The Beatles Anthology
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Movie Reviews of The Beatles Anthology
Movie Review: Were the Beatles truly "the greatest?"
Summary: 5 Stars
Almost eight years have passed since "The Beatles Anthology" first premiered, heavily edited, on commercial television.
Having viewed the expanded footage, first in the VHS version released in the mid-1990s -- and now the DVD package I finished viewing during the past three days (in what were ten of the most enthralling and fastest-moving hours I've spent in front of the tube) -- it can now be stated, without reservation, that "The Beatles Anthology" is a marvel, even for contemporaries who may be wondering "what the fuss was all about" in this tale of four Liverpool lads who, despite their origins many years before 1964, ruled the USA radio airwaves for only seven years (1964 through 1970).
"Anthology" renders it impossible for viewers to dismiss the group's accomplishments, their output of consistent musical masterpieces during the 1960s. I won't get into the guts of this, all covered fabulously by previous Amazon reviewers.
But I do want to add this about the 2003 version of "Anthology." The special new features on disk #5 alone are worth getting this package all over again. With George Harrison now gone, the poignant "re-union and recollections" of the surviving members in 1994 for this documentary are on fuller display in previously unseen footage, and hence feel more meaningful to the viewer. They hang out on the grass, they jabber about stuff at the table, they swear and laugh. They play goofy music together in a room; they join their long-time producer George Martin, listening to studio outtakes on old reel-to-reel tapes. They're clearly enjoying themselves. We don't see as much "new" as we'd like, but we see enough to provide a sense of "closure," knowing that before the Beatles went their separate ways again after 1994, each surviving member had acknowledged their collective accomplishments with arguably greater love and respect than they did previously, especially in public.
While "on-the-fence" fans, journalists or historians -- might've wished for greater coverage about the more controversial aspects of the Beatles' reign, the fact is -- nothing major that is negative has been left out of "Anthology" that's glaring (or galling). Moreover, despite possessing final approval for this project, without the Beatles' participation, we might not have this, the final record of the their accomplishments, expressed from the perspective of middle-aged guys looking back, armed with wisdom.
The unprecedented access the surviving Beatles gave for this production enables us to hear their own words about what happened to them, rightly or wrongly -- their triumphs and tragedies, their successes and failures -- warts and all. Equally amazing is hearing John Lennon's voice throughout the documentary, so intelligent, witty and cynical all at once, providing great insight as to their motivations for success, how surprised they were when it came and how much it ruined them. Yet, as Harrison admits, success allowed the Beatles to re-invent themselves, to experiment, pushing them into new territories that enhanced and engraved the towering legacy they left behind.
So much has been written and recorded about the Beatles that it's gratifying to know, especially with respect to new information dealing with the bittersweet and heartbreaking efforts associated with the creation of the Fab Four's 1995 release, "Free as a Bird" (covered in greater detail in the 2003 version), that the "Anthology's" producers never had a problem with "lacking " material. If anything, given the ingenious cutting and editing, 10 hours on five disks still leaves you wanting more.
Production values are top-flight. No expense was spared, no corners cut. "Anthology" looks and feels like a zillion dollars. The re-mastered DTS audio tracks are magnificent, and the ability to access subtitles enables viewers to pick up even "PG-13" mutterings with greater clarity, stuff cut out of the commercial television version. Yeah, the Beatles, especially George and Ringo, let loose with swear words here and there, though not gratuitously, displaying unguarded emotions about what they loved and hated about being members of the world's most successful pop band.
So after watching "Anthology" is it still fair, in 2003, to say the Beatles were indeed "the greatest?" Were they the greatest even if you mildly admired them, and weren't a rabid fan?
In my view, the answer is yes. "Anthology's" pictures, interviews and songs support the theory that starbursts of genius are mostly seen in people who are young. By the time the Beatles broke up in 1970, each member had just hit or was approaching 30. They went out bitterly, but they also went out on top.
By 1980, the year of John Lennon's murder, they seemed no longer embarrassed by their association with a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. And it's quite exhilarating to hear the surviving members, especially Lennon (seen in archival, post-break-up footage), acknowledge somewhat modestly, despite myriad superstar musicians who have since followed, that in fact, as a team, they "did OK." As one of 'em says, "Yeah, I thought we did alright. We were a pretty good band."
