Customer Reviews

The Beatles Anthology

5 star:		(204)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hundreds of books have been written about The Beatles, but it is
crushingly obvious when reading this Anthology volume that by far the
best one would naturally come from the bandmembers themselves. [The
price] seems like an incredible bargain considering the size and
quality of this work, which covers the years 1940 (the birth of Ringo
and John) to the breakup in 1970. At 368 coffee-table sized pages
it's already huge, but the small print makes it almost double that
size.

The book would be worth it just for the photos alone, which
are beautifully reprinted--many from the early years are actually in
color--chronicling dozens of previously unpublished, intimate moments
taken straight from the group's personal archives. But what really
makes this one essential is the text itself, which is taken from
interviews conducted with Paul, George and Ringo in the 90s and an
exhaustive compilation of Lennon quotes from all points in his life (I
recognized many, but there were also some I've never seen before).
Even after the dozens upon dozens of biographies which have recounted
the group's earth-shattering tale ad nauseum, you feel like you're
reading it for the first time. All four bandmembers speak with a
thousand times more wit, frankness and detail than all of their
previous biographers combined; in fact, they manage to offer up
juicier tales, and more interesting spins on already known events,
than anything you've read before even in the most gossipy bios--and
you get it this time knowing that it's honest (you know it's honest
when you hear conflicting memories about certain events!).

"Anthology" is especially revealing when it comes to the
childhoods and Hamburg era: you get to hear about the first time
George got laid (right in front of the other three bandmembers!), or
when Ringo was a member of the Dingle gang, or what they did at
teenage parties. The detail is so thorough and vividly recalled for
the early years (and butressed by the photos) that you feel like
you're living it as it actually happened. No stone is left unturned
about the famous years, either: George and Ringo philosophize about
their first LSD trips and the meaning of "Tomorrow Never
Knows", the Maharishi controversy is finally put to rest (hint:
he never made a pass at anybody), and new insight is shed on the
evolution of the friendships between John and the other three. More
is made about the breakup than was on the "Anthology"
videos, including Yoko's presence and the business hassles, as well as
the making of "Abbey Road". Finally, all of this is told
with such an elegant sense of Beatle humor that even the heaviest
moments are a joy to read. Also included are excerpts from Stu
Sutcliffe and Brian Epstein's personal diaries. With this volume now
finally released, the only other essential Beatle books to get are
Lewishon's "Beatles Chronicle" and Miles' "The Beatles:
A Diary", both of which give exact reference dates and
descriptions for every live show, radio, recording and filming session
(as well as more great photos).

How can any Beatles fan not be delirious over the arrival of this book? I spent four hours glued to it, lovingly turning each page, laughing, smiling and astounded over so many previously unseen photos. I have 400 Beatles books in my collection in many different languages. This book beats them all in content, style, text, arrangement and producing pure bliss in the reader. Some of the early photos from the Cavern and Hamburg years have appeared before in Mike McGear's 1977 book, but there are other new photos when the boys were so young it's almost piercing to look at them.

My only slight criticism is that much of the text was lifted directly from the Beatles Anthology series. This was disappointing, but the soaring positives of this weighty book cancel out any whining. For all of us Beatles fans, this is the apex of what will be offered for a long time. You will cherish this book and get endless hours of fascination and enjoyment from it. John, Paul, George and Ringo...still producing powerful emotions. They always will.

The book is packed with photos, memories, ads, and trinkets of all varietie, and not just the ones Beatles fans have seen forever - some are pretty rare. It's sure to feed the appetite of Beatles fans for years. Well worth the price, and a great gift. It's both a comprehensive encyclopedia on the band, and a great coffee table book with its beautiful silver cover. Recommended to any serious Beