I may have reported here before of my love of The Beatles. It's boring to say, but they are my favourite band.
One of the problems with being such a huge fan of a musical group or artist, I think, is what I'll call the 'Trees for the Forest' syndrome. By that, I mean that because I know so well every aspect of the songs, sometimes I can be listening to a song but not really hear it. Because it's so familiar to me, sometimes I take the song for granted, I think, and don't hear the drums, bass, guitars and vocals for what they are. I hear it from rote, without really paying attention to it.
That's why it's great, lately, to be hearing some previously unrelesed or hard-to-come-by Beatles music. Because I know the familiar recordings too well, the differences in these alternate takes, outtakes, etc. can startle me and cause me to hear the songs anew.
A couple of great sources for alternate Beatles songs, and history are found at the NPR site, from a program called All Songs Considered. I watched (although mostly it's just a couple of guys sitting in chairs, and occasional still photos) one this afternoon called The Birth Of Beatlemania (high speed recommended). It focused on the year 1963 and the path of events that took the Beatles to America. Very interesting to me. The second, which I am going to watch now, has to do with The Lost Beatles and recordings from Let It Be that were stolen 30 years ago and only recently recovered.
If you're deep into The Beatles like I am, I'll bet you'll enjoy them quite a bit.
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