Our next magazine will be out in early September. To tide you over until it is posted, here is a piece by Danny Friar about the upcoming anniversary of the Beatles Anthology.
by Danny Friar
This November marks the 20th anniversary of the
Beatles Anthology TV series and the release of the Beatles' Anthology 1
compilation album. The singles Free As A Bird and Real Love followed in
December 1995 and March 1996 respectively. With the release of two more
Anthology albums in 1996 and the Beatles Anthology book in 2000 it was an
exciting time for fans. Twenty years on the fans look back on all things
Anthology.
Meet The Fans
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| Sara Schmidt was the first person in her town to buy the Anthology 1 CD. She now runs a blog on the Beatles. | Tom Demi is a musician and songwriter and was the first person in his town to buy the Anthology 2 CD. | Allan Kozinn is a music journalist and author of two books on the Beatles. He interviewed Paul and Ringo about the Anthology project for The New York Times. |
Early Days and Rumours
Allan: I remember going to see the Concert for
Bangla Desh and hoping there's be a reunion there. The cause seemed right. It
was George's project, Ringo was known to be involved, and they were in New York
where John lived -- the only question was Paul.
Tom: I remember the stories of the concert
promoter Sid Bernstein offering them millions of dollars, and I remember Lorne
Michaels on Saturday Night Live half-jokingly offering them a much smaller sum
(with less for Ringo, if they wanted).
Sara: I recall in the late 1980s a rumor that the
Beatles were going to reunite with Julian Lennon singing John’s parts, although
that was just a strange rumor and it didn’t go anywhere.
Tom: After John died and Julian started making
records, people kept suggesting that he take John’s place, which was absurd. On
the day of Live Aid, rumors were rampant that George and Ringo were going to
come out with Paul onstage (I was on my way to work, listening on the car
radio; it was agonizing), but of course that didn’t happen.
Allan: Whenever there were rumors of Beatles
reunions, everyone I knew also took them with a grain of salt.
Tom: A couple of years later there was Paul’s
offhand comment that he might want to write with George one day, but George
quickly squashed that possibility. Then, eventually, the real recording
sessions for the Anthology were reported, which was finally something concrete.
Allan: I remember hearing John Lennon mention
that the project that became the Anthology was in the works, probably in one of
his 1980 interviews. I remember him saying, "It will be called 'The Long
and Winding Road,' no doubt," and that, of course, was the working title.
Sara: I remember this being mentioned by Paul
McCartney in an press conference during his 1989 tour that there was going to
be a big documentary called “The Long and Winding Road” and that it had been in
the works for many, many years.
Allan: They asked me for copies of everything I
had on file, both in print and on audio and video, in terms of Lennon
interviews, and I happily sent it all along.
Live At The BBC
Sara: I listened to the Beatles every day before
the Anthology.
Tom: I’d been a huge fan since I was 11, when I
started getting singles and listening with my friends and so on. It was my 12th
birthday, in 1976, when I got my first Beatles album (the Blue album), and it
just ballooned from there. By early 1977, I was buying the solo material too,
with whatever allowance money I had. By the end of 1979, I had most of the
Beatles and solo catalogues on LP, and I kept up with it avidly and listened a
lot.
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| Sara buying Anthology 1 |
Allan: When I reviewed the set in The New York
Times, I compared it negatively to the Great Dane bootleg set.
Build Up and Promotion
Allan: As a journalist, I'm not an average fan: I
didn't experience the buildup in quite the same way, because I was watching it
being unrolled from backstage, so to speak. I had been to ABC-TV, which
broadcast it (in America), and had done some interviews, so I had a VHS tape of
all the TV promo spots directly from them, plus their press kits, and I knew
how they promoting it. So it wasn't as if anything came as a surprise.
Sara: I was a involved in a Beatles chat room on
the internet relay chat called #beatles during the time and it was all anyone
was talking about 6 months before the Anthology was released. I recall in
August of 1995, I went to the Beatlefest convention in Chicago and there was a
session there with someone who had inside information about the Anthology. We all sat there with our pen and paper out
taking notes and we were all shocked when he said that All You Need Is Love was
going to be colorized!
