The Beatles Anthology, what's in the new 4 volumes and the unreleased documentary

Beatles fans everywhere, the wait is over: exactly 30 years after the original release, The Beatles Anthology, the story of the Beatles as told by the Beatles themselves, is back. Friday 21 November is the day of the enriched record release of the Anthology 4 volume on behalf of Universal Music, while from Wednesday 26 November on Disney+ (on three dates: 26, 27 and 28 November, with three episodes available per day) the documentary series is released, completed by a ninth, previously unreleased episode. And already this is a sign of the times: 30 years ago the three double Cd were of course Emi and the series by the American broadcaster Abc. But All things must pass, as Uncle George sings in Anthology 3, everything passes in this world, except a very few things. Like the Beatles and the passion of those who love them. In the name of this passion, we previewed the four volumes of the new The Beatles Anthology Collections and watched the ninth instalment of the doc. Here's what we got out of it.

The first adjective worth spending is 'sumptuous'. The alternative is between the 8-CD version (four doubles) or the 12-vinyl version (four triples). The latter finally does justice to the original concept of the Hamburg friend Klaus Voorman: the covers of the first three volumes, side by side, create a Rotellian collage on the history of the Fab Four that is the perfect graphic translation of the Anthology project. On the purely audiophile side, the son Giles Martin ideally completes the work of his father, the late George Martin, with a remastering that is both rigorous and respectful of the sacred source texts.

First there is the 'theme song', that is Free as a Bird, the first of the three unreleased tracks from Uncle John's demo tape that the three surviving Beatles put their hands to on the occasion of the (almost) reunion at Friar Park. Then we go from the band's prehistory to Beatles for Sale, following step by step the explosion of Beatlemania, first as a British, then an American and worldwide phenomenon. There are, of course, tracks from the Quarrymen (the cover of Buddy Holly Thtat'll Be the Day, In Spite of all the Danger, where the boys mediate the art of the Everly Brothers) and the making of Please, Please Me, the fulminating debut album recorded in a matter of hours. There is already the set-up of the band where everyone sings because everyone matters: Lennon for now is the leader, McCartney the genius launching the musical project, Harrison the apprentice, Starr the fantasist.

Another volume, another unreleased from the Lennonite demo: Real Love, even more the child of arrangements by Jeff Lynne, in the 1990s Uncle George's best friend and collaborator. In the tracklist, the leap is quantum: from the cinematic Beatles (those of Help!) to the cultured Beatles, the experimental ones of Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. Pearls abound: the folksy version of I'm looking through you, the moving evolution of Strawberry Fields Forever, the fourth take of The Fool on the Hill, but we could go on and on.

There is no unreleased track here: we would only find out why in 2023, when the new technologies introduced by Peter Jackson with the operation Get Back allowed the retrieval of Now and Then, which is perhaps the most beautiful unreleased track among those left by Uncle John. On the other hand, we retrace the long and winding road (The Long and Winding Road, in fact) that led to the Fab's break-up. The Indian parabola of the White Album, the abortion of the Get Back project that would later be Let it Be, the making of Abbey Road that, with its Side B, is one of the highest peaks touched by 20th century music.