the word

There a many, many bands & artists that I love. Bands that I’ve seen several times, own all their albums and know many details about, but the first love was The Beatles. Even through phases of college radio, indie bands and generally being a club rat, The Beatles never fell out of favor.

Being the youngest of seven kids I had the fortune of inheriting records from my older brothers & sisters and among them was a beat up copy of HELP! I wore this already worn out LP down to the label. Even today, when listening to “Another Girl” I still expect to hear the skip that was in the copy I owned. Any time a Beatles movie found it’s way on TV, I watched. My friends and I discussed the merits of albums, songs & lyrics. The girls I dated had to love them as well. Yes Karen, I’m thinking of you today.

I grew up on the Capitol releases in the U.S., of course. It wasn’t for many years until I discovered that these were butchered versions (pun intended) of the U.K. albums that Capitol chopped up to make more money. There were Japanese versions of albums, colored vinyl, crappy reissues (Love Songs?) and I had to have them all. I spent a ton of time at records store and even went to a few Beatles Conventions.

 

So today as the world has fun experiencing the phenomenon all over again, we all have our own special memories of The Beatles. Some, like myself, experienced it over a decade after it truly happened and it didn’t lose any impact. Over 40 years later, they still sound amazing. What a fun day….