Master Po's words of wisdom

I have always thought that it's a crime

and it really doesn't matter if you're wrong you're right

you say yes, I say no

Try to see it my way

sitting here on Blue Jay Way . . .

With tangerine trees and marmalade skies

dripping from a dead dog's eye

Oh what joy for every girl and boy

I feel good

I feel fine

How do I feel by the end of the day

in the life

I've got a feeling, a feeling deep inside

You should have a doctoe take a look at that.

The sound of a needle scratching across an LP comes to mind . . .

You expected something else?



I picked up the Rolling Stone special issue with their top 100 Beatles songs. I have not had a chance to go through it yet, though.

I need to hit a news stand. That is a must buy.

I did check the top 10, and "A Day in the Life" was number one, so all is well. I also took a gander at the stats on the back page, and A Hard Day's Night had eight songs on the list, tied with Rubber Soul. Only Revolver and The White Album had more. That was comforting, because I have always thought that A Hard Day's Night was their most underrated album. For me, it shares a trait with Revolver and a handful of other albums like Sticky Fingers and Purple Rain: every song on it is a classic. There are no songs that I ever get tired of or feel like skipping. Every other Beatles album has at least one song that I do not like.

wait...there are beatle songs you do not like like?
How about "Why don't we do it in the road"?

I have always loved A Hard Day's Night--it is one of my favourite albums. While I generally prefer Lennon songs, the one song on that album that always stands out for me is "Things We Said Today."

Given that it was only The Beatles' third album, you have to give them credit for putting together a damn fine album.

Especially since it was their first album with all original material. "Things We Said Today" was number 47, by the way.

Although I am only a few albums short of having all of The Beatles' remastered albums in stereo and mono (for the 11 that were produced), A Hard Day's Night was one of the first where I had to have both versions -- for comparison's sake and because I am a sucker.

Well, like I told you, I still prefer the stereo mixes on all but their first two albums (since those were recorded on a two-track setup.) Unfortunately, the mono mixes are not available seperately. (Personally, I am disappointed in the greed with releasing them seperately at all. Given that most of the albums are barely 35 minutes long, they could easily have included both mixes on one CD.)

I finished most of the special issue, and I rather liked it. There is an excellent introduction by Elvis Costello. The articles themselves are fun because they point out some specific details that are interesting to go back and listen for in the actual recordings.


Speaking of Costello, I have been slowly picking up the remasters of his albums, and they sound excellent.

Yes, Apple should have released the remasters as one CD or, at least, one package (if only as a deluxe release). The latter likely would have driven the cost up a touch, but I think hardcore people would have been okay with that. Part of the issue with the mono release is that it was too costly and too limited of a run. I'm sure you would have been okay paying an extra $5 per album to get both the stereo and mono release.

If anything, including both mixes on one CD would have reduced their production costs. They would still have had to pay for the actual mastering, but saying that mastering a Beatles album is costly is rather like George Lucas saying that it is too costly to remaster the the original Star Wars trilogy in its original form -- the entire costs of the remasterings do not equal even a tiny fraction of the revenues generated over the last few decades. We have given; time to give back!