Capitol Albums Vol. 2

I see Apple is releasing Vol. 2 in April. The albums are Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help! and Rubber Soul. I'm disappointed that they didn't include A Hard Day's Night. I know it was originally released on United Artists label, but my cassette version which I bought in the 90's is on Capitol...so at some point they did get the rights to it. Maybe they will release it seperatley at some point. I like the George Martin instrumental Beatle songs and hope they do the CD eventually.

Even though some people think these albums are just another way to gouge fans, I'm glad they are being reissued. These are the versions and the sequence of songs I remember as a kid, and no matter how long I listen to the EMI versions, these Capitol Albums will always be the real versions for me.

Our George

It was a year ago that I published my first post here, and the subject was George. His birthday was a few weeks ago, and as a Beatle-nut I'm always aware of one of the Fab's birthdays. All my life George's was Feb. 25th, but late in life he learned that he was actually born a little after midnight on the 26th. That would be odd, wouldn't it? To find out that your birthday was actually a day later after all those years?

But speaking of the Quiet One, I find that as time goes by, I find myself more and more interested in George. I think my girlfriend put it best after watching the Anthology show: "George is the one you'd want to know. The Beatle you'd like to have as a friend." And I think that's true. He had a wide range of interests (music, spirituality, auto-racing, gardening, films) and he seemed very comfortable with himself. John could be mean and Paul can come off as a self-promoting jerk. George, on the other hand, didn't really have any character flaws that jump out at me (neither does Ringo for that matter).

And the fact that he ended up in the most successful act in the history of showbiz, simply cuz he hooked up with Paul when he was about 14 years old, is a really interesting bit of karma. I'm sure John and Paul would've had success of some kind with their huge talents, but George wasn't born a creative or musical genius. He had to work hard to keep up with them. His biggest assets coming into the band was: Being a better than average singer, good looking, and smart enough for John and Paul to put up with. I don't think anyone thinks of him as a great guitar player. He was okay, but not really special considering his role as "lead guitarist" of the Beatles. What would've happened if he hadn't met Paul and joined the Beatles? It's impossible to say. But he took the opportunity to become an excellent writer and not only produced some super tunes with the Beatles, but All Things Must Pass is definitely one of the best rock albums of all time.

God bless you, George. Wherever you are.

Paul, Heather and Baby Seals

Just watched our Paul and Lady Heather on Larry King discussing the clubbing of baby seals in Canada. And I must say, RIGHT ON, PAUL AND HEATHER!

It's a shame that a country with a great reputation like Canada continues to participate in this horrible practice. I'm so proud of Paul for taking a stand and reminding all of us that this clubbing still goes on. And for promoting a change to eco-tourism as an alternative, like whale watching has replaced whale hunting.

Danny Williams, the Premiere from New Foundland who tried to argue in favor of the hunt came off as a complete idiot. He not only said the McCartney's were being "used", but even had the nerve to say that some of the money raised by animal rights groups was being used for terrorism.

Paul played good cop and Heather was bad cop, and they both came off well. If it was me, I would've told Danny Williams that I'd like to club his fat head in.

What was also interesting is that I don't think the Beatles were ever mentioned. That's a first.

The funniest bit was that Larry King kept calling New Foundland "New Finland". Sheesh. What a maroon.