Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Free As A Bird
2. Speech - Lennon, John
3. That'll Be The Day
4. In Spite Of All The Danger
5. Speech - McCartney, Paul
6. Hallelujah I Love Her So
7. You'll Be Mine
8. Cayenne
9. Speech - McCartney, Paul
10. My Bonnie
11. Ain't She Sweet
12. Cry For A Shadow
13. Speech - Lennon, John
14. Speech
15. Searchin'
16. Three Cool Cats
17. Sheik Of Araby
18. Like Dreamers Do
19. Hello Little Girl
20. Speech
21. Besame Mucho
22. Love Me Do
23. How Do You Do It
24. Please Please Me
25. One After 909
26. One After 909
27. Lend Me Your Comb
28. I'll Get You
29. Speech - Lennon, John
30. I Saw Her Standing There
31. From Me To You
32. Money (That's What I Want)
33. You Really Got A Hold On Me
34. Roll Over Beethoven
35. She Loves You
36. Till There Was You
37. Twist And Shout
38. This Boy
39. I Want To Hold Your Hand
40. Speech - Morecambe & Wise
41. Moonlight Bay
42. Can't Buy Me Love
43. All My Loving
44. You Can't Do That
45. And I Love Her
46. Hard Day's Night
47. I Wanna Be Your Man
48. Long Tall Sally
49. Boys
50. Shout
51. I'll Be Back
52. I'll Be Back
53. You Know What To Do
54. No Reply
55. Mr Moonlight
56. Leave My Kitten Alone
57. No Reply
58. Eight Days A Week (Sequence)
59. Eight Days A Week
60. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey

Disc 2:

1. She Loves You
2. Till There Was You
3. Twist And Shout
4. This Boy
5. I Want To Hold Your Hand
6. Speech - Morecambe & Wise
7. Moonlight Bay
8. Can't Buy Me Love
9. All My Loving
10. You Can't Do That
11. And I Love Her
12. Hard Day's Night
13. I Wanna Be Your Man
14. Long Tall Sally
15. Boys
16. Shout
17. I'll Be Back
18. I'll Be Back
19. You Know What To Do
20. No Reply
21. Mr Moonlight
22. Leave My Kitten Alone
23. No Reply
24. Eight Days A Week (Sequence)
25. Eight Days A Week
26. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1934 in Music
• Released on: 1995-11-21
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .45 pounds

CD Description
Though the Beatles changed rock & roll forever from low culture to high art, they started as a skiffle group, a Britishamalgam of American rock & roll influences--Elvis' swagger,Little Richard's unholy gospel, the Everly Brothers' country-rock harmonies, Smokey Robinson's sensual soul. THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY: 1 traces these roots, tapping a rich motherlodeof unreleased early Beatles material. There are scratchy recordings of the Quarry Men (Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison,circa 1958) and pre-Ringo Beatles practice sessions that show the Fabs dreaming of being Elvis and Buddy Holly. Amazingly well-preserved tracks from the early '60s show them starting to let their hair down, while rocking merrily through such pop standards of the time as "Ain't She Sweet" and "Besame Mucho". They were an electrifying live band, and among thetreasures here are Ringo tearing through "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Boys" at a 1964 TV taping, and John ripping into "Twist And Shout" at the band's 1963 Royal Command Performanceafter his famous request: "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands, and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellry".
Equally compelling is the one "new" track. "Free As A Bird" was the pop event of 1995, a Lennon demo completed by the surviving Beatles with the production guidance of Beatles disciple Jeff Lynne. With a deliberate, mid-tempo pace, doubled piano, slide guitar solo, and signature harmonies and middle eight, it's vintage 1968. colourisethe video, add some psychedelic film effects, drop it into the middle of the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR movie, and see who notices.

Customer Reviews

History in the Making
This first Anthology CD has lots of treasures, including the earliest recordings The Beatles made.

The spoken word segments are interesting, I think. It is helpful that they have been assigned a track each, so that you don't have to listen to them every time you play the CD.

A lot of the material was previously released on expensive bootleg recordings. These LPs, tapes and CDs were often marketed at about twice the price of commercial recodings, and were often only 15 minutes long.

The sound quality of the Anthology is vastly superior and much much cheaper than those now superseded pirate recordings. Even if the Anthology series had not been produced, it would still be hard to sell those bootlegs in our peer-to-peer on-line environment.

Some of my favourite tracks:
Free As A Bird It is great to hear The Beatles together, even if one member was not able to appear personally. Real Love is a better song, but FAAB was a great introduction to the Anthology set, I think.

Three Cool Cats and The Sheik of Araby are great fun. I love the "not 'arf!" in Sheik.

How Do You Do It It is interesting to hear how The Beatles, however reluctantly, performed this song, later recorded by Gerry and The Pacemakers.P>One After 909 The alternative versions made available in this set are interesting and this one is a real gem.

Leave My Kitten Alone is one of the best songs recorded, but not released by The Beatles.

I'll Be Back is one several songs on the Anthology series which let us listen to The Beatles creating their masterpieces. It is great to hear this version with a different metre and feel, and The Beatles evaluation of their experiments.

Not the best of the 3 sets, but well worth owning and listening to every once in a while.

A fascinating historical document
These 57 tracks are largely works in progress from their very earliest recording days - although their first "new" single "Free As A Bird" is also here. Included are their cover versions from Hamburg, their first self-written efforts, the early Decca audition tapes before they were signed, snippits of interviews, performances on TV and at live concerts. Many of the early stuff is very badly recorded. Overall the first Anthology shows that the band are not yet masters of their art although it is still a must buy for the avid fan.

An important historical document
I do not understand how a Beatles fan could NOT give this five stars. It gives us insight into the early days, John's love of Eric Morecambe and goon-style jokes, the close harmonies without any musical air-brushing, the quips and the boys before they became famous (the first disc at least).

I think volume 2 - also reviewed - is better than this, but this is still a five star job and I recommend buying all three volumes of anthology and keeping them on the 6 disc CD changer in your car.