Anthology 1 (The Beatles, 1995)

Between looking at the third installment of this series awhile back and then reviewing this one, one of the most remarkable things about the Anthology project is how rapidly it shifted scope. Two interesting features of this set, the interview clips and the featured new song, were completely absent from the final set. In fact, with regard to the interview clips it feels more like those were abandoned halfway through this set. Not that these were make and break features, but it does contribute to an uneven feeling across the entire project.

Nevertheless, Anthology 1 is an excellent document of the early development of an unlikely group that would become the biggest rock band in history. Their success wasn't just dumb luck; even the ideas for the songs they threw out (either the entire song or just the way they tried to play it) are often better than the finished documents of other bands of the time period. The first 21 tracks appear nowhere on the canon Beatles albums and some of the fidelity is downright rotten (but come on, did they know where they would be within 5 years?!). However it's probably the most Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best you will hear on any legitimate Beatles recording, even though they ripped off Pete's face on the cover!! Also included are the failed Decca auditions and the songs tossed out by George Martin. The second third of the compilation is dominated by live performances, mostly from 1963. The must hear song in this group is "Twist and Shout" mainly because it includes in the introduction one of the most famous phrases John Lennon ever uttered, showing even in these early years he was a rabble rouser at heart. Finally the last section of the album is mostly outtakes and alternate instrumentations of songs from A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale, some of which are incredibly sharp, though the vocals are too raw for any of them to be credible finished products.

At the time the Anthologies came out I was a poor college student and these were too rich for my blood. I remember watching the debut of "Free as a Bird" on TV and hearing bits of the second set around campus and liking it. However I didn't invest until around 2005 or so, but then I went in big, getting all three sets as well as the excellent first BBC compilation (which the Anthology project was careful to avoid duplicating).