Tom: The promotion focused on the Beatles’
history and the TV special and the new songs and lots of talk about all their
hits, and I think they downplayed the fact that the Anthology CDs were going to
be all alternate versions, not the versions everyone knew. When ordinary people
were interviewed, they talked about passing the legacy on to younger generations,
not the thrill of hearing alternate versions of everything. It was huge,
though; you couldn’t escape it.
Sara: I bought every single (magazine) and I
still have them in my collection. I collect Beatles magazines, so November-December
1995 was an amazing time for me.
Tom: First the stories of the recording sessions,
then the announcement of the song Free As A Bird and the release dates.
Sara: I remember that Newsweek was the first
magazine with them on the cover and then there were all sorts of cheaply made
ones and a really nice one from Life magazine.
Allan: I was writing a piece about the (TV) series
for the New York Times, so I called their (Paul and Ringo) people and arranged
to do the interviews. I believe they were both done in New York. I then went to
London to interview Neil Aspinall, Derek Taylor, George Martin, Geoff Emerick,
all the guys in the video production team (Bob Smeaton, Geoff Wonfor - I'm sure
there were others but it was a long time ago at this point!) and Mark Lewisohn.
George had taken the position that Paul and Ringo
would do the press interviews about the show. I don't know why, but he didn't
want to talk, and I didn't press it. I did meet him during my trip to London,
however. I was allowed to sit in on a meeting at which the shots for the Free
as a Bird video were being planned and discussed, and George was at that. But
he had said he didn't want to do an interview, so I respected that.
I had interviewed both Paul and Ringo before, and
I have interviewed them since. The first time I interviewed each of them, I
asked for an autograph. After that, I never did again. They are the only
interviewees I've ever asked to sign anything.
Paul is the most professional interviewee I've
ever worked with, and I've been interviewing for more than 40 years. What I
mean by that is, he has an incredible knack for coming to the interview knowing
something about you, not forgetting your name, and most of all, giving you the
feeling that
you and he are old pals and that he would prefer to be doing
nothing else at that moment than answering your questions. if you avoid giving
him an opportunity to do that, and ask things that are not the same things he's
been asked, over and over, you can get some fresh, thoughtful material.
Paul puts you completely at ease, quickly: that's
part of what I meant by "professional interviewee." Ringo too, if to
a slightly lesser degree. Ringo can be friendly and funny - but he has a bit
less patience for interviewers than Paul, but still, it's fun talking to him.
Sara: I also remember the commercials on ABC
television a few weeks before it was on T.V.
The TV Series
Allan: I had also see (The Anthology TV Series)
before it aired, at Apple in London, where they basically just put me in a room
with a TV set and let it play. I thought it was very well done, although when I
saw it at Apple there were a couple of points I thought would confuse people:
they didn't, for example, make any distinction at all, in the original cut,
between Rubber Soul and Revolver. One moment they were talking about Rubber
Soul, and the next, it was on to the song Yellow Submarine. I mentioned that to
Derek Taylor, who was in charge of the press, and therefore my
"minder" on that trip, and he mentioned it to Bob Smeaton and some of
the team. I got a call from Bob when I was back in New York, saying that I was
right, and that they'd added something to make the distinction clearer. But he
also explained why they had done it that way, which was that they were influenced
by a comment that George Harrison had made, about Rubber Soul and Revolver
being like Part 1 and Part 2 of the same thing.
Sara: Did I watch it? I obsessed over it! That
was my life during Thanksgiving of 1995. I was home from my college Thanksgiving
break and I brought my television and VCR home from my dorm room (which was not
an easy task) so that I could watch it and record it off T.V. in the privacy of
my bedroom. I think I screamed and cried through a big part of the program.
Allan: I'm sure that if he (John) were alive,
he'd have participated.
