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Dom Robinson reviews
EMI Universal
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 4299699
- Running time: 593 minutes
- Year: 2003
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 103 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 6 languages available
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 5 * DVD 9
- Price: £49.99
- Extras:81 minutes of features about the making of Beatles Anthology
Director:
- Geoff Wonfor
Producer:
- Chips Chipperfield
Writer:
- Bob Smeaton
The Band:
- John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
The Beatles Anthologyis a lengthy documentary about the band that any fan will already know aboutgiven how it was broadcast on ITV a few years ago – at a time before George Harrisonpassed away – and spawned two new singles which existed partly at the time butwhich were only brought to the public’s attention when this series was shown.
John Lennon (using old clips and soundbites), Paul McCartney, GeorgeHarrison and Ringo Starr talk about the road travelled from theirbeginnings growing up in Liverpool as well as their influences, all of whichpaint the portrait as to how they made the big time, starting with hits likeLove Me Do, From Me To You, She Loves You and so on, although I preferlater tracks like Lady Madonna, Hello Goodbye, Something and lessstraight-forward ones such as A Day in the Life.
Anthology takes in temporary members Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best,the band’s gigs at The Cavern, their first No.1 with “Please Please Me”,early TV appearances, the concept of Beatlemania, their first US No.1 with”I Want To Hold Your Hand” and subsequent breaking of the US market, theirfilms “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Yellow Submarine”, receiving their MBEs fromthe Queen, their world tours, the death of Brian Epstein, their experiencesin India, the White album, the break-up of the band, the more recent releaseof “Free As a Bird” as well as more in-depth looks at particular songs.
The disc is presented in the original 4:3 fullscreen ratio as was broadcast onTV. There’s a lot of different footage used and the quality can vary tremendouslybut this isn’t a problem with the discs’ manufacturing. As Paul McCartney saysof the music quality of the old recordings – and this could be applied to thevarying picture quality, “It’s not about the quality, it’s about the story.”
I didn’t see a great amount of this series when it was shown on TV, but thesurround sound was a little odd the way they replicated the front speakers inthe rear when it came to the music pieces. Here there’s options for Dolby Digital5.1 and glorious DTS 5.1 sound. It’s absolutely clear as a bell and makesnice use of the rears for effects here and there.
This package contains the series on four discs, with two episodes to each discand a fifth one set aside for the extras. We’ve already had nearly ten hoursof material that’s shown ‘the making of The Beatles’, so this sectionconcentrates on the Anthology project and the two songs that were spawned fromit as a result:
- Recollections – June 1994 (17 mins):Paul, George and Ringo sit around a table and reminisce about yester-year andjam together.
- Compiling the Anthology Albums (11 mins):George Martin and the Beatles, individually, talk about how the albumsbegan with “Free As a Bird” then goes back to the early music just likethe series and how Martin insisted that an old recording machine was broughtin when it came to mixing some of the recordings from the time because that’show it was done back then.
- Back at Abbey Road – May 1995 (15 mins):More chat as the same four sit in the famous studios and wax lyrical about howsounds were created there on some tracks, as well as listening to music fromthe album of the same name.
- Recording “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love” (11 mins):The two new tracks released in late 1994 and early 1995. ELO’s Jeff Lynnealso interjects here and the band discuss how John’s long-since-recordedvocals were resurrected for these songs.
- Production Team (13 mins):Chat from those behind the scenes, including Jools Holland whointerviewed the band.
- Making the “Free As a Bird” video (11 mins):A detailed look at how it was put together with most chat coming fromdirector Joe Pytka.
- “Real Love” video (4 mins):The full video. Those looking for “Free As a Bird” can check out the finalprogramme where that one appears just before the end.
I’ve not marked these particular extras out of five, like I normally do,because compared to the rest of this DVD release they’re more like an extensionof those and not something that should be judged separately. It’s all worthyif you find the Beatles interesting in any capacity.
The main menus have a small amount of animation and Beatles music (what else?),while sub-menus are static with more music. Subtitles are in 6 languages -English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese – and the number ofchapters per episode varies, but totals 10.
PICTURE QUALITY
MUSIC QUALITY
EXTRAS
N/AOVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.