brendan2's Full Review: Anthology 1 by The Beatles
In 1995 and 1996, The Beatles Anthology, a new documentary about the Beatles and three accompanying CD sets were released. These sets were a collection of unreleased Beatles songs, outtakes, live performances, and different versions of their big hits. The first of these sets included a "new" Beatles track and was the only set to include interview snippets mixed in with the music.
Anthology 1 begins with the new track, Free As A Bird. Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr got together and added their voices and instruments to an old John Lennon demo for a sort of Beatles reunion. This is a pretty good song, featuring some nice harmonies and slide guitar work from George.
The first half of disc one is made up of some very early Beatles recordings and interview clips with John, Paul, and manager Brian Epstein. The interview clips are short but you can only listen to them once before they become kind of pointless. Thankfully, there are no interviews on the other two sets. The sound quality for the early songs is rather poor, which isn't surprising considering the age of the recordings. They are better to listen to if you want to hear how the Beatles sounded when they first started out, but they're hard to enjoy because the sound is so bad.
The early songs include covers of Buddy Holly's That'll Be The Day and Ray Charles' Hallelujah, I Love Her So. There are also some Beatles originals, including the only Harrison-McCartney composition, In Spite of All the Danger. You'll Be Mine is a Lennon-McCartney number, and Cayenne is an instrumental written by Paul. I think the sound quality is slightly better on "Cayenne", but maybe that's because it's an instrumental.
The sound starts to improve around track ten, and these are songs you can actually listen to. My Bonnie features the Beatles backing up singer/guitarist Tony Sheridan, and this track is disappointing because it's not really a Beatles song. Ain't She Sweet, with John singing lead, and the only Harrison-Lennon composition, an instrumental called Cry For A Shadow, are much better.
This disc includes five songs from the Beatles' audition for Decca Records in 1962. Decca refused to sign them, stating that "groups with guitars are on their way out." Paul sings a Coasters song, Searchin', with John and George backing him up. George does another Coasters song, Three Cool Cats, a humourous little song that's one of the better early numbers. George also sings The Sheik Of Araby, with John and Paul adding some fun background shouts. This is another humourous song, with the music setting an Arabic mood. Like Dreamers Do is a Paul song about a girl he saw in his dreams, and Hello Little Girl is the first song John ever wrote. I like the latter track better, probably because of lines like, "When I see you passing by I cry, mm-hmm, hello little girl."
Two tracks from the Beatles audition at EMI are included. The Coasters' Besame Mucho is sung by Paul, and the original version of Love Me Do features Pete Best on drums. John's harmonica is already there, but the song is slower than the released version. It's easy to see why Pete was fired after hearing this song.
Producer George Martin wanted the Beatles to release Mitch Murray's How Do You Do It as their first single. The Beatles recorded this rather corny song, but convinced Martin to let them release only original Beatles compositions as singles. An early version of Please Please Me lacks Ringo on drums (he was replaced by session drummer Andy White) and the harmonica that was heard on the released version.
After a bunch of false starts, a complete version of One After 909 is presented. I prefer this 1963 recording to the 1969 Let It Be version. This is a shorter and more upbeat version and one of the highlights of the disc. Lend Me Your Comb, which had been performed by one of the Beatles idols, Carl Perkins, was recorded for the Beatles' BBC show, Pop Go the Beatles. This song features some pretty bad lyrics ("Lend me your comb... My hair is a mess"), and is okay but not one of my favourites.
I'll Get You is taken from an appearance on Sunday Night At The London Palladium in October 1963. This song was the B side of "She Loves You," and on this version, we get to hear the screaming teenage girls who were a necessary part of every Beatles performance. Disc one ends with five songs from an October 1963 appearance on Swedish radio. The songs were all commercially issued by the Beatles, and these live versions sound quite good. The songs are I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You, Money (That's What I Want), You Really Got A Hold On Me, and Roll Over Beethoven.
Disc two is mostly made up of live or different takes of released Beatles songs. There is only one "speech" track, and few unreleased songs. The disc begins with three songs from the November 1963 Royal Command Performance. The songs performed are She Loves You, Till There Was You and Twist And Shout. Before "Twist And Shout," John asks the audience, "Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery."
The next four tracks are taken from the Beatles' December 1963 appearance on The Morecambe And Wise Show. They perform This Boy and I Want To Hold Your Hand before doing a comedy skit and the 1940s song Moonlight Bay. This skit is very funny, but it's pretty stupid just listening to it without being able to see anything. This part of the show is included on the Anthology DVD, however.
Take 2 of Can't Buy Me Love has a more bluesy feel to it than the released take 4. It also features backing vocals from John and George in addition to Paul's lead vocal. All My Loving is taken from the February 9, 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. This performance is great, and it was the first time most Americans actually saw the Beatles.
Different versions of two A Hard Day's Night songs, recorded in February 1964, are next. You Can't Do That features only John singing lead, without the backing vocals found on the released song. And I Love Her is a real change from the acoustic version that appeared on the soundtrack. This one has a harder sound, with drums and an electric guitar.
The first take of A Hard Day's Night, from April 1964, differs from the released take 9. There are some minor lyrical differences, and the bridge features a guitar solo instead of George Martin's piano. Paul forgets the words and sings some gibberish, and you can hear laughter as the song is ending.
Four songs recorded for the April 1964 special Around The Beatles are presented here. I Wanna Be Your Man and Boys both feature Ringo singing lead, while Long Tall Sally is Paul. The Beatles version of Shout was never released, so this is a rarity. It's a cover of the Isley Brothers' hit, featuring all four Beatles trading lead vocals.
Two takes of I'll Be Back are included. Take 2 is slow and very waltz-like, while take 3 is pretty close to the released take 16. You Know What To Do is the second song George Harrison wrote, which was never released on a Beatles album. It's a pretty soft love song that certainly isn't one of Harrison's best, but it's still rather nice. A No Reply (demo) is more upbeat than the released version, and we get to hear John and Paul goofing around with the lyrics.
Take one of Mr. Moonlight features John failing to adequately shout the introductory "Mr. Moonlight!" Take four lacks the organ that was on the released version, which was recorded a few months later for Beatles For Sale. The previously unreleased cover of Leave My Kitten Alone was recorded on the same day as "Mr. Moonlight." This is an R&B song with John singing lead.
Take 2 of No Reply is pretty close to the released take 8. There is a sequence of incomplete takes of Eight Days A Week before the complete take 5. This version is slower and ends differently than the released recording. Take 2 of Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! sounds a lot like the released version, which was actually take one.
Anthology 1 comes with a beautiful 48 page booklet featuring information about all the songs, along with lots of pictures of the Beatles. This is a great addition and made the set worth the price in my book. I would recommend Anthology 1 to any Beatles fan. If there are any non-Beatles fans out there, this set would probably be extremely boring to them. I don't really think you have to be an obsessive Beatles fan to enjoy this, because Anthology 1 was actually one of the first Beatles CDs I bought, and I enjoyed it even then.
The Beatles Anthology: 1 also includes Free As A Bird, the band s first new recording in 25 years. Written by the late John Lennon, the song was recor...More at Buy.com
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