Sara: I am pretty sure that John would have been
involved because he spoke of the project many times in interviews over the
years, including in a legal document he wrote out just a week before his death.
Tom: I’m sure he would have agreed, perhaps
making it happen even earlier than it did.
Sara: It was sad that John could not be a part of
the Anthology, but I am glad that they went ahead with it even though John was
not able to physically be there.
Allan: I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel
about him not being present - it wasn't a choice, you know?
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| Sara with Anthology promo blocks |
Tom: Those slow motion clips were slightly creepy
visually, but it was fine to have his old interviews intersperse.
Allan: I thought they did the best they could.
Fortunately, John gave many long, detailed interviews, and they had these as
resources.
Sara: There were rumors that they were going to
include John in a Forest Gump movie type of way, which would have been really
cheap and terrible. I think that Neil
and the guys who put the Anthology together really worked hard to make it seem
like John was an active part of the project.
Tom: It seemed that getting George and Paul
together was a major accomplishment.
Allan: I've heard Pete (Best) interviewed many,
many times, and apart from saying that he's a better drummer than Ringo, I'm
not sure what he would have added.
Sara: I think Pete should have been interviewed
in the first part of the Anthology because he was there and would have had some
important things to add to the story. I think it was wrong that he wasn’t
included.
Tom: It was a shame, but they were very carefully
controlling their image and I suppose didn’t want the negativity he might
bring.
Allan: Pete has written two books, as have other
people, some of whom could have been included. But this was, as they put it
directly, their story - their autobiography.
Sara: I had seen a lot of it before, but not in
such clear, crisp video. And I had never seen any of the home movies.
Tom: The quality upgrade on some of the other
clips I knew was well worth it.
Allan: I had not, of course, seen the newly
recorded interviews with the Beatles, (George) Martin, (Neil) Aspinall and
(Alistair) Taylor, but I had seen virtually all of the performance footage.
Sara: I remember at the time I hadn’t known very
much about the Beatles Manila incident and learned about that. Most everything else I pretty much knew, but I
might not have known some of the little details.
Tom: I learned new details about their
drug-taking, and about John’s bizarre fixation on imitating handicapped people.
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| Tom buying Anthology 2 |
Tom : I don’t think it told the story well to the
average viewer. Especially if you were a
young person in 1995, I think it would have been confusing, but they insisted
on not having a narrator.
Allan : It
was interesting to hear their points of view about various things, including
points of view that contradicted each other -- for example, whether they jammed
with Elvis.
Allan : There were also some very amusing
anecdotes, particularly to do with the White Album period: George Martin saying
that he'd have preferred releasing a great single album rather than a double,
followed immediately by Paul saying, "It's great, it's the Beatles, it's
the White Album - shut up."
Tom: I don’t think I learned a lot of new facts,
but I did learn a lot about Paul, George, and Ringo as people by watching the
interviews. George was more cynical than I even expected, and Ringo was very
clear-headed about the whole thing and came across as the most genuine. Paul
never wants you to forget that he could be just as “cool” as John, but he was
still likable.
Allan: Overall, though, I thought the TV version
was fantastic.
Sara: I totally loved everything about it.
Allan: I was sent the VHS (and later the DVDs) as
press comps; I bought the Laserdisc set. I also have version of the TV version
from the US, the UK, Holland and Israel, possibly another country or
two. Not
that there are great differences, but I believe there were some small
differences between the US and UK versions, just because of the differences in
the way they were shown.
Sara: First I had it taped off the T.V. and I
watched that over and over then I bought the VHS set and watched it so much
that some of my cassette tapes broke.
Tom: I bought the VHS as soon as it came out.
Sara: The extra features (on the DVD) were
alright, but they weren’t as great as I thought they would have been. I liked
the jam session and the singing of Blue Moon of Kentucky, but I had already
seen that on Good Morning America.
Allan: I greatly enjoyed them. But I think I'd
have preferred either more interview outtakes, or more uninterrupted
performance footage.
