Jonathan Takiff: Big day for the Beatles

IT'S 09/09/09 - one of those momentous dates when all the numerical elements line up in a row. What better day for a lunar-style landing that may be recalled, even centuries from now, for its magic-spreading aura and historic import!

Today, the Beatles - arguably the most important band of the 20th century - are being thrust into the spotlight again with creative breakthroughs in music and video gaming that could make them the most vital and crowd-pleasing pop aggregation of the 21st century, too.

The timing couldn't be better. In their British Invasion youths, the Liverpool lads helped move this country out of a morose (post-JFK-assassination) mind-set. Who couldn't use a good case of Beatlemania now?

YOU SAY GOODBYE, I SAY HELLO: Today's the landing date for a new issue of all the Beatles studio albums in original U.K. versions, with remastered sound and spiffed-up packaging, lavish program books and mini-documentaries to watch on computer.

Higher-resolution digital-recording technology (not available for the first Beatles CD transfer release in 1987) makes the really big difference, uncovering long-buried treasures.

Familiar performances sound fresher, truer, more alive. Vocals reveal previously unheard intent, like Paul McCartney's grandfatherly burr on "When I'm 64," from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." And that album's classic "A Day in the Life" boasts broader dynamic crescendos that are truly enthralling.

Remasters of "Abbey Road" and my desert-island fave "The Beatles" (aka "The White Album") also should top a Beatles shopping list.

Even with early period albums like the country-inclined "Beatles For Sale" and the sound track to "A Hard Day's Night," a listener senses vital improvements. Bass notes bite instead of boom. Percussion distinctly tingles.

Occasionally you hear almost too much - the telltale whoosh of a musical "punch in" by an engineer at the mixing board, or that hard, left/right channel split of vocals and instruments on the stereo version of "With the Beatles." It's the only way to buy that remastered disk, unless you fork out for the complete, $299 monaural collection of the first 10 albums.

Listening on a good pair of speakers or earphones is the ultimate ticket to ride.

DIVING INTO THE MUSIC: More transformative and revolutionary, today also marks the arrival of "The Beatles: Rock Band," a video game that gives new meaning to another of the Fab Four's rallying anthems, "Come Together."

This is a title (for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii) with the power to bring together old, young and every generation in-between.

Like its "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" predecessors, "The Beatles: Rock Band" requires players to tap color-coded buttons and strum on guitar-shaped controllers, bang away on plastic drums, or sing (lyrics trailing across the screen) into a microphone.

As performance art goes, "The Beatles: Rock Band" "gets you maybe 50 percent of the way there with 3 percent of the effort," said Alix Rigopulos, co-founder of Harmonix Music Systems, which developed both "Rock Band" and the original games for rival "Guitar Hero."

McCartney himself has suggested that playing the video-game versions of Beatles tunes isn't that far removed from his humble origins as a musician.

"I emulated Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis," he said. "We all did."

And John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, long an advocate for interactive art, believes the Beatles game "really is going to change the world in a sense, because it helps make a more musical world. And a more musical world is a more peaceful world."

THE YOUNG WILL LEAD THEM: A few years back, it was George Harrison's dying wish that the Beatles family of "shareholders" approve a 21st-century reinterpretation of the band's music through the creative minds of Cirque du Soleil.

Three years after its opening, the Beatles-themed "Love" show remains the must-see attraction in Las Vegas, a breathtaking piece of multimedia stagecraft. There's just one bummer. Presented in a purpose-built theater, the show can never leave town.

Harrison's video-gamer son, Dhanni, has become a core keeper of the faith. It was he who convinced mum, Olivia, and Ono and the surviving Beatles that a "Rock Band" realization of the Beatles catalog was the logical next step in the group's posthumous "career." One that could deeply immerse new generations in their music, in a vehicle that could travel the world.

THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Music video games have become the tail wagging the dog of the flagging music industry. Many a career has been advanced by the placement of a tune or two on a popular video game.

And as the second-most-popular game genre (after first-person shooters), music-centric titles also have become a huge source of income for songwriters, performers and their record labels. Game downloads of new tunes sometimes outsell the same song's sales via iTunes or in physical copies.

A most telling sign: Pearl Jam will introduce its new album, "Backspacer," simultaneously on CD and "Rock Band" formats next month.

Clearly, some video-game realizations of music and musicians leave a lot to be desired. But for (arguably) the greatest rock band in history, with members, wives and children protectively hawking the process at every step, the Harmonix gang pulled out all the stops.

Olivia Harrison brought in pictures of her hubby and a set of calipers, nudging game designers to correct the relative proportions of George's body parts. Ono insisted they reveal the urgency in John's eyes when he sang, and the big smiles all round when they locked in tight.

At times you'd swear you're watching videos of the real John, Paul, George and Ringo, rather than computer graphic-generated avatars. And the cutaway "dreamscapes" are as fanciful as anything from "Yellow Submarine" or "Magical Mystery Tour."

Giles Martin, son of "Fifth Beatles" producer George Martin and also an architect of the amazing, multichannel music mashups of "Love," worked equally major engineering feats for "The Beatles: Rock Band."

Although many of the group's studio recordings were squeezed onto just two or four tracks, Martin used advanced filtering technology to isolate distinct instrument and vocal parts. So as many as six players can participate simultaneously, thrashing away on guitar, bass, drums and with a never-before-realized (in game land) three-part harmony vocal microphones.

ALL ABOARD: With multiple levels of difficulty, even a beginner can get into the game in shockingly fast order. At the novice level, performances only use three of the five fingering buttons, and the song won't end abruptly when notes are botched.

And never, ever in this good-natured pursuit does a player suffer the indignities of being booed off the stage, a penalty common in other music titles.

Rewards are ripe, too. Beatlemaniacs earn peeks at music videos, rare photos and other surprises. And, after mastering the initial 45 songs on the game disk, you'll be able to buy more, including complete albums.

PRICE POINTS: The new game, selling alone for $60, works with most "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" instruments/controllers, but fanatics will insist on upgrading to authorized Beatles-replica instruments, like a $99 Rickenbacker-like guitar. A full bundle with guitar, drums, software and mike goes for $140.

Send e-mail to takiffj@phillynews.com.