Flash forward to 2003. Hearing their words, combined with stellar concert footage, interviews, rehearsal sessions filled with gaffes, news coverage of their exploits, the creation of their theatrical films, their growing maturity with lyrics and melodies -- solidifies what "objective" historians must now agree -- that the Beatles' place in history as one of the greatest artistic/creative collaborations of the ages is forever preserved.
More than 40 years after the group's struggling days in Liverpool and Hamburg, it's indeed safer to declare, once again, that the Beatles and their spectacular accomplishments -- will be endlessly studied -- even centuries from now. And this has gotta be beyond comforting for fans.
Movie Review: The Beatles in their own words - and almost nobody else's
Summary: 5 Stars
Derek Taylor, the Beatles' press officer, has devoted his life in that job to maintaining and revivifying the Beatles myth. I don't mean that he tells lies about them, or that there's some sordid "truth" about the Beatles that he seeks to conceal (Albert Goldman, back to your seat!). I mean that he, more than most other people, has helped to shape the posthumous legend of the Beatles as being some kind of uber-human cultural force - what they themselves referred to as being "Fab". His liner notes to these DVDs are in that spirit - you'd think there were almost no other bands during the 60s from the way Taylor writes about this one. Still and all, he also observes (righteously) that the Beatles were the greatest romance of the 20th century.It's true. They were, with all the complicated glories implied by that intriguing word "romance". Maybe it's the quality of the music, maybe it's the power of the legend, but I always come away from encountering the Beatles feeling like I've just ended a wonderful, intense, electrifying but all-too-brief love affair. They can make you sad and happy at the same time. I'm happy that I've heard the songs, sad that there aren't more of them (and that a few of the existing ones aren't even better than they are), regretful that I was born after they split up and never got to see them, glad that they never stayed together and ended up getting old ... (OK, I don't much like "Free as a Bird", but I notice it's actually been covered by those monsters of rock terror King Crimson, another fave of mine, so there's another point on their card)...I could go on. Either way, the Beatles have an incredible capacity for making me feel more alive, that no other band has ever come near. They were the first band I ever liked and they'll always be my favourite.
The "Anthology" series' greatest virtue is also its greatest flaw - that it's told almost entirely by the band itself (Lennon appearing in archive footage or voice-over.) We never get to hear from the women, for example, because Yoko Ono didn't want to take part - imagine what Cynthia Lennon might have contributed! ...Of the fans, almost the only contribution is some old B&W footage of a hapless Cavern denizen named Cathy, who you can see fearing that her beloved lads are being taken away from her - "I just want it to be like it was before," she wails, but it was too late even then.
I watched this on British TV when it was first broadcast and it's not quite as great now as it seemed then. There seems to be an awful lot of not very interesting footage of the band performing "All My Loving" (never my favourite Beatle song) on some forgotten TV show or other. But it's balanced by a blistering live performance at the Washington Coliseum, in which the band truly wigs out, plus a generous selection of stuff from the great Shea Stadium film. (Why isn't it on video? I remember seeing it telly in the early 70s...) There's a lovely shot from that show of Brian Epstein, standing near the stage, calmly chewing gum, observing the teenage insanity around him and nodding to himself in quiet satisfaction - yeah, this is pretty much how popular I thought they would be.
As the series goes on, you start to wish that the inevitable won't happen, but of course it does. They get swamped with acid and produce the gloriously poised "Sgt Pepper", but from then on it's increasingly tragic; no Beatle of 1964 would let something as dull as "Rocky Raccoon" or "Bungalow Bill" onto a proper album. They'd have saved it for the fan club discs. And for every three moments of glory in their later work, there are things like the dreary "Blue Jay Way" or the mean-minded "Piggies" to be taken into consideration. The Beatles at their best were so great, that at their worst it's heartbreaking how ordinary they could be. Watching scenes from "Let It Be" in which they bicker about guitar parts (Paul pompous, George sullen, John uninterested) is like overhearing your parents having a row in the next room. Fortunately they got it together for "Abbey Road"; but the second side of that album is notably less inspired than the first. Ringo always kept this band in perfect time, and when they broke up, it was with an immaculate sense of rhythm. (There used to be a joke that Ringo not only wasn't the best drummer in the world, he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles. But the joke betrays a tin ear. Ringo was in this band because the others knew talent when they heard it.)