Sara: I have (the Directors Cut bootleg DVDs) and
they are exceptionally good. They are much more candid. George says the name of
the LSD dentist and they aren’t as sweet to Yoko, plus Neil takes off his hat.
Allan: I liked getting to finally hear the
"Ommmmmm" vocal version of the final chord in A Day in the Life. I
mean, it was kind of disappointing, but still, it was great to hear it, and I
think it should have been included in the finished version of the show. And
there were some interestingly critical comments that I was sorry were deleted:
it would have made the show a bit spicier.
Free As A Bird and Real Love
Sara: I refused to refer to Paul, Ringo and
George as the Threetles during the Anthology period
because I just thought it
was so goofy. Now I still think it is goofy, but I it doesn’t make me mad like
it originally did.
Tom: I thought it was cute, but didn’t think it
would catch on or go anywhere. You could see it was an uneasy alliance!
Sara: It seems like I heard it on Entertainment
Tonight or some other entertainment news program and I hated the term because I
felt like they were leaving John out of the Beatles. I thought it was overly
cheesy and just a media coined term to be catchy and relevant at the time.
Sara: I wanted to hear Free As A Bird and
followed tons of rumors that it was leaked, but it never was leaked. I really
think the first time anyone heard it was on the Anthology TV series. There was
a count-down to the new song while the video for Penny Lane was playing. It was
one of the most exciting moments of my life. It was witnessing Beatles history.
Tom: It was thrilling hearing those voices blend
together, but a little eerie the way John sounded.
Sara: I liked Free As A Bird right away, and I
thought the video was amazing with all the little clues in there. I truly liked
it, but it didn’t have the feeling of a real Beatles song. I did buy Free As A
Bird on CD single.
Sara: I think the Free as a Bird video is pure
genius. I remember talking online about all of the song clues in the video and
trying to figure them all out. It was so much fun.
Tom: I was blown away by Free As A Bird : it was
majestic and fun and poignant. Real Love was a little more thrown together,
with the old clips, and George looks SO uncomfortable with Paul in the studio!
Sara: The second night of the Anthology was when
I first heard Real Love, and I remember that I cried when I heard it and saw
the video because it made me really miss John. I thought sound-wise it sounded
a lot more like the Beatles. It is a beautiful love song.
Tom: (Real Love) seemed more ordinary at first,
but I grew to appreciate it more, especially George’s solo.
Tom: I knew the Lennon version already. It took a
bit to get used to the Beatles' version, but I like it, probably a bit better.
Sara: I like both of them for different reasons. They
are almost like two different songs.
Allan: I know a lot of people disliked them. I
thought they were beautifully done - both the songs and the video clips,
particularly the one for Free as a Bird, which was extremely clever.
Sara: I do not think they ever played these songs
on the radio in my area.
Tom: I’m sure George (Martin) insisted that Jeff
Lynne be brought in as well. I think they came out as well as they could have,
in the end.
Sara: I felt like he (George Martin) should have
(produced the singles) before I heard the two songs. But after I heard them, I realized that it
didn’t really make a difference.
The Anthology Albums
Sara: I wanted to get Anthology 1 the day that it
was released and I was excited about it. There were about 5 other people
waiting as well. There wasn't a big crowd, or a line. When they opened, there
was a small display and I grabbed up my copy. I was stopped by the newspaper
reporter from the Telegraph (local paper) who interviewed me and my mom about
the Beatles and quoted me as saying I would pay "anything" for the CD
(which wasn't really what I meant). I paid for the CD and they took my photo.
There wasn't any atmosphere at all. I felt pretty silly being the "first
person" to buy it in my town actually because I was just out Christmas
shopping and wanted to make sure that I got a
copy of the CD.
Tom: I Bought it (Anthology 1) at Tower Records’
midnight sale along with a huge line of people waiting for the doors to open,
with TV crews and everything. I loved it, except for the voiceovers that
obscure parts of the songs.
