How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Good
Value for Money
Advantages:
Many unreleased curiosities, some great songs
Disadvantages:
A bit 'serious' and like a documentary, some pretty bad songs
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
This is the kind of double CD set you just have to have if your a serious Beatles fan. It’s what you might call a significant, historic collection, basically. But I have to admit that listening to it is a bit like hearing the soundtrack to a BBC2 documentary programme, and I don’t in fact play the CDs that often.
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 I think it’s a pretty respectable tune. It seems out ofplace here, though, and I would have preferred to see it put on the end of Volume 3 of the anthology. Next, 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. In between the songs are 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 (he hadn’t even joined the band until that point). Some of the tracks 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 worth a listen if you’re at all interested in 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 sound bad, so that the song would be handed to someone else - Gerry and the Pacemakers, of course. To be honest, I hardly ever listen to Disc 1.
Disc 2 is altogether a different matter, though – I play this one far more often. It includes 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" – sounds like a bit of censorship, there. 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, in my opinion, the 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.
Whether or not it’s 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 the Past Masters CDs. If you like the bootleg tracks, and the oddities – this could be for you.
More details
How does it rate alongside the competition
Outstanding
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Outstanding
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