The coda, in which all four Beatles get to deliver a verdict of sorts, is for me the most touching part of the whole series. George is typically reflective, remarking on the spiritual and emotional cost of the whole thing to the Beatles themselves. Paul is just glad it was all done with such a great spirit of love and understanding behind it. (Granted, Paul, and there's no doubt that "Hey Jude" is as good as it gets; but please explain "Maxwell's Silver Hammer".) John, in what from its slightly defensive tone sounds like an interview from the very early 70s, says that they were just a rock band and breaking up isn't the end of the world - true, but this was no ordinary rock band. However, in my book Ringo steals the moment, clearly moved as he recalls the deep, private, four-way connection that this band forged during the maddest and hugest career any band ever had.
They were the best. This is a priceless haul of Beatle stuff, more than any but the most rabid fan could ever want. But there were always generous like that. Don't worry, lads, you passed the audition.
Movie Review: The Series that Changed My World
Summary: 5 Stars
At 11 years old, my biggest interests were horses, painting and drawing horses, reading books about horses and avoiding homework. Then, one November Sunday night, I wanted to watch tv and there was nothing on but The Beatles Anthology, I was too lazy to turn the set off. AND IT'S A GOOD THING I DIDN'T!!! At the end of two hours, I was off to bed singing "Love Me Do" and begging to watch the second installment the night it came on. It was heartbreak when I missed the 3rd and final installment on Thanksgiving night but by Christmas, I was 12 years old and the proud owner of my first boombox and my first CD ever: The Beatles Anthology 1.
That was 9 years ago and I'm even crazier about The Beatles than I was then. I've even converted my best friends and my latest boyfriend into Beatles fans! It was also interesting to see my parents watching the local news the next night and seeing literally HUNDREDS of teenagers lined up outside the music stores in the Mall to buy Beatles albums!
Oh, and don't get me wrong, I still love my horses (I'm training them now) and am pursuing an art career in college, I still love to read (I have several books about The Beatles) and am now trying to write a novel; but my love of The Beatles has never faded. The airing of The Beatles Anthology unleashed a second tide of Beatlemania that has yet to fade. In fact, they are still among the Top Ten searches on ebay. The Beatles also ignited my love of 60's and 70's music and culture and I am now among the hundreds of 20-somethings on my campus who are the latest of worshippers at the altars of the likes of: Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and the solo career of John Lennon. We can now find common ground with the Baby Boomer/Old Hippy Professors on our campus and, even our parents!
Ah, but back to my story. In my 13th year, The Beatles Anthology aired AGAIN, proof of its undying popularity. This time, I was prepared, and had enough VHS tape to record all three nights, sans commercials. My allowance, sadly, was not large enough to purchase the whole set of VHS tapes and my parents deemed them too expensive for a present. So, I continued to watch my home recordings as they faded more and more from continual use. Then, (hallelujah!) the DVDs were released! I was finally able to see the Anthology in its entirety, and for a much better price than the $130 out-of-publication VHS tapes.
This set is NOT a letdown! And, it has the added bonus of extra material (the video for "Real Love", behind the scenes production, etc.) that the VHS tapes didn't have. The story of how The Beatles came to be is a real inspiration for me. I love the tale of how they all came to know each other and it was very interesting to learn of their backgrounds, the music that influenced each of them, how they got their name (like the Crickets, but Beat, like Beat Music) and the truly HORRIBLE living and traveling conditions they had to endure (broken windshield while traveling down a highway in the middle of winter in leather clothes, the horrible accommodations when they first arrived in Hamburg, and other stories). Their climb to success was long, hard and at times, disgruntling. But by the time John was 24, they were in America and loved all over the world!
The Beatles had 27 Number One Hits in the space of SIX years! That is UNPRESIDENTED! Plus, they occupied the top FIVE spots of the Hits chart all at once, a record that had never happened before or since. Even when the Anthology aired, for weeks before, ABC broadcasting was advertising their station as "A Beatle C", even the local news anchors were being interviewed about who their favorite Beatle was. And, in the Friday Night programs called TGIF, their regular theme songs were replaced with BEATLES songs! I mean, no one band must be bigger, more famous or more loved to deserve all that hype! And I must say, I believe in that statement.