Sara: I thought it was alright. I wasn’t too
crazy about the really early stuff, but it was cool to have it.
Sara: I think the talking, especially over the
songs, should have been left off Anthology 1.
Sara: When you bought the Anthology CDs from Sam
Goody music stores they gave out a free magazine called Request, and so I also
got all three of those.
Tom: I Bought (Anthology 2) at Tower for the
midnight sale again, but no one else was there when I got there. There was a TV
crew and they interviewed me, and I was shown on the local news the next day at
noon, but just buying the CD, not talking. I thought this collection was even
better, and I liked that they weren’t afraid to put multiple versions of a few
songs when they illuminated something. And no voiceovers!
Sara: Oh my gosh, I loved this album.
Tom: It was the most experimental.
Sara: Anthology 2 has always been my favorite.
Tom: Initially, the three volumes were to come
out at three-month intervals starting in November 1995, but obviously #3 got
delayed considerably.
Tom: I bought it (Anthology 3) the day of release
and loved it too.
Sara: It is a great “unplugged” album.
Sara: Leave my Kitten alone is a highlight for
sure and I just love And Your Bird Can Sing (giggle version), and the acoustic
While My Guitar Gently Weeps outshines the original.
Tom: Could have done without the alternate Mr.
Moonlight.
Tom: Revolver is a classic, and the Anthology
covers were cool, especially the way they interlock with each other.
Sara: I think Klaus did an outstanding job. I
loved how he made it look like a painting on a canvas and when you put all
three together you have one large piece of artwork.
Unreleased Material
Allan: Should there be more archival releases of
studio outtakes -- hell, yeah. It's true that there are probably no hidden
masterpieces, or even great but not necessarily earth-shaking tracks like Leave
My Kitten Alone or That Means A Lot. But there are tons of things people would
love to hear.
Sara: A new Beatles song would have been awesome.
Tom: It would be nice to have ALL the Decca
audition in one place in good quality. A few more live tracks would be
appropriate, and certainly more from the Get Back sessions.
Allan: The rest of the Esher tape of White Album demos,
a handful of songs from which were included on the Anthology; the experimental
pieces - Carnival of Light, the unnamed drum piece they all worked on.
Sara: I remember listening to (Hiroshima Sky Is
Always Blue) once and I thought it was terrible.
Tom: I think it’s cool, fairly similar to some of
(Yoko's) other work from the nineties on.
Tom: I’ve heard (Now And Then) and I would like
it to be released.
Tom: I would like (All For Love) to be released
if it exists, but I know they’re pretty careful about releasing things that
aren’t up to the quality they like to have.
Sara: (Grow Old With Me) is really good as a John
solo song from Milk and Honey. I really dislike what was done to it on the John
Lennon Anthology.
Tom: Great song, but probably two reasons it
wasn’t (released), and shouldn’t have been used: 1) it’s about John and Yoko’s
relationship and is closely associated with that; 2) the technology didn’t
exist to get rid of that drum machine beat (now it probably does).
Sara: I like the John Lennon Anthology over all. It
has a great mix of music from John’s life. I do think that the others need to release
similar albums.
Tom: I was very happy with what they included,
although I didn’t totally agree with the sequencing, the way they threw certain
tracks on there, way out of order. The market probably couldn’t bear a Ringo
Anthology of more than one disc (maybe two), but I could see a 3-disc George,
and at least 4 of Paul.
The Anthology Book, Merchandise and Parodies
Sara: My opinion is that it is a shame Derek
Taylor died before he could work on it. It is a great book, but I hate that the
Two Virgins photo takes up an entire page.
Sara: I wanted to show my love and support of the
Beatles and their project. I bought t-shirts, key-chains, magnets, and the set
of buttons.
Tom: I don’t buy much of other kinds of
merchandise. Most of that kind of thing that I do have was given to me.
Sara: The Dana Carvey show (parody) was hilarious
and still makes me laugh. I bought the Rutles CD (Archaeology) and was
disappointed by it.
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