Modern technology has somewhat made the world of recorded music a bit more boring. The onslaught of smart phones and other devices makes recording the video and audio of your favorite act in concert pretty easy. We're not complaining just because you're holding up your phone the whole damn concert versus watching and enjoying firsthand, but because nearly any performance can be found online these days. It's too easy! The joy of buying a new release of an old recording such as Captain Beefheart At Frank Freeman's Dance Club, or trading tapes at a Grateful Dead show, is that you get to hear original performances from your favorite acts, as if of the first time.
Hence the awesome suspense when Kevin Howlett, long involved in the back catalogues of The Beatles, says that he has a "top secret" project in the works, involving the world's biggest band.
Howlett's been busy with the band already this year. He helped assemble On Air-Live At The BBC Volume 2, which was released on November 11. The first volume was released in 1994, selling more than five million copies in its first six weeks of release. The Beatles played numerous concerts live on BBC Radio during its heyday, including 39 in 1963, so there's plenty of fodder for another collection of On Air if they wanted.
Howlett wouldn't give many hints about his current project with the band's music, but he did clarify it wouldn't be another BBC Radio collection.
"There is something, but I don't think we're allowed to talk about it yet," he said. "If you're involved in these Beatles projects, you have to be very discreet. It's all top secret."
Whatever's Howlett and the Beatles ownership has in store, we'll be ready for it.