The Beatles have influenced my artwork (just hearing their music brings all kinds of WONDERFUL abstract images into my head), like John Lennon always did, I now dream in Technicolor, and also like him, I don't need drugs to do it! He stated that it was always like that for him, he didn't know any other way to dream and at that point, he hadn't ever touched drugs. And despite their drug use, you have to respect The Beatles, they never used while they were recording (except once by accident) so even their was always done sober. AND, they give me hope that I WILL be able to make it with my own brand of art, the key is to NEVER give up on what you love to do, NO MATTER *WHAT* ANYONE TELLS YOU! (ex. John's Aunt Mimi: "You'll never make a living playing a guitar, John.")
But, honestly, this is a GREAT set, The Beatles are a fantastic, original and NEVER-outdated band. They were the Four Horsemen of the 60's, they changed and influenced that decade in too many ways to name, they influenced the course of ALL genres of music forever, and they were always on the cutting edge of ingenuity, creativity and originality. Their sound was so NEW and Different from anything ever heard before, OR since! And because of that, their music will always remain TIMELESS and in a class ALL its own.
Movie Review: END ALL ARGUMENT AS TO WHO WAS THE BEST BAND EVER!
Summary: 5 Stars
More than 30 years after their demise as a band, the Beatles keep setting records. (though it was 25 years when the Anthology was released)
When the Anthology was first aired, right after, in one day 450,000 albums of Anthology 1 were sold, the most albums EVER sold in one day. (and it wasn't cheap, either) There was the audio version of the Anthology first, and each one cost...was it $30? Something like that, but they had a LOT of songs on each disc. Then the video Anthology finally came out on VHS. Then the Anthology coffee table book. Finally, the DVD version you will buy. Amazing, when you think of it. As you get into this you will see that the Beatles did this with as much class and integrity as they did everything else they ever did. A good example is the Free As A Bird video. One of the coolest videos ever, it has lots of hidden references to their songs and story. (There is also a lot of humor from the Beatles as it all unfolds)
The song "Free As A Bird" won a Grammy in 1997, and the video also won a Grammy. The Beatles thus break further ground being a band with a long deceased member who still charts in the top 10... 25 years after disbanding, and winning top awards.
"Real Love," the single, reached #4 and #11 in the UK and US singles charts respectively and earned a gold record faster than a number of the group's other singles.
These examples illustrate in just a small way the colossal impact this 4 piece group had on music and modern culture. As Mick Jagger admitted, "People today can't realize just how huge and untouchable the Beatles were in the 60s."(sic) He called them a "four headed giant."
A great visual of how overwhelming their fame became is at the beginning of each episode when you see them playing real clear and well, and then they are drowned out by human screams that sound like a thousand jet engines, and then the camera fades back and the gigantic Beatles "drop-t" logo dwarfs them until they are no longer even visible within the monster they created. This is a large part of the point of their story. They considered themselves just a great little rock band that was admittedly greater than the sum of it's parts. This is that story, told by themselves.
My Dad told me that The Beatles took so much money out of the USA, that it scared the United States Government. They were very wealthy within a year or two of conquering America, and that's without the money they SHOULD have gotten from their publishing, and England had something like a 98% tax!!! That they were so rich they could lock down the world's greatest recording studio at will for indeterminate time, when studio time was HUGELY EXPENSIVE, shows what they were worth.
Other bands all over the world stood in despair every time the Beatles released a new record because each one was a dramatic and devastating departure from what they (or anyone) had done before. No one could even think of keeping up, though they tried, and that includes the Rolling Stones, who, while great, were in a very deep shadow. This became especially true by the time of Rubber Soul and onward.
The thing that the videos show and it shows in an even more astonishing way if you dig into the literature, is how hard and non-stop these young guys worked. They did all the right things, led every step of the way, and seemingly effortlessly changed everything. If you consider that they released 2 albums and 3 singles per year, on top of endless television appearances, tours and recording sessions, they rarely had a day off for years. On the outside, we don't realize that often times they would finish work on a classic album, and if not the next day, within days they were working on the NEXT classic album. And during all this incredible activity, they found time to write tons of timeless classics and create innovative recording techniques that forever changed the way records were recorded, down to this day, and with the help of their ingenius Abbey Road staff, came up with new sounds and gadgets such as flanging, artificial double tracking, using Leslie speakers for vocals, locking up several 4 track recorders in sync, etc. The list goes on. And the modern music lover should be made to understand that back in those days, you couldn't just turn on a keyboard and get endless weird sounds like you can now, if they wanted something different (and they did, for every song) they had to somehow create something new from what they had.
