Important historically if not so much musically

I'll take it as read that you're more than a casual fan if you're bothering to dig into collections of demos, outtakes, and live rarities so I won't bother telling you "Don't buy this if you want hits". Proceeding from this assumption, there's enough here that's really interesting to make it one you'll have to own. At the same time, really bad sound quality on some of them (everything on Disc 1 up until the Decca audition is really subpar..you're getting them because that's what's available, not because it's good sonic quality) and less than great material mean that you probably won't haul this one out that often.



HIGHLIGHTS:

Disc 1 has only a few great moments. It begins with the ballyhooed 'reunion' song "Free as a Bird", accomplished by George, Paul and Ringo overdubbing onto an unreleased John Lennon song to which they added a new bridge. It doesn't stand alongside their best stuff but it's equal to, say, a "Help!" album cut. "That'll be the Day" is probably the Holy Grail of Beatle rarities. It comes from a 78RPM recording of the group in their Quarrymen skiffle days. The sound quality is TERRIBLE...more from the recording quality probably than the source. (I've heard better sounding material of that vintage, such as Elvis' first recorded song on his 50s boxset). The instrumentals are pretty smooshed together without a lot of definition as though you're in the back of the hall where they're playing. But it's the only surviving copy of the performance, so you take what you can get.

"My Bonnie", though it contains Tony Sheridan rather than any of the Beatles singing, is a kinetic version of the old lullaby. You can see how it got Brian Epstein's attention. Of the tunes from the failed Decca audition, only their cover of the Coasters "Three Cool Cats" holds any real appeal. Based on this, it becomes easier to sympathize with the man who turned down the most successful rock and roll group of all time. Probably its greatest interest is the chance to hear the Fabs with Pete Best behind the drum kit. As heard there, the spark just isn't evident. "Cayenne", an early McCartney penned instrumental, sounds like a cross between surf music and Spanish flamenco. It's not among their finest work, obviously, but it has its charm.A 5 song set recorded in 1963 for Swedish radio is charged with energy. The guys do "I Saw Her Standing There" and "From Me to You" along with versions of "Money (That's What I Want)","You Really Got a Hold on me", and "Roll Over Beethoven" that top the official studio releases.



Some of Disc 2's highlights are, again, more for historical reasons than musical ones. The Royal Command performance where John makes his infamous "rattle your jewelry" comment is here, as is the Ed Sullivan Show performance of "All My Loving". You also hear the boys doing a cover of 60s classic R&B number "Shout!". But the best stuff here are alternate takes, demos, and unreleased material: "Leave my Kitten Alone", an outtake from "Beatles for Sale", trumps some of the stuff that made the cut. It's nice to have it out there. "No Reply"'s demo has an unfinished lyric. Two interesting alternate versions of "I'll Be Back" (one a waltz style) are also presented. Alternate versions of "Eight Days a Week" have vocal intros/codas instead of the familiar guitar fade-in.



LOW SPOTS:

I'd love to tell you that the two earliest vocal compositions from Beatles here ("In Spite of all the Danger" from the Quarrymen 78 and "You'll Be Mine") are at least decent tunes. But sadly, they're not. You haven't been missing anything there. "Searchin'" and "sheik of Araby", both corny novelty numbers from the Decca audition, are no great shakes either. A never before heard George composition on disc 2 ("You Know What to Do") was right to have been left in the can. It's unremarkable compared to better John-Paul material. A slower "You Can't Do That" suffers for it. As many have mentioned, the spoken bits break up the music and probably could have been done with quotes in the liner notes instead.



BOTTOM LINE:

You won't play this often because a lot of it simply is poor sound quality. Some of the better "sounding" stuff is just weak material. And a lot of the tunes here in live versions have already turned up from other venues on "Live at the BBC". But the historical value makes several of these invaluable. Buy it, listen to it once or twice, and marvel that the choppy guys you hear on "That'll be the Day" end up making "Sgt Pepper","Abbey Road","Rubber Soul" and "Revolver".

Excellent Collector's Item- for Beatlemaniacs only!

The Beatles- "Anthology 1" two disc set is an excellent purchase- for Beatlemaniacs. Beatles beginners should get their feet wet with a general career spanning best of set like "1" or "Past Masters". This is to spark initial interest with can't miss recordings. "Anthology 1" is for collectors. Many of the songs have inferior sound due to the fact they were shelved away and never officially recorded. However, the historic value of many of these tracks is remarkable. The Decca session recordings that were rejected are here. Two of the Beatles' first recordings done at Abbey Road studios are here, including a spicy cover of "Besame Mucho." Other notable gems include 2 tracks recorded by the Beatles as the Tony Sheridan backing band when they lived in Germany, the early and best version of "One After 909" (it would later appear on the "Let it Be" record), and several recordings from the famous London Palladium show. And, you get the new track, "Free As a Bird," which comes off as a solid yet unspectacular piece. All in all, "Anthology 1" is a great collectors item. The historical value in the recordings is significant. But it should also be noted that it is not a good starting point for those just stumbling into the Beatles' work because the numbers are often roughly recorded and aren't necessarily their best output. Highly recommended for Beatlemaniacs.

As a Hadcore Fan 5 Stars, But Not For The Casual Fan

If you want to hear outakes and rare tracks by The Beatles because you are a big fan this will be great(like it was for me). But if you only casually listen to the band you would probably be better off with 1. And if you want to find out more about the bands history I would recomend the Anthology dvd's which is actually better than the cds in my opinion.



And I would also like to state that I love Free As A Bird. I think people are to hard on it. I think it is a great song and even though John's voice isn't the clearest I like the way it sounds(very haughnting). After all let's not forget it cracked the top 20 on billboard, not bad for three old guys and someone who had died almost 15 years earlier.