Tom Dunne: Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with the brilliant Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology has been re-released with all sorts of juicy additions.
Another thing the experts don’t tell you: The Beatles are an endless source of instant happiness. Feeling down? Watch Peter Jackson’s Listless? Try on vinyl. Worried beyond belief? Try the new, remastered Now with 191 tracks. Mood sorted.
Peter Jackson’s was a game-changer for many people. Released at the height of a covid lockdown, the one without apparent end, the sight of The Beatles, laughing, joking and being beautiful whilst simultaneously creating some of the greatest music of the 20th century was just what the doctor ordered.
To see the technology that made that possible now put to use on the Beatles Anthology and its accompanying TV series is the case for “Good use of AI” writ large. The series of three CDs was a treasure throve in 1995. Today it is a treasure throve with bells on.
started life in mind of Neil Aspinal, school friend of Paul and George and long-term employee of the Beatles. Although he would later become the chief executive of Apple Corp, his Beatles life started by driving them to their doomed audition for Decca. Many believe he has the strongest claim on the “Fifth Beatle” moniker.
It was he who first concluded that The Beatles career should be documented and recorded. Later, inspired by the format of Ken Burn’s epic US TV series he sought out TV director Geoff Wonfor (The Tube) and Bob Smearton. In Christmas 1991 it started to take shape.
The three surviving Beatles weren’t enthused. By then even George Martin felt he had moved on. As Ringo put it: “Three of us are still around, but the band’s not here anymore.”
But it was on tape. Demos from Paul’s old house, The Beatles first ever recording, the failed Decca audition, the craic, the chemistry and the songs were all there. George Martin commented that they found this experience of listening to their younger selves “traumatic”.
Trauma was not a word most listeners used. Joyous, life affirming, wonderous, funny, inspiring, brilliant yes… but trauma, no way. Trauma we get in real life, whether we want it or not. The Beatles on these tapes, at their funny, youthful peak, were the absolute opposite.
Even now dipping into Anthology’s 191 tracks is a wonder. You hear things you never noticed before, highlights that had slipped past you, classic songs being summoned from the ether right before your eyes, vocal harmonies, solo string arrangements, abandoned lyrics.
is the early years. It’s hard to listen to the Decca audition without thinking that you wouldn’t sign them either, you conclude painfully that Pete Best was no Ringo and marvel how at times their ascendance to world beaters was anything but secure.
Genius is strongly in evidence by and arrive in short order. John throws in and Paul responds with and
The mood had changed by John and Paul’s songs remain utterly top-notch, but a third writer has entered the room. George produces and Place them amongst and and you start to see why the series was the release of 1995.
The three CDs sold in droves and positioned The Beatles as the originators of everything the 1995 Britpop explosion was trying to recapture. was so influential that many believe it was the reason that the albums of 1997, et al, were so bloody amazing!
Giles Martin, who re-mixes all of this using the best technology money can buy, has assembled a fourth for inclusion here. It traces a more concise timeline from early days to Abbey Road classics. John’s solo be still my heart.
But he does something else. As the son of Beatles producer George Martin, he assembles a few of his dad’s best arrangements: the instrumental of the strings, brass and clarinet of and the strings only version of His dad was another man who could lay claim to being the Fifth Beatle. With these, you can hear why.
Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.
