Product Description

If ANTHOLOGY: 2 was a study of how a Beatles songs came together, ANTHOLOGY: 3 is a study of how the Beatles themselvescame apart. In the band's final phase, Paul McCartney was an unabashed pop balladeer, John Lennon a sneering pop humorist and experimenter, and Harrison a separate songwriting force waiting to be unleashed. But the demos, rehearsals and outtakes that make up ANTHOLOGY: 3 are brilliant anyway. Lennon's early run-through of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is literally bits and pieces--three melodic ideas crammed together, not yet including what would become the song's chorus. There are acoustic demos of two McCartney songs; the gorgeous "Junk", which eventually showed up on his first solo album, and "The Long And Winding Road"--the same performance that appeared on LET IT BE, but without the strings that were added against his will.
The real discoveries are Harrison's solo demos, including electric-guitar-and-vocal performances of "Something" and "All Things Must Pass". They nearly ache withbeauty, and Harrison sings them as if discovering his voicefor the first time. The finished versions pale next to these demos, which are among the highlights of the entire ANTHOLOGY series.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Beginning
2. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
3. Helter Skelter
4. Mean Mr Mustard
5. Polythene Pam
6. Glass Onion
7. Junk
8. Piggies
9. Honey Pie
10. Don't Pass Me By
11. Ob La Di Ob La Da
12. Goodnight
13. Cry Baby Cry
14. Blackbird
15. Sexy Sadie
16. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
17. Hey Jude
18. Not Guilty
19. Mother Nature's Son
20. Glass Onion
21. Rocky Raccoon
22. What's The New Mary Jane
23. Step Inside Love/Los Paranoias
24. I'm So Tired
25. I Will
26. Why Don't We Do It In The Road
27. Julia
28. I've Got A Feeling
29. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
30. Dig A Pony
31. Two Of Us
32. For You Blue
33. Teddy Boy
34. Rip It Up/Shake Rattle And Roll/Blue Suede Shoes
35. Long And Winding Road
36. Oh Darling
37. All Things Must Pass
38. Mailman Bring Me No More Blues
39. Get Back
40. Old Brown Shoe
41. Octopus's Garden
42. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
43. Something
44. Come Together
45. Come And Get It
46. Ain't She Sweet
47. Because
48. Let It Be
49. I Me Mine
50. End

Disc 2:

1. I've Got A Feeling
2. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
3. Dig A Pony
4. Two Of Us
5. For You Blue
6. Teddy Boy
7. Rip It Up/Shake Rattle And Roll/Blue Suede Shoes
8. Long And Winding Road
9. Oh Darling
10. All Things Must Pass
11. Mailman Bring Me No More Blues
12. Get Back
13. Old Brown Shoe
14. Octopus's Garden
15. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
16. Something
17. Come Together
18. Come And Get It
19. Ain't She Sweet
20. Because
21. Let It Be
22. I Me Mine
23. End

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9971 in Music
• Released on: 1996-10-28
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Beatles Laid Back and Unplugged
A previous reviewer said its like the Beatles unplugged. So my apologies for taking it for my title- but it's exactly what I wanted to say. Though some of the tracks are fully orchestrated. This album just has the edge over the 2nd Anthology for me. There are some charming acoustic versions of well known tracks, especially the Esher sessions at George's house/mansion. It has a great feel. You'd never guess they were going to split up from this, it has such a positive, good-humoured, warm feel to it, with the banter and chat. (So,I think the Amazon review comment saying it is 'a study of how the Beatles themselves came apart', is rather mislaeding; it gave me the expectation of bickering and shoddiness. It is very far from that.). It is a must for White Album fans and has the previously unreleased, but complete, 'Not Guilty', and 'What's the New Mary Jane'- which were as good as many other White album tracks which weren't shelved. Of course it covers Abbey Road material and the final Let it Be; perhaps the closest in feel to this album.
I like the relaxed feel of the whole album: a special quality that you don't get with polished studio albums and different from live albums. Great!

Where's the rest?
Some of the songs on this collection are near identical to the ones already released so why the omissions? No Child of Nature, Sour Milk Sea or Circles from the Esher Sessions or Suzy Parker from the Get Back sessions... also Helter skelter fades far too early (it was about 25 mins long)and missed a lot of the band improvising. Apart from that worth it for the acoustic While My Guitar Gently Weeps..

As good as any Beatles album!!
An exciting exposure of the best band ever at the peak of their powers!!!!

These 50 tracks include several songs that develop into later solo releases - "Junk" & "Teddy Boy" for Paul McCartney, "All Things Must Pass" & "Not Guilty" for George Harrison - as well as the rambling "What's The New Mary Jane" which was never released before. It is fascinating to directly experience what the band was going through at this time as shown in "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" where John exposes his obsession with Yoko Ono in his prototype lyrics. In songs such as "Mean Mr Mustard","Why Don't we Do It In The Road" and "Oh Darling!" the lead composer is shown to really struggle with the development of lyrics. George's compositions are of most interest though, as in the version of "Something" that is here Harrison rather overeggs the lyrics and shows it to be light years away from the finished classic it later becomes. However, the simpler version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is far better here than the finally released version that is ruined by the overelaborate Clapton guitar solo.

A compulsory purchase.