Sunday, September 13, 2009

Cover Me Impressed: 'And Your Bird Can Sing'

A few days have passed since The Beatles reissues hit the shelves. I have to admit I almost got caught up in the hype, but I think the moment has passed. I own all of the old 1987 CD versions of the records, as well as the 'Anthology' series, 'Let It Be... Naked', 'Live at the BBC' and just about everything else that has come out along the way. Can someone give me an honest assessment of the remastered versions? Will I really be blown away by the sound? I mean, c'mon, I have owned all of these records on just about every format possible. Do I really need to do it all over again? It's not like there are bonus tracks. They are the same albums!! I don't particularly care about CD-size photos or the "making of" videos. So, don't tell me about those incidentals. I just care about the music. Is it worth it?

My two favorite Beatles albums, like many of you out there, are 'Rubber Soul' and 'Revolver'. The copy of 'Revolver' I had when I was 9 years old was the inferior American version out on Capitol without "I'm Only Sleeping" and "And Your Bird Can Sing". Even though 30 years have passed and I have had these two songs for more than two decades, they are among my favorites because they still seem like rare bonus tracks to me. Ridiculous, I know, but I still get that excited feeling when I hear them. Perhaps, in part, it's because John Lennon was on fire. These are my top covers of one of those "rare bonus tracks". Ha!

The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing (mp3)
The Jam - And Your Bird Can Sing (mp3)
Guadalcanal Diary - And Your Bird Can Sing (mp3)
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - And Your Bird Can Sing (mp3)

1 comment:

troy said...

Howdy

Just found you, from your post about The Man, Jason Falkner, so I doubt you're still wondering the question you posed in this post. But in case you somehow are: I didn't hear an enormous sonic difference on headphones or car stereo, but I never listened to the remasters on real speakers. I can tell you, though, that the remastering often changes the balance of the instruments and voices, and that you will hear parts you never heard or noticed before. I'm glad I bought both the mono and stereo, and I haven't even listened to either more than twice yet.