The Beatles Anthology

Multimedia project focusing on the history of the Beatles

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History of the Beatles

* The Quarrymen
* In Hamburg
* At the Cavern Club
* Decca audition
* Beatlemania
* North American releases
* "More popular than Jesus"
* In Bangor
* In India
* Break-up
* The Beatles Anthology
* Timeline

* v
* t
* e

The Beatles Anthology is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr participated in the making of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the Anthology project, while John Lennon appears in archival interviews.

The documentary series was first broadcast in November 1995, with expanded versions released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1996 and on DVD in 2003. The documentary used interviews with the Beatles and their associates to narrate the history of the band as seen through archival footage and performances. The Anthology book, released in 2000, paralleled the documentary in presenting the group's history through quotes from interviews.

The initial volume of the album set (Anthology 1) was released the same week of the documentary's airdate, with the subsequent two volumes (Anthology 2 and Anthology 3) released in 1996. They included unreleased performances and outtakes presented in roughly chronological order, along with two new songs based on demo tapes recorded by Lennon after the group broke up: "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", both produced by Jeff Lynne.

## Documentary series

[edit]

Main article: The Beatles Anthology (TV series)

Approximately coinciding with the release of the "Free as a Bird" single and Anthology 1 album (the first of three double-CD albums), The Beatles Anthology series of documentaries was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom and ABC television in the United States in 1995. The Anthology series takes a form similar to that of the Anthology book, by being a series of first-person accounts by the Beatles themselves, with no external "objective" narration. Footage in the Anthology series features voice-over recordings of all four Beatles to push the narrative of the story, with contributions from their producer, road manager and others. As well as telling their story through archival footage, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr appear in interview segments recorded exclusively for the series; John Lennon appears only in historic archival footage.

The series, which included over 5000 hours of planning and production, is composed of numerous film clips and interviews that present a complete history of the band from the Beatles' own personal perspectives. When it aired on ABC, the series comprised six hour-long programs, aired on three nights in November 1995. The series was later released as eight expanded episodes on VHS, laserdisc and as a boxed set of five DVDs (4 discs with 2 episodes apiece and a disc of extras).

Air dates on ABC:

* Sunday, 19 November 1995: 9–11 p.m.
* Wednesday, 22 November 1995: 9–11 p.m.
* Thursday, 23 November 1995: 9–11 p.m.

Part 1 of the series drew 17 million households,[1] meaning an average of 27.3 million viewers,[2] which was much better than usual for ABC at the time, but behind most broadcasts of Friends on NBC,[1] which in its second season was averaging 29.4 million viewers per episode.

In promoting the series, ABC identified itself as "A-Beatles-C" – an homage to the mid-1960s "77 W-A-Beatles-C" call sign of the network's flagship NYC AM radio station – and several of the network's prime-time sitcoms replaced their regular opening credit themes with Beatles tracks.

## Albums

[edit]

Main articles: Anthology 1, Anthology 2, and Anthology 3

To accompany the Anthology series, three albums were issued, each containing two CDs, two cassette tapes or three vinyl LPs of mostly never-before-released Beatles material (the exceptions being the Tony Sheridan-era material), although many of the tracks had appeared on bootlegs for many years prior.

Two days after the first television special in the series had aired, Anthology 1 was released to stores, and included music recorded by the Quarrymen, the famous Decca Records audition tapes, and various out-takes and demos from Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale. It also included the song "Lend Me Your Comb", omitted from the collection Live at the BBC, released the previous year (1994). The song "Free as a Bird" was included at the very start. Some 450,000 copies of Anthology 1 were sold in its first day of release, the most sales for an album in a single day ever. The band's first drummer Pete Best, replaced by Ringo Starr in 1962 before the Beatles recorded professionally for EMI, received his first substantial Beatles royalties from this album, for the inclusion of early demo tracks on which he played.

Anthology 2 was released on 17 March 1996. The second collection presented out-takes and demos from the Beatles' sessions for Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour. These included selected early demos and takes for Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever", previously available only to bootleg collectors. The new song "Real Love" – which, like "Free as a Bird", was based on an unfinished Lennon recording – was also included in the two-CD collection.

Anthology 3 was released on 28 October 1996. The third collection featured out-takes and demos from The Beatles ("White Album"), Let It Be and Abbey Road, as well as several songs from Harrison and McCartney which later became post-Beatle tracks.

Mark Lewisohn wrote the liner notes that appear in the booklets accompanying all three audio sets. These notes, including the date and location of each session or appearance, were based on his own extensive research.

### Collage

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Collage of the three covers of The Beatles Anthology, created by Klaus Voormann.

