Yeah yeah yeah - Beatles' beginnings (The Beatles Anthology Vol.1 - The Beatles)

Member Name: cswann

Product:	The Beatles Anthology Vol.1 - The Beatles
Date:	20/10/00 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Historic curios, atmospheric cuts

Disadvantages: the spoken word parts, some dodgy recordings

This is an important double CD set. I mean important in the sense of music-history, rather than music-brilliance. Listening to it is a bit like listening to the soundtrack to a documentary programme.
It starts with "Free as a bird", the 1995 No. 1 single, which can justifiably be credited to 'The Beatles', since John Lennon's original demo was used with contributions from the other three Fabs - and to cap it all it's a pretty respectable tune. It would have been better placed on Volume 3 of the anthology, in my opinion, though.
Following on from "Free as a bird", we have a chronological trip from the first demo produced by the Quarrymen in 1958 (Buddy Holly's "That'll be the day") through to late 1964 and the throes of Beatlemania. The songs are interspersed with snatches of interviews with John, Paul and Brian Epstein, hence the documentary style. There are many previously unissued recordings here, especially from the very early years. Some of these songs are covers of standards like "Searchin", but there's quite a high quota of their own compositions ("Like dreamers do", "Hello little girl" and two Shadows-style instrumentals "Cry for a shadow" and "Cayenne"). There's so much early stuff on here that Ringo doesn't even make an appearance until track 23. It's questionable whether some of the tracks actually needed to be released (some are bad quality, and some are not even that enjoyable to listen to) - but, hey, it's the Beatles, the most significant band ever - and it's all of interest if you're at all into their story. "How do you do it" is so awful that I actually don't mind it. The Beatles really didn't want to record it, so it was probably a deliberate attempt to make it so bad, whereupon the song was handed to Gerry and the Pacemakers.
To be honest, I hardly ever listen to Disc 1.

D
isc 2 is altogether a different matter, though - I often play it the whole way through. There are with many atmospheric live recordings, such as "She loves you", and "Twist and shout" from the Royal Command Performance (including John's request of those in the royal box to "rattle your jewellery"), and "All my loving" from the historic Ed Sullivan show, starting it all for the Beatles in the US.
Versions of all the hits ("From me to you", "I want to hold your hand" etc) from the period up to October 1964 are here, sometimes as alternate takes. "A hard day's night" is a first run-through - interesting to hear the "When I'm home, feeling you holding me tight, all through the night" lyric, which appeared in the finished version as "feeling you holding me tight, tight, yeah" - was it censored in some way, I wonder? There are several tracks which, like this one, dissolve into disarray or laughter when something goes a bit wrong.
The highlight of the whole collection is previously unreleased "Leave my kitten alone", a cover of a 1959 Little Willie John R&B song, that really rocks, with searing, throat-wrenching vocals from Lennon - it leaves you in no doubt of The Beatles' roots. For me, it makes the whole set worth having, even though some of the rest of the tracks are slightly disappointing.

Is it worth buying? Depends what you're after. If you just want the hits, and want them to sound the way you know them, you're best going for the Red double album, or "Past Masters". If you go for the bootleg tracks, the curios - this could be for you.

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