There is a lot more that the Anthology covers, but other reviews have gone into that in depth. My aim is to show why there even IS an anthology of 10 DVDs on a rock group. Does anyone else have a legacy or a story to match this? Nope.
Buy the Anthology, also buy the book, it's got a whole different bunch of stuff and photos that the Anthology doesn't have time to cover, it's a great set overall. Also, a major point is that you get to hear alternate versions of almost every song that is included, songs that are drilled into the brains of everyone all over the world, and it's interesting to hear the evolution of these masterpieces.
After you watch this, I'll bet you go and start a band...... D. Coyer
Movie Review: The Beatles present their own version of the story of the Beatles
Summary: 5 Stars
When "The Beatles Anthology" CDs started coming out it seemed like it was basically an attempt to clear out the vaults of anything that might be of passing interest to Beatles fans. The "new" Beatles songs, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," were okay but nothing special (what could be under the circumstances?) and while hearing the very first Beatles recording ("That'll Be the Day") is charming, the demo version of "No Reply," the false starts of "Eight Days a Week," and the strings only version of "Eleanor Rigby" are of relative value. George Harrison's early acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a gem, but my favorite bit was actually the bit with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise where they do shtick with the boys (Eric keeps talking about "Bongo" playing the drums) and sing "Moonlight Bay." But overall we are talking about a whole lot of alternative takes that you can take or leave.
But when you sit down to watch the eight parts of "The Beatles Anthology" DVD everything changes because, to coin a phrase, seeing is believing. Back in November of 1995 the there were three two-hour television specials, which coincided with the releases of the first CD. But by the time they put out this DVD set "The Beatles Anthology" had been expanded to eight episodes running just a bit short of ten hours, which is a significant increase in length. You also get a bonus disc containing extra material to get you over the 10-hour mark. The story begins with the birth of the boys in Liverpool and ends with "The End," the final track from the final album. What we have is a combination of film and audio footage from the past mixed with interviews with the (then) three surviving Beatles (John Lennon's comments come from his press interviews) and three key members of the group's inner circle: producer George Martin, roadie and Apple executive Neil Aspinall, and press representative Derek Taylor. Restricting the talking heads to this small group creates a more intimate retrospective because we see the Beatles story from the inside with all of the perspectives from the other side being contemporaneous comments.
So, if you are looking for rare footage of the Beatles performing, there is plenty of that here, but it is also interesting to hear what the Beatles themselves have to say in retrospect (which even John gets to do, albeit not from the perspective of today). However, if you are looking for the definitive answers on such questions as whether or not John wrote "All You Need Is Love" for the live broadcast, forget about it, because this documentary is perfectly content to let people disagree. Paul McCartney is the one who seems to be most aware that he is speaking for posterity, but that is hardly surprising. This documentary really is for the long time Beatles fan, because these eight episodes do not really serve as an introduction to the history of the group. If you do not already know who was married to whom, what Beatles songs were topping the charts, or some of the other basics, "The Beatles Anthology" will not enlighten you.
Still, it is a fascinating look at the most important music group in history. John can dismiss them as just being a band that broke up, but few people ever bought into that particular bit of revisionism, much as we appreciated Lennon's efforts to avoid self-aggrandizement. Ironically what I ended up appreciating the most was how the music from the CDs came alive in the context of the documentary. Hearing different versions of familiar Beatles songs works here because being slightly different they become new again. Besides, this time you are not hearing track after track of alternative versions and false starts, but hearing them mixed in with archive footage and contemporary interviews. "The Beatles Anthology" is not the definitive look at the Beatles, but it does become their version of their own story for what that is worth (which is a lot, but to be taken with those proverbial grains of salt). You would have to be a hard-core Beatles fan to own the DVDS, but as a rule of thumb I would say that if you have all of the Beatles CDs (with or without all of the"Anthology" CDs), then you should check this out at least once.