The three album covers, when laid side-by-side, become one long painted collage of various peeling posters and album covers representing the different stages of the Beatles' career. This was the work of Klaus Voormann, who also created the album cover for Revolver in 1966. The Anthology covers required Voormann to recreate elements of his cover for Revolver within the collage. During the music video for "Free as a Bird", the Anthology collage appears as posters on a shop window as the camera pans quickly across the street. The design also adorned the VHS, laserdisc and DVD releases, again to be properly encountered by laying the cases side by side. Upon the release of Anthology 3, HMV stores made available a limited edition cardboard sleeve designed to hold all three CD volumes of which each side of the sleeve make up half of the collage.

### Digital release and Anthology Highlights

[edit]

All three albums were made digitally available on the iTunes Store on 14 June 2011, alongside a new Anthology Highlights album which featured a selection of tracks from all three albums and reached number 184 on Billboard's United States Top Current Albums chart.[3]

#### Anthology Highlights track listing

[edit]

1. "Free as a Bird" – 4:25
2. "One After 909" (Complete) – 2:55
3. "That Means a Lot" – 2:26
4. "Leave My Kitten Alone" – 2:56
5. "If You've Got Trouble" – 2:48
6. "Can't Buy Me Love" – 2:10
7. "Mr. Moonlight" – 2:47
8. "Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" – 2:46
9. "Eight Days a Week" (Complete) – 2:47
10. "I'm Looking Through You" – 2:53
11. "Yesterday" – 2:34
12. "Tomorrow Never Knows" (Take 1) – 3:14
13. "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Take 1) – 2:34
14. "Across the Universe" (Take 2) – 3:30
15. "Something" – 3:18
16. "Not Guilty" – 3:22
17. "Octopus's Garden" – 2:49
18. "All Things Must Pass" – 3:04
19. "Come and Get It" – 2:30
20. "Good Night" – 2:38
21. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" – 3:27
22. "The Long and Winding Road" – 3:41
23. "Real Love" – 3:54

## Book

[edit]

Main article: The Beatles Anthology (book)

In October 2000, The Beatles Anthology book was released, which included interviews with all four band members and others involved, plus rare photos. Many of the interviews quoted are from those featured in the documentary films. The book is designed as a large-format hardback, with imaginative artwork throughout, and several visually vibrant and colourful spreads featuring graphics relevant to the proceeding chronology, photographic arrays and a variety of text styles and layouts. The book went straight to the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.[4] In 2002, the book was released as a large-format paperback.[5]

## Unreleased recordings

[edit]

See also: Carnival of Light, Now and Then (Beatles song), and Grow Old with Me

During early 1995, as work on The Beatles Anthology continued, Yoko Ono and McCartney recorded an avant-garde piece called "Hiroshima Sky Is Always Blue". Ono provided vocals and McCartney played bass, while Sean Lennon, Linda McCartney, and McCartney's children played various instruments. The piece was broadcast on Japanese public television in memory of the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.[6]

The track "Carnival of Light", recorded during the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions, was intended to be released on the Anthology 2 album, but was vetoed by George Harrison.[7]

It was reported that McCartney, Harrison and Starr worked on a new composition called "All for Love" in March 1995, intended as a track on Anthology 3, but the effort was abandoned.[8] No version of the song has reached the public.

McCartney, Harrison, Starr, and Jeff Lynne attempted a full band recording of Lennon's song "Now and Then" using his demo vocals, intending it to anchor Anthology 3. The poor fidelity and excessive ambient noise of the original tape proved too difficult to alleviate with contemporary digital equipment, and the song was abandoned. George Harrison was dismissive of the quality of the song, calling it "fucking rubbish".[9] The song was replaced as the opening track on Anthology 3 with the White Album outtake "A Beginning". In 2023, McCartney, Starr and Giles Martin refurbished and completed the track, using artificial intelligence to extricate Lennon's vocal from the demo tape, and released it as a "final Beatles song", both as a single and as a bonus track on the expanded edition of the 1967-1970 compilation album.[10][11]

## Promotional items

[edit]

Each of the three Anthology albums was accompanied by a promotional CD sampler sent to radio stations shortly before the official release dates. These CDs have since become highly sought collector's items. Even rarer is a vinyl version of the sampler for Anthology 2, which was only sent to college radio stations and featured a different cover (though the contents were the same).

In October 1996 there was a strictly limited release from EMI, a slip case cover to house all three CD volumes, which have since become extremely rare, fetching high prices among collectors.

