A New Low

Was in line at the Rite Aid on Broadway in Lowell to buy my sister Andrea a 40th birthday card when the girl at the register told me they were taking 20% off everything in the store. With my bad habit of thumbing through the limited CD selection of mostly Spanish artists and the occasional "Abba's Greatest Hits", I had already noticed remastered copies of Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper, and Abbey Road. Fortunately, the $13.99 price tag prevented me from stooping so low as to buy CDs of the band who taught me everything I know about music and who provided me with endless hours of musical ecstacy from a middle of the road drugstore chain. I politely asked the girl, "Twenty percent off everything?" Before you could say Maxwell's Silver Hammer, I was bolting for the car tightly gripping my new copy of Abbey Road.

With my trusty AKG headphones snug on my head, I waited for the opening bass line of "Come Together" to start the evaluation process. Let's just say the hype is justified. Totally justified. Beautiful packaging aside, these remasters sound unbelievable. Crisp and clean. You will hear things you never heard before.

Just got back from my second trip to Rite Aid in twenty minutes. I'm now the proud owner of remasterd copies of Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt Pepper as well. And at $11.19 a CD, I may one day forget the fact that I bought them at a drugstore chain. The green apple on the Abbey Road CD, same as my long lost album of 40 years ago, is already helping.