We have long lost count of the number of “historical” releases of The Beatles that contain unreleased songs, documents, photographs or films. But with them they will never stop having a place to dig, here and now This Christmas, we will witness the umpteenth episode of The Fever … Beatlemaniac With another breathless shooting attack.
They premiered yesterday, Thursday Disney+ (which already included Peter Jackson’s massive “Get Back”) the first three episodes of the series “The Beatles Anthology”a documentary series that will present six more episodes spread between today, Friday and tomorrow, in a choral tale of the life and times of the most influential and beloved band of all time, with The Beatles themselves as narrators.
The narrative begins with the personal history of each member of the group, and delves into the early stage with the drummers before Ringo Starr and their adventures in Hamburg. Then the rise to fame following his return to Liverpool, the entry of Ringo and producer George Martin into the team, and from there, the eventual explosion of his conquest of the charts on both sides of the ocean, are described, with A special stop in the biggest controversy a pop group has ever seen (And without social media, listen): Lennon’s joke in which he compared the fame of the Beatles to that of Jesus, angered thousands of idiots who burned their records in the United States.
The intimacy that the documentary explores allows us to delve into the group’s feelings when they began to grow weary of touring hysteria and ended up deciding not to perform live again, to focus on the final albums they recorded between 1967 and 1970.
One of the most emotional and unusual moments in the series occurs when… Paul, George and Ringo reunite in the early 1990s To reminisce stories, listen to demos of their songs, laugh at their failures and fantasize about the changes they would make twenty years after they broke up. A scene with an ending that leaves something stuck in your eye, when Ringo, before bidding farewell, looks at his former Odyssey comrades and says: “This has been a great day for me, friends. It was beautiful and very emotional for me. “I love being with you.”
The series is produced by Apple Corps (the company founded by the Beatles in 1968), Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon, Jonathan Clyde and Martin R. Smith. It is based on the documentary that originally aired in 1995 In the US on ABC and in the UK on ITV, it was followed by a successful physical release that won a Grammy Award. For Disney+, several elements have been updated, including new remastering of images and audio mixes overseen by the Apple Corps production team, which worked with technicians at Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post, in Wellington (New Zealand).
Episodes one through eight were directed by Jeff Wonvor, Bob Smeaton, and Matt Longfellow The ninth episode is not fully publishedDirected by Oliver Murray, it includes highly revealing footage of Paul, George and Ringo during the creation of the original series.
Records and books
Legendary now “Selection Collection”originally commissioned by Beatles producer George Martin, has now been remastered by Giles Martin as three double albums including Major Newness: The “Anthology 4” expansion..
These are 13 demos, session recordings, other little-known recordings, new mixes of the singles “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” (which their original producer, Jeff Lynne, gave new life using unmixed vocals from John Lennon), and the final single “Now Andthen”, a 2023 Grammy winner and UK No. 1. The three singles were created from rudimentary home demos recorded by John in the 1970s, then completed with vocal and instrumental parts recorded by Paul, George and Ringo.
In total there are 191 songs Available for download, streaming and two physical format box sets, one deluxe containing twelve 180 gram CDs and the other containing eight CDs. Both include the original liner notes for “Anthology” 1, 2 and 3, and the new one for “Anthology 4” includes liner notes by Kevin Howlett and an introduction composed of 1996 interviews recorded with close friend and Beatles advisor Derek Taylor. Exclusive and limited editions of both boxes include four 12-inch cards containing band photos in a numbered envelope.
To top the wave of pre-Christmas releases from The Beatles, the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Beatles Anthologyin which the Fab Four share intimate and revealing recollections of the band’s journey, accompanied by impressions from their closest mates, including Neil Aspinall, George Martin, Derek Taylor and others, across 368 beautifully illustrated pages with over 1,300 photographs, documents, artwork and other curios from the band’s archives.