## Parodies

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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The success of the Anthology albums was parodied by the release of the Rutles' Archaeology some months later. Delays in the release of the third volume of the Beatles' series ultimately meant that the Rutles' parody arrived in shops on the same day as its inspiration.

"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied The Beatles Anthology in an Al TV special. He said he had a copy of a fictional Anthology 17, which he claimed would not be available to the public for a while. He played for the audience a track of Paul McCartney brushing his teeth and Ringo Starr shaving before The Ed Sullivan Show. Yankovic also considered parodying the album's single "Free as a Bird" as "Gee, I'm a Nerd", and requested McCartney's permission for the parody.[12][13][14] McCartney had no problem with the parody; however, since "Free as a Bird" was written by John Lennon, he deferred the decision to Yoko Ono, who was not comfortable with the idea.

The Beatles Anthology was also parodied on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, which was being aired on ABC around the same time that Anthology was being televised on the network.

On Late Night with Conan O'Brien the host had the remaining Beatles adding music and doing backup singing to a fictitious vocal track of John Lennon's answering machine message.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Kaltenbach, Chris. "Beatles' appeal appears limited Ho-hum: Millions of people tuned in to the three-part 'Anthology' on ABC, but many more were watching other shows." The Baltimore Sun. 1995-12-03. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
2. ^ Margulies, Lee (29 November 1995). "TV Ratings : 'Beatles' Fades; 'Football,' With Elvis, Is No. 1". Los Angeles Times.
3. ^ "Top Current Albums". Billboard. 2 July 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
4. ^ The New York Times Best Seller List – 22 October 2000. From Hawes.com
5. ^ "The Beatles Anthology (publish ..." The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
6. ^ "A new song for history". Times Daily. Associated Press. 4 August 1995.
7. ^ "Carnival of Light". The Beatles Bible. 15 March 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
8. ^ "More on 'All For Love' -- what Paul really said (with pictures)". Abbeyrd.best.vwh.net. Archived from the original on 28 November 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
9. ^ Remnick, David (11 October 2021). "Paul McCartney Doesn't Really Want to Stop the Show". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
10. ^ "Sir Paul McCartney says artificial intelligence has enabled a 'final' Beatles song". BBC. 13 June 2023. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
11. ^ "The Beatles' 'Last Song,' 'Now and Then,' Is Set for Release, Along With Expanded, Remix-Filled 'Red' and 'Blue' Hits Collections". Variety. 26 October 2023. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
12. ^ ""Weird Al" Yankovic - Alpocalypse Now? and Then (Page 7) ? Timeline ? exclaim.ca". Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
13. ^ www.al-oholicsanonymous.com https://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/interviews/alicon.html. Retrieved 21 February 2025. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
14. ^ ""Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ask Al Archive". 24 June 2010. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2025.

* v
* t
* e

The Beatles Anthology

Media|

* Albums
* 1
* 2
* 3
* TV series
* Book

Singles|

* "Free as a Bird"
* "Real Love"

B-sides|

| "Free as a Bird"|

* "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)"
* "I Saw Her Standing There" (Take 9)
* "This Boy" (Takes 12 and 13)

|

"Real Love"|

* "Baby's in Black" (Live)
* "Yellow Submarine" (Remix)
* "Here, There and Everywhere" (Takes 7 and 13)

Other
songs|

| Anthology 1|

* "In Spite of All the Danger"
* "That'll Be the Day"
* "Cayenne"
* "Hallelujah, I Love Her So"
* "You'll Be Mine"
* "Ain't She Sweet"
* "Cry for a Shadow"
* "My Bonnie"
* "Bésame Mucho"
* "Hello Little Girl"
* "How Do You Do It?"
* "Like Dreamers Do"
* "Searchin'"
* "The Sheik of Araby"
* "Three Cool Cats"
* "Lend Me Your Comb"
* "Moonlight Bay"
* "Leave My Kitten Alone"
* "Shout"
* "You Know What to Do"

|

Anthology 2|

* "If You've Got Trouble"
* "That Means a Lot"
* "12-Bar Original"

Anthology 3|

* "A Beginning"
* "Junk"
* "Not Guilty"
* "Step Inside Love/Los Paranoias"
* "What's the New Mary Jane"
* "Ain't She Sweet"
* "All Things Must Pass"
* "Come and Get It"
* "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues"
* "Rip It Up/Shake, Rattle and Roll/Blue Suede Shoes"
* "Teddy Boy"

See also|

* "Grow Old with Me"
* "Now and Then"
* "Carnival of Light"
* The Rutles Archaeology

* v
* t
* e

The Beatles albums

Albums in the core catalogue are marked in bold.

