The Beatles, Anthology (EMI Music DVD, 2003)
I am a child of the 60s, I guess. The Beatles will always be
the standard against which I measure pop music. There is nothing like them
today -- maybe that's why I don't listen to pop music anymore. But the Beatles,
WHEW, they were something. If you didn't live through it, you can't really
appreciate what it was like. We didn't even have a record player when the
first songs came through on AM radio. We ran out and bought the first Beatles
album only to discover that our turntable only played 78s! My dad took it
in to the shop and had a new turntable installed, for 45s and 33rpm albums.
The night it came home was magic.
Some of that magic is contained in this set of five DVDs. I've been watching
them one episode at a time. Seventy-two minutes each, they fill the evening
well. The Liverpool-Hamburg years. The first recordings, "Please, Please
Me," and "Love Me Do," sound marvelous in the improved DVD
sound. Well, maybe a bit bass heavy, but McCartney was (and remains) the most
melodic bass player around. The rare and scratchy early black and white footage
is still exciting. Who would believe that a rock band would make the world
stop!
When A Hard Day's Night, their
first film, came to the movie houses of Canada we had to sit through it twice
just to hear the dialogue; girls were screaming just as though the four moptops
were in the room with us. When John Lennon talked about The Beatles being
more popular with teenagers than Jesus Christ...he was right. At least if
you polled my friends, you'd have discovered that they all thought about "Paperback
Writer" a lot more than they thought about their immortal souls!
It's all here. Record burning fundamentalist responses to Lennon's off the
cuff comments; Imelda Marcos banning them from the Philippines; Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band; "Hey Jude." You name it and they've included
it. Some might call it overkill. Who wants to watch 10 hours (more if you
include the bonus disc) about these four fellows? Hasn't it all been said
before? Well...I want to watch!
I already saw the shows in their first broadcast in 1995. That Christmas my
mother bought all three of her sons the VHS boxset. We all have the Anthology
book, and the six CD set, and all the official releases. Dozens of books and
magazines. The trading cards. Some dinner ware! Christmas ornaments. Prints
framed on the wall. We've seen the Ringo Starr All Starr Band tour; McCartney's
shows; Lennon's solo acting debut in How I Won The War, George
Harrison's triumphant final album Brainwashed. And still, I sit transfixed
by these DVDs.
My sixteen year old son flops onto the couch for episode 5. He laughs as Ringo
remembers an event one way, George another, John and Paul can't agree either...then
they show the video and they're all wrong! His older brother watches as the
Threetles reform for some sloppy but still somehow marvelous jamming on old
rock tunes. My wife joins us for an hour or so of episode 6.
This is history. Musical history. Social history. Magical mystery history.
My history. I lived through it. The day "Hey Jude" was released
I bought the 45, with the green Apple logo, a sliced Apple on the back ("Revolution").
We were on shifts at school because registration was so high so we didn't
have to be in til noon. From 9:30am till 11:45 my friends and I played that
single over and over. Front and back. Back and front. Obsessed? Maybe...
I completely understand the music fans of 2003. Why is Mojo devoting another
cover story to the Fab Four? Isn't anyone else deserving? Well...there's the
Groundhogs. But nobody...nowhere...no time was like the Beatles. For a few
short years they captured our imaginations, they owned the radiowaves, they
influenced other bands, other films, clothing, eyeglasses, writing, design
-- they were unique.
Maybe five discs is too much, for all but us loony obsessives. But if you
are one of us you MUST own this set. And if you're not yet part of the cult...well
you're young yet, there's still time!
