ANTHOLOGY 1

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The success of this "Anthology" CDs series opened the door for other bands to try to release for the first time on CD their previously auto-rejected tracks, tracks recorded in rehearsals, live tracks, unknown songs, etc. For some bands, like The Beatles, it worked very well, particularly with their fans. For other bands, it was to re-issue again old albums to add to them previously unreleased tracks to bring the attention of old fans again to sell them the same albums again. In the case of The Beatles, some of those tracks are of really historical importance, others not, but The Beatles is one of those bands who are almost loved everywhere (I think so), so there was some justification to release this "Anthology" series.

This "Anthology 1" 2 CD set is mostly of historical interest for the long time fans. It starts with the first "new song" recorded by Harrison, McCartney and Starr, who in 1994 added their parts to a incomplete Lennon`s song which was originally recorded in a cassette in the late 70s. With co-production credits to Jeff Lynne, they did a very good job with this song called "Free as a Bird".

The next songs, most of them recorded in Monophonic, are really historical pieces, like the first two songs that Harrison, Lennon and McCartney recorded with The Quarrymen in 1958 ("That`ll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger", the last song credited to McCartney and Harrison as composers). There are some songs recorded in Paul`s home in 1960, the only recordings on which their late bassist Stuart Sutcliffe appeared ("Hallelujah, I Love Her So", "You`ll Be Mine", "Cayenne"), some songs recorded with drummer Pete Best (tracks 10-12, 15-19, 21-22 on Disc 1), live tracks recorded for TV shows, an old demo of a forgotten song which wasn`t never recorded properly (Harrison`s "You Know What to Do"), studio takes of songs played with different arrangements to the finally released versions, one finished track which wasn`t released in any album or single ("Leave My Kitten Alone"), etc. There are also some commentaries to some tracks, which add interest to this historical recordings.

This "Anthology" series are very interesting for many fans. Some other people criticize these albums as nothing more than "more money for the musicians and for EMI". IMO, they are important in the history of The Beatles, one of the most important Rock bands of the world (if not the most important).

Each one of the packages of the "Anthology" CD series include very good explanation notes, track by track, written by Mark Lewisohn.

The first of the 3 Beatles Anthology sets, this is mainly notable for the first "new" Beatles song since Abbey Road. "Free As A Bird" was famously reconstructed from Lennon's original demo tape and, despite the poor quality of his vocal track, a very good job has been done to make this into an excellent song. Jeff Lynne couldn't resist giving Ringo his usual ELO snare drum sound, but he has to be congratulated on the overall outcome. This song is best seen in conjunction with the video, which will provide you with hours of fun playing "Spot the Beatles reference".Harrison contributes some excellent slide guitar and the banjo fade out is a spine tingling moment.

The other notable songs are from the first Quarrymen demo (including their first original "In Spite Of All The Danger"), the faintly embarrassing original Decca demos, the Morecambe and Wise special ("Hello Bongo!") and the brilliant unreleased rock'n'roll cover "Leave My Kitten Alone".There's also some early attempts at "One After 909" which eventually surfaced years later on "Let It Be".

In terms of historical significance, this could only be surpassed by the release of some undiscovered early Elvis demos, but most of it doesn't really bear up to repeated listening, hence I can only give it 2 stars.

I must admit to having a strong emotional attachment to this album. One of my earliest music memories is listening to this and "Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-78" with my dad when my brother and we were still too young to have our own tastes in music. But even with rose coloured glasses, this albums $45 price tag was too much for me to swallow, until for a short period a few years ago, the entire anthology series was on sale for 2/$25 at my local record store. As such, it's difficult to listen to this album and judge the music objectively, but I will do my best.

A lot of the music on this album will not be familiar to the Beatles fan, with song names such as "That'll Be The Day", "In Spite of All The Danger", and "Cry For a Shadow". To me, these songs are just as eternal as the Beatles better known songs, such as "Help!", "Yesterday", and "Hey Jude", but listening to this albums years after my youth, after I had had the chance to sample more of the Beatles career, this album really sounds very different from anything else that they did.

The biggest difference is a bit more of a '50s, rock-and-roll vibe - and of course, this makes sense. The Beatles, at the point where many of this songs come from, were still doing a lot of cover songs and finding their own sound. The pop-writing sensibilities that would make them famous, and the experimental attitude that would get them on this website, are not quite as apparent in this music.

Songs like "You'll be Mine" (track 7 on disc 1) hardly even sound like a Beatles tune. Even the singing doesn't sound like it is sung by a Beatle (although it is actually sung by Paul).

Ever wondered what it would sound like if the Beatles performed with Tony Sheridan in a school? Then check out "My Bonnie". Ever wondered what an early Beatles instrumental would have sounded like? Check out "Cry For a Shadow". There is a lot of stuff in here that could be interesting to a hardcore Beatles fan. But that is the audience - the hardcore Beatles fan. It features more non- album tracks than Anthology 2 and 3 as well, including "Free As a Bird", which was finished from John Lennon's demo tape for the Anthology.

As far as it's appeal to the prog fan goes, this album doesn't have a whole lot. It is definitely aimed at the Beatles fan, and for that reason gets a 2 star rating. This is straight up rock and roll for the most part. (And on some songs, the sound quality is actually quite poor)

That being said, there are some great songs on here - Three Cool Cats, Besame Mucho, Love Me Do, How Do You Do It, This Boy, No Reply, etc. are among my favorites. The album has 60 tracks, including demo and final versions of many songs, interviews and comments by those intimate with the band, etc. If you can find it at a good price, a great purchase.

I have all the Anthology albums of The Beatles and they are real curio pieces with rare insights into the making of the legendary songs and albums that sparked a generation of Beatleholics that continues to this day. I consider these albums worthwhile as they show how a song is created and how the studio can make or break a song depending on how it is mixed.

This first volume features a lot of Beatles banter, segments of interviews, speeches, and mucking about. These moments are rather fun at first but not great to return to on a regular basis. The songs themselves are the drawcard and here we can indulge in the early years of the fab four ad it is raw and dirty, and you would have to be a diehard fan to appreciate the likes of the scratchy production, such as That'll Be The Day (2:08), In Spite Of All The Danger (2:45), Hallelujah, I Love Her So (1:13), You'll Be Mine, Cayenne (1:14), My Bonnie (2:42), Ain't She Sweet (2:13), Cry For A Shadow (2:22) or Searchin' (3:00).

The highlights are the swinging blues of Three Cool Cats (2:25), that I had heard on a psychedelic compilation recently, Besame Mucho (2:37), and early versions of Love Me Do (2:32), Please Please Me (1:59), One After 909 (2:56), I'll Get You (2:08) and I Saw Her Standing There (2:49).

It is nice to hear from the soft spoken Brian Epstein and John's voice rings out strong from the grave, which at times is chilling in context. The speech of Eric Morcombe And Ernie Wise is fun, and I like hearing alt versions of All My Loving (2:19), You Can't Do That (2:42), And I Love Her (1:52), A Hard Day's Night (2:44), I'll Be Back (Take 2) (1:13), No Reply (Demo) (1:46) and Eight Days A Week (Sequence) (1:25). It is as though you had collected all these bits n pieces from rarities and put them onto one album. Great new song Free As A Bird is of course wonderful and features all members of the band despite Lennon's passing, the wonders of modern technology here. Not a bad idea and not too bad for an educational experience, but I prefer the next volumes with the superior Beatles albums to choose from.