Since they broke through in the early 1960s, The Beatles have remained the cornerstone of popular and rock ‘n’ roll music.
But as beloved and – especially in this
streaming age – as ubiquitous as they are these days, they weren’t
always so obviously at the top of the heap. The 1970s saw the luster of
the band’s legend a tad faded, as the solo Fabs dealt with the ups and
downs that their musical peers had always faced, but that they had
dodged as four parts of the biggest band in the world. And following
John Lennon’s death, the 1980s felt even more unkind to that legend.
Of course The Beatles have always had a
massive core following. And each reissue that came along – especially
the 1987 release of the band’s catalogue on CD – caused another spike in
their popularity. But remarkably it was not until the mid-’90s, as the
sounds of Britpop saturated the airwaves, that The Beatles finally
solidified their position on the top of rock’s pantheon with the release
of the TV series, book and three-volume album release of The Beatles Anthology.
“Everybody has always asked, ‘Who’s
going to be bigger than The Beatles?’ It turns out it was us,” Paul
McCartney said at the time.
The Beatles Anthology series, which began life as a documentary called The Long and Winding Road, compiled
by band intimate and long-serving Apple Corps head Neil Aspinall in the
1970s, eventually developed into a multi-night television extravaganza
that reunited the band on screen, telling the band’s story from the
inside out. They were in the eye of the hurricane, John Lennon observed
at one point. It was quite calm there, George Harrison recalled, even if
it seemed to him that everyone around them was “going potty” (i.e.
“mad”).
It’s a fascinating, essential glimpse
into The Beatles’ world, and priceless in retrospect, especially now
that not only Lennon, but Harrison, George Martin, and aides Aspinall
and Derek Taylor, are no longer with us.
The Beatles Anthology was also a chance for the Fabs to reunite on record, one last time.
In 1994, Paul flew to New York
to induct John into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. During the evening Yoko Ono
handed him several cassettes that contained unfinished songs Lennon had
been working on during his “househusband” days, while he was taking care
of his infant son Sean.
Kicking off Volume One of the Anthology
albums with the crack of Ringo’s snare, and the sting of Harrison’s
soaring slide guitar, “Free As A Bird” may not have been the reunion
everyone had always hoped for, but it was a reunion nonetheless. With a
few added lines of lyrics and melody from Paul and George, some
ukelele, backwards chat and a production assist from George’s fellow
Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne, John, Paul, George and Ringo were The
Beatles once again.
But the real gems are deep inside. Volume One
chronicles The Beatles from their genesis as the Quarrymen, through
their Cavern and Hamburg residencies, to their conquest of the U.K.,
Europe and, finally, the U.S. It includes songs that were new to even
the most ardent bootleg collectors, and showed what set The Beatles
apart from the rest of the musical herd: They were great songwriters,
fearlessly inventive in the studio and a truly cracking live band.
The highlights are numerous, but Volume One
gives hard evidence for the sacking of original drummer Pete Best, as
well as why Decca Records passed on signing The Beatles. It allows us to
hear the song George Martin wanted the band to record as their second
single before John Lennon showed up with “Please Please Me,” and it
includes the early, R&B-tinged version of “One After 909” (which the
band wouldn’t revisit until 1970′s Let It Be), as well as early,
alternate takes of some of the Fabs’ best-loved songs, not to mention a
fistful of live tracks that put the claims of the bands’ contemporaries
that they weren’t a great live act to bed.
Having lifted the lid on the treasure trove inside Abbey Road studios, how could The Beatles top Volume One? Well, with Volume Two, of course.
Kicking off with the second, and only other released, Threetles track, Lennon’s “Real Love,” satisfyingly dolled up a la
“Free As A Bird,” we then join the band back in Abbey Road in 1965, at
the height of their collective powers, during sessions for Help! The unreleased “If You’ve Got Troubles” and “That Means A Lot” are fun, but it’s Take 1 of McCartney’s “Yesterday” that is Volume Two’s
first show-stopping moment. Imperfect, tentative, but still
unbelievably beautiful, it’s perhaps rivaled only by the “strings only”
version of “Eleanor Rigby” for pop music perfection on this volume.
George Harrison’s take on the Carl
Perkins rave up “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” at Shea Stadium is
further proof of the peerless nature of The Beatles as a live act, and
works-in-progress from Rubber Soul and Revolver, are simply stunning.
But then we reach the “studio years,”
and everything changes. Lennon’s early demo of “Strawberry Fields
Forever” leads us along into Take 1 of the song – a shadow of what it
would finally become – before we are treated to the record as it might
have been, Take 7. It’s mind-blowing.
Alternate versions of “Penny Lane,” “A Day In The Life” and a handful of songs from the Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour-era
follow, showing the band pushing the boundaries of composition, song
structure, technology and production. And it all ends with probably the
best version of Lennon’s beautiful – if underserved on record – “Across
the Universe.”
It’s a breathless sprint once The Beatles are off the road. But the decline is just ahead. And what a glorious decline Volume Three is.
Without a third Threetles track to start
things off, we begin with a brief, if beautiful, orchestral piece
by George Martin, before delving behind the scenes of the White Album,
including several acoustic demos of the songs the band wrote while in
Rishikesh with the Maharishi and recorded in George Harrison’s home
studio at Kinfauns in Esher, as well as a glorious, menacing, slow take
on “Helter Skelter.”
An unadorned “Blackbird” is beautiful,
as are early takes of Lennon’s “Sexy Sadie” and McCartney’s already
anthemic “Hey Jude.” Even Take 102 of Harrison’s “Not Guilty” is a gem,
while the Lennon/Harrison collaboration “What’s the New Mary Jane,”
stripped of its mystery as a lost track, is carried along on the good
vibes in which it was conceived.
There are a lot of tracks from the difficult Let It Be
sessions, but they’re presented with care here, rather than as some
bootlegger’s thoughtless money grab, illustrating that all was not as
grim as we were led to believe.
“She Came In Through the Bathroom
Window,” “For You Blue” and “Teddy Boy” show the band having about as
much fun as four young men with the weight of the pop music world on
their shoulders were probably capable of having, and George Harrison’s
demos of “All Things Must Pass” and “Something” are priceless.
McCartney’s one-man-band demo for
protégés Badfinger had circulated for ages, but it’s a remarkable piece
of work nonetheless, as is the rollicking Harrison/McCartney/Starr
recording of “I Me Mine.”
But if you want to revel in just how amazing the chemistry was between The Beatles, look no further than the a capella
version of Lennon’s “Because.” It’s a masterclass in production and
precise harmonizing, but it’s also soulful, beautiful and something that
only The Beatles could have produced.
Fittingly,
we end with “The End,” remixed to include the magnificent last chord of
“A Day in the Life” to round things out, capping off the alternate
history to the most beloved band that has ever walked the face of the
earth.
You can complain that there’s more in
the vaults, or that The Beatles should have finished more of Lennon’s
songs (or not touched his half-finished works-in-progress at all), but Volumes One, Two and Three of The Beatles Anthology
are a window into the creative souls of these four remarkable men who
did something unlike anything we’d seen before or are likely to see
again. Sure, The Beatles Anthology launched a thousand sub-par
reissues, with countless, unnecessary bonus tracks, from the band’s
peers, but it was surely worth it.
This is a treasure trove of insight into
the greatest creative minds of the 20th Century. Listen again – or for
the first time – and revel in what true creative chemistry is. The Beatles Anthology is a gift that really does keep on giving.
contributor Jeff Slate
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