Note: This is part 2 in a series of series of posts I’m writing as I listen to the remastered Beatles discography.  See the entire series here. 

I’ve heard that With the Beatles was rushed out by The Beatles’ record company in order to take financial advantage of Beatlemania.  Perhaps that’s why I’ve never listened to it in its entirety before and why many of the songs are R&B covers. 

Highlight of the Album

“Please Mr. Postman”.  Didn’t the Supremes perform this song?  Song stood out for me thanks to Lennon’s lead vocals.

I had no idea

This album was released on the same day that President Kennedy was shot.

First off, I admit that I’m not an “early Beatles” guy.  I much more preferred the psychedelic influenced explorations that started around Rubber Soul and continued all the way to end.  I doubt that I’ve ever listened to the Please Please Me album straight through more than a couple times and those times it was mostly because my Mom has it in her CD library and when I’m visiting my old home, it’s a logical thing to put on.  But if you’re going to go through the entire Beatles catalogue from start to finish, you have to start at the beginning and that’s Please Please Me.

This is the first of the remastered albums I’ve listened to and I gotta say…the sound is top-notch.  I’ve never heard these songs sounding so crisp before.  Totally excited to work my way through Beatles history.

Some other thoughts as I listened to Please Please Me …

Best rekindled memory

During “I Saw Her Standing There”, I remembered going to see Paul McCartney at Foxboro Stadium with my Mom around 1990.  When Paul breaks into “I Saw Her Standing There”, my Mom launches out of her seat like a rocket and starts screaming and dancing along.  It was pretty cool. I was 19 years old at the time and seeing my Mom act like a crazed Beatlemania shined some new light on who my Mom was (and still is).

Song I totally forgot about

Track 12 – “A Taste of Honey”.  And by the way I don’t really like writing about these albums and say Track 12.  I’d much refer to things in the vinyl manner – “Side 2, Song 5”

Highlight of the album (for me)

“Twist and Shout”.  So much great energy in that song.  Lots of high school Saturday nights driving around with a car full of friends screaming the lyrics.  By the end you’re doing two things.  Thinking about “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and considering replaying it.

This week, the Beatles released remastered versions of all of their studio albums.  These are are now loaded onto my iPhone and I plan on listening to it the entire Beatles catalogue from start to finish.

And I’m going to blog my way through it, posting memories and other thoughts.  Listening to Please Please Me right now in fact.

Where exactly did summer go?  I know there’s there are still 10 days left, but we all know the state of mind known as summer comes to a halt after Labor Day weekend has passed us by.  I haven’t done much blogging beyond the occasional posting of a photo from my iPhone (yup, got a iPhone 3GS this summer – my first iPhone!), so here’s a recap.

First day of summer

The first day of summer was actually Father’s day and I wanted to spend a family day down in Santa Cruz on the beach and the boardwalk.  It was a blast.  Mason went on his first amusement park ride.  And with that came a look of extreme intenisty on his face.  I guess Keturah and I drilling “just hold on tight” to him over and over had an impact.  See for your yourself.

I really wasn’t sure Mason was enjoying this.  But when I got off he not only said he did, but also couldn’t wait to go on the next ride.

Summer concerts

Summer always means concerts for me.  And the big deal about this summer was that Phish was back.  I managed to make my way to Boston for Phish at Fenway and a great show close to home in Mountain View.  I’m happy the boys are back.  And even more happy that they’re playing great shows again.

But even more memorable was Wilco’s show at The Greek Theatre.  It was a PERFECT summer night and a fantastic performance.

Our New Yard

So we gutted our yard.  That’s story best told in pictures.

Right before things started getting totally ripped up

There used to be a lot of brush and a tall tree there…

It took some heavy machinery to get the job done right…

But here’s what we’ve got now…

Mason likes it…

More milestones for Mason and Jude

If you haven’t put two and two together yet, the trigger for that new yard is that the boys are growing up and spending more time outdoors.  Mason is now three (and is now onto a bigger bike as seen above).  And Jude turned one year old on August 4.  In addition, Jude can now walk and Mason is out of diapers.  There was a crazy few weeks this summer when Mason was getting potty trained while at the same time, Jude was learning to walk.  If you have kids, I’m sure you know how nuts that was.  If you don’t have kids, I’m sure you can just imagine.

Just for good measure, here’s a two final mega cute pics of the boys

Lastly… more career changes for Keturah and I

We’re both working at startups in San Francisco right now.  I’m at Ticketfly and it pretty took over my life during the last half of August.  But among other things, I helped roll out a brand spanking new web site for them.  Keturah started working with a new advertising agency in August. 

Let’s hope starts a hot streak.