Oh Apple, you little Piggies...

I was planning on posting a little tribute to Elvis Costello today. But instead, four other spotlight hogging Liverpudlians beat him to it. Sorry dude, I'll see what I can do tomorrow.

I'm guessing all you well educated perusers of my humble Bloggie (pet name. Blog sounds like I'm going to the toilet) are aware of the news that The Beatles are now on iTunes. The weird thing is, I'm not too sure why the world has experienced some kind of delirious high as a result of this news. The even weirder thing is, I'm not too sure if I like it one little bit.

John tries to blow a paper bearing today's news out of Ringo's hand. Ringo simply tries to read. 

Now look; I dont want to spoil the party, but I will. (This entire post is filled with song references- how many can you spot?! Answers in the comments section for fabulous prizes.)

Firstly, no one's reinvented the wheel. We've had digital music for a while, and we've had the Fab Four for a good five decades now. Admittedly, they haven't been seen together in the same room, but why should that have me jumping up wanting to twist and shout? Its not even like they're fixing a hole in the discography, here. In fact, its been getting better for fans in the last year; First we received the (spectacular) Beatles remasters, which did a splendid job of cleaning up the back catalogue, allowing us to hear every one of Ringo's hi-hats, Paul's thumb strikes, George's hammer-ons and John's snarky remarks. Then, around the same time, we also had the Mono Boxset appear, so that all the purists could remember a time before Stereo sound, Betamax and deodorant. The iTunes release hasn't brought with it any fresh material either; we haven't uncovered the missing link between Rubber Soul and Revolver or a 42 minute take of Octopus's Garden. And it certainly isn't coming cheap at £10.99 a pop; the taxman will be rubbing his hands with glee. So unless you want every little thing those Moptops produced on every single platform, you might want to think for yourself for a minute.

My other concern, I admit, is less reasonable; but do I really want my dear Beatles all over the iTunes store, populating iTunes essentials and topping the download charts? Yes, yes I am a terrible music snob, but there's something else to this too. The Beatles aren't just any other band, are they? As those of you that know me can testify, I am a little loopy over them, but I don't think its too much of a stretch to say that we're dealing with something a little special when it comes to Beatlemania. To see them filed away under B in the iTunes database is a little deflating, rather like hanging up a Picasso on your fridge next to your kid's latest artistic abortion. (That's mean. I'm sure he's actually very talented.) Dont get me wrong, there's a place for the Beatles on the interwebs, but is the cold, vast sea of monsters that is the iTunes store really that place? This article here has a few interesting things to say, although it does read a little bit like a Last.fm fanboy's wet dream. My relationship with Apple (Inc, not Corps) is a definitely love-hate (like most of my relationships, really), and whilst I'll rush to their defence in most cases, I find their dedicated mini-site a little weird. Its comforting to know though, Mr Jobs, that after all these years, I can finally listen to the Beatles as they intended themselves to be heard.

Now, I know that this is all incredibly one sided. I havent mentioned the inclusion of iTunes LP sleeve notes (but then, these are most definitely also available in old fashioned so called 'real-life' editions of the albums). And I'm sure that somewhere down the line, some kid who would have otherwise never been exposed to the Beatles (conceived, born and educated on an unmanned space station, perhaps) will experience a very special joy because of today's news. But at the end of the day, Beatles, I'm happy just to dance with you, so I guess you wont see me sticking you in my download queue.

Maybe this is one time you should have just Let it Be. (Oh dear, there's an easy one.)


Lots of text in that post, dear readers, sorry. So here's something else to brighten the mood; looks like John suspected someone would pull something like this all along...



'Till tomorrow, peace and love.