Studio albums|

| UK|

* Please Please Me
* With the Beatles
* A Hard Day's Night
* Beatles for Sale
* Help!
* Rubber Soul
* Revolver
* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
* The Beatles ("White Album")
* Yellow Submarine
* Abbey Road
* Let It Be

|

US|

| Vee-Jay|

* Introducing... The Beatles
* Hear the Beatles Tell All

|

Capitol|

* Meet the Beatles!
* The Beatles' Second Album
* A Hard Day's Night
* Something New
* The Beatles' Story
* Beatles '65
* The Early Beatles
* Beatles VI
* Help!
* Rubber Soul
* Yesterday and Today
* Revolver
* Magical Mystery Tour
* Hey Jude

Canada|

* Twist and Shout
* The Beatles' Long Tall Sally

Extended plays|

| UK|

* Twist and Shout
* The Beatles' Hits
* The Beatles (No. 1)
* All My Loving
* Long Tall Sally
* Extracts from the Film A Hard Day's Night
* Extracts from the Album A Hard Day's Night
* Beatles for Sale
* Beatles for Sale No. 2
* The Beatles' Million Sellers
* Yesterday
* Nowhere Man
* Magical Mystery Tour

|

US|

* Souvenir of Their Visit to America
* Four by the Beatles
* 4 by the Beatles

Live albums|

* Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962
* The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl / Live at the Hollywood Bowl
* First Live Recordings
* Live at the BBC
* On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2
* The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963
* Get Back – The Rooftop Performance

Selected
compilations|

| Hits|

* The Beatles in Italy
* Los Beatles
* Greatest Hits Volume 1
* A Collection of Beatles Oldies
* Greatest Hits Volume 2
* 1962–1966 ("Red Album")
* 1967–1970 ("Blue Album")
* 1

|

Non-album tracks|

* Por Siempre Beatles
* Past Masters
* Mono Masters

Themed|

* From Then to You / The Beatles' Christmas Album
* Tomorrow Never Knows

Archival|

* Anthology
* 1
* 2
* 3
* The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963

Remixes|

* Yellow Submarine Songtrack
* Let It Be... Naked
* Love

Box sets|

* The Beatles Collection
* The Beatles Box
* The Beatles: The Collection
* The Beatles Box Set
* The Capitol Albums
* vol. 1
* 2
* The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings)
* The Beatles in Mono
* The U.S. Albums
* The Japan Box
* The Christmas Records
* The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono

* v
* t
* e

Grammy Award for Best Music Film

1983–1986|

* Duran Duran – Duran Duran (1983)
* Making Michael Jackson's Thriller – Michael Jackson (1984)
* Huey Lewis & The News: The Heart of Rock 'n Roll – Huey Lewis and the News (1985)
* Bring On the Night – Sting (1986)

Best Performance
Music Video
(1987−1988)|

* The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert – Various Artists (1987)
* "Where the Streets Have No Name" – U2 (1988)

1989–2009|

* Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson (1989)
* Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie – MC Hammer (1990)
* Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90 – Madonna (1991)
* Diva – Annie Lennox (1992)
* Ten Summoner's Tales – Sting (1993)
* Zoo TV: Live from Sydney – U2 (1994)
* Secret World Live – Peter Gabriel (1995)
* The Beatles Anthology – The Beatles (1996)
* Jagged Little Pill, Live – Alanis Morissette (1997)
* American Masters: Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Heart – Lou Reed (1998)
* Band of Gypsys: Live at Fillmore East – Jimi Hendrix (1999)
* Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album – John Lennon (2000)
* Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks – Mel Brooks (2001)
* Westway to the World – The Clash (2002)
* Legend – Sam Cooke (2003)
* Concert for George – Various Artists (2004)
* No Direction Home – Bob Dylan (2005)
* Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen (2006)
* The Confessions Tour – Madonna (2007)
* Runnin' Down a Dream – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (2008)
* The Beatles Love – All Together Now – The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil (2009)

2010–present|

* When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors – The Doors (2010)
* Back and Forth – Foo Fighters (2011)
* Big Easy Express – Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show (2012)
* Live Kisses – Paul McCartney (2013)
* 20 Feet from Stardom – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill (2014)
* Amy – Amy Winehouse (2015)
* The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years – The Beatles (2016)
* The Defiant Ones – Various Artists (2017)
* Quincy – Quincy Jones (2018)
* Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé – Beyoncé (2019)
* Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice – Linda Ronstadt (2020)
* Summer of Soul – Various Artists (2021)
* Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story – Various Artists (2022)
* Moonage Daydream – David Bowie (2023)
* American Symphony – Jon Batiste (2024)

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group
* MusicBrainz series

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