The act you've known for all these years...is back

Unless you've been living under a large rock, you're probably aware that the Beatles' catalog will be reissued on CD on September 9, and that "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game will be coming out that same day. Perhaps I'm betraying my age, but I'm not that excited about "The Beatles: Rock Band" (although I must admit that the more I read about it, the more fun it sounds), but I am rather excited about the remastered music.

I don't think I've mentioned in this blog before, but I am a Beatles nerd--not one of those "uber-nerds" who, say, owns every single Beatles vinyl, cassette, and compact disc release (Capitol and Parlophone, mono and stereo), every single bootleg recording, has read every single Beatles book, and has every wall in the home plastered with Beatles posters and other memorabilia --but I am perhaps the next level below that extreme peak of Fab Four geekdom. I've got about 20 vinyl Beatles LPs (two copies each of Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper, "the White Album," and Abbey Road. (And, as you can see, I'm a big enough nerd not to put "the White Album" in italics since, as we all know, it's not the official name of that release). In addition to the albums, I own about 15 or so books related to the Beatles (I haven't counted). I stop short at filling the house with Beatle knicknacks and figurines, and I don't own any Beatles bootleg recordings (although, for a time, I had a few that I taped from a friend. During one of my cassette purges, I threw them out).

I also have all of the original 1987 versions of the Beatles CDs, along with 1999's Yellow Submarine Songtrack, the (underwhelming) Let it Be...Naked, and all three volumes of the Anthology, and I even have the fun but not necessarily essential Beatles at the BBC. (I've never bothered to acquire the Beatles' "Red" and "Blue" greatest hits collections on CD, nor The Beatles 1 collection that came out several years back. I thought the Love thing that came out a few years ago was an abomination, so I never bothered with that one either). My quandary now is that, after already investing so much money in purchasing the Beatles' principle canon of music, which of these reissues should I snag? I'm looking at probably Pepper and Revolver, and finances allowing, taking it from there. There's no way I can go all out and pick up the stereo and/or mono box sets. That's financially out of the question.

I will tune in again on Brainsplotch after September 9 with my impressions as to how much better these remasters are compared to the 1987 versions.