Beatles fans buzzing over remastered music, game

A wave of Beatlemania swept the globe anew Wednesday as fans from Tokyo to London to New York queued to buy the Fab Four's music in formats old and new.

Creating the buzz were the band's remastered albums and The Beatles: Rock Band video game.

Music fans who already own the iconic band's albums on LP and CD were among those in early-morning queues outside music stores, waiting to buy the newly released material. It includes painstakingly digitally remastered versions of the Beatles' original U.K. albums and box sets of stereo and mono mixes.

"These are kind of like restoring and cleaning the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, making the colours brighter and the contrasts clearer," music journalist Alan Light, former editor-in-chief of Spin magazine, told CBC News on Wednesday morning.

Fans in the U.K. also gathered at famous Beatles sites, including outside the band's legendaryAbbey Road recording studio.

"I will absolutely go out and buy them," Uma Nolan, an Irish nurse visiting London, said of the entire new 17-disc remastered set of albums.

"I'm a huge Beatles fan and have every single LP in original first edition copies. They were the first real pop group. The entire generation was waiting for that to happen. They sent worldwide pop culture off into orbit."

'This is where it all happened'

Newer fans are also eager to get their hands on the much-anticipated Rock Band video game, which allows players to perform as the Fab Four using the game's microphone, guitar and drum controllers. The initial batch of songs offered in the game will be bolstered by further online releases.

The Beatles: Rock Band was launched at a midnight event featuring a Beatles tribute band at the revamped Cavern Club in Liverpool, where theband got its start.

"This is where it all happened," fan Hans Roosenbrand, who travelled from Holland to Liverpool for the launch, told gaming website Games Industry.

"I have been coming here every year for 34 years. The first thing to do tomorrow is go to the record shop," he said, adding that the video game was "a good opportunity for young kids to get to know The Beatles."