Gennaro Castaldo Watch: If the Beatles weren't being re-released, he'd have to reinvent them

As the moment gets ever closer when slightly different versions of forty year-old albums are put on sale, HMV Fabologist Gennaro Castaldo is wearing himself ragged with thoughts for all. Ireland Online has had the benefit:

Gennaro Castaldo, of retailer HMV, said: “The combined release of 'The Beatles Rock Band' game and the fully remastered Beatles catalogue on CD is likely to prove one of the cultural highlights of the year."

Think about that. A slightly repackaged collection of records and a chance to press a button in time to Ringo Starr is one of the glittering highlights of 2009 culturally.

Admittedly, it might not have been the greatest of years for creativity, but really: this is amongst the highlights? Has Castaldo not seen the Orange adverts with the "hidey-ho, hidey-ho" man?

Castaldo hasn't finished:

“One massive by-product of the re-issued albums and the renewed interest in The Beatles’ music is that they are likely to dominate the album charts over the next few weeks, and set a new record in the process for the most of albums in the charts by the same artist at any one time.

“I guess we’re effectively looking at the most definitive Beatles survey ever, which will prove beyond doubt which is the most popular Beatles album among the public."

Ah, yes. I wonder why they don't arrange all elections like this, giving the premiership to a politician so popular that nobody could be arsed to vote for him in the first forty years of his career.