video games fun for me - namely, split-second decision making, strategizing, and problem solving.

 

Instead, game-play is reduced to the skill of pressing a sequence of buttons at the prompted time. A B C, A B C, A B [pause] C, A B C.

 

I appreciate that this game will introduce the Beatles to a new audience, which in turn should encourage new listeners to turn on and tune in to (new) auld-timey music. Music is a wonderful thing - and any way to get more kids into it is a good thing...

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I appreciate that this game will introduce the Beatles to a new audience, which in turn should encourage new listeners to turn on and tune in to (new) auld-timey music. Music is a wonderful thing - and any way to get more kids into it is a good thing...

 

i don't think it will really. it's not like super mario made me want to become a plumber. if anything it will cheapen their music to the next generation, and make them slightly less important. but, if that's how the estates want to play it, then i guess it's up to them.

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well ok, it was just a roundabout way of saying "no, i don't think it will". computer games don't make people want to do anything other than play more computer games.

Interesting...

 

So, surely there must be something to lead someone who has never played computer games to play computer games - the entry door. But computer games are a dead end? They don't feed the curiosity to go elsewhere? One-way door in, but no exit?

 

I suppose that accounts for the world of warcraft deaths...

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I continue to think a Pepperland-based MMORPG would be the shit, but I have not heard from Apple yet.

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Interesting...

 

So, surely there must be something to lead someone who has never played computer games to play computer games - the entry door. But computer games are a dead end? They don't feed the curiosity to go elsewhere? One-way door in, but no exit?

 

I suppose that accounts for the world of warcraft deaths...

 

i don't think something like that has to take you anywhere. i mean, children climb trees or swing on swings without any great reason. they don't keep doing it all their life, and they aren't doing it as some kind of work experience - it's simply a bit of fun. otherwise you're starting to go down the route of "kid kills school mates after playing violent games!" headlines.

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otherwise you're starting to go down the route of "kid kills school mates after playing violent games!" headlines.

I don't think it's impossible for a video game to inspire someone to murder someone else. The trigger to inspire murder could be anything.

The White Album (to tie it back in to the Beatles) inspired Mr. Manson and his gang to do what they did. Taxi Driver inspired whatshisnuts to shoot Reagan.

 

However, I won't go down the route of concluding "therefore video games/white albums/Scorsese movies are BAD and should be outlawed."

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FYI - Some of the stereo CDs are only $9.99 at Amazon. A few more than yesterday too so maybe that's the price they will all end at.

 

Wow that sucks for those who ordered the box, unless they dropped that price too...

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FYI - Some of the stereo CDs are only $9.99 at Amazon. A few more than yesterday too so maybe that's the price they will all end at.

I'm seeing them between $12.99 and $18.99. What am I missing? Also, prices aren't listed for the boxes anymore (on Amazon anyway).

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Abbey Road was too, or at least it was earlier today.

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