Beatles, The - Anthology 3 & 4

Beatles, The - Anthology 3 & 4
Originally uploaded by omuniuum

Volume 3 features the shortest period of the various shows as it ranges over February 1964 to July 1964. It provides interviews with the Beatles plus Epstein, Aspinall, Taylor, and Martin. It starts with the band’s arrival in the US and follows their famous New York press conference, full-blown Beatlemania, their legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, their trip to DC and their first US concert, various American experiences and their second Sullivan performance from Miami, the creation of A Hard Day’s Night, Lennon’s In His Own Write book, the brief tour without Ringo and with Jimmy Nicol on drums, and finally the premiere of A Hard Day’s Night and its reception.

For performances, we get full renditions of “She Loves You”, “I Saw Her Standing There”, “Please Please Me” from the first concert in DC, “If I Fell” from A Hard Day’s Night, “Long Tall Sally” lip-synched on Dutch TV with Jimmy Nicol on drums, and “You Can’t Do That” live in Australia (with Ringo back on the skins). Partial bits show “All My Loving” from the first Sullivan show, “This Boy” off of the Miami Sullivan broadcast, “Can’t Buy Me Love” live at the NME poll winner’s concert, and “All My Loving” live in Australia.

For Volume 4, we move from August 1964 to August 1965. This program provides Beatle interviews and comments from Martin, Aspinall, and Taylor. It starts with the band’s second tour of the US and the continued Beatlemania and goes through attempts to make a live album at the Hollywood Bowl, meeting their idols in America, Dylan’s influence and the band’s real introduction to pot, pressures to work all the time, recording “I Feel Fine”, making Help!, the progressive influence of drugs, the specific creation of “Help!” and “Yesterday”, George’s struggles to write his own songs, and their receipt of their MBEs. Volume 4 finishes with a bit of a teaser, as it ends right before the band’s legendary performance at Shea Stadium.

Musically, Volume 4 includes full versions of “All My Loving” live at the Hollywood Bowl, “I Feel Fine” lip-synched on TV, “Kansas City” live on Shindig (nearly complete), “I’m a Loser” and “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” live in Paris, “You’re Going to Lose That Girl” and “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” lip-synched from Help!, and “Help!”, “Yesterday”, and “Act Naturally” live. As for partial clips, we get lives snippets of “I’m Down”, “I Feel Fine”, and “She’s A Woman”. In addition, we find a rendition of “Ticket to Ride” that starts live and almost finishes that way, but it switches to a lip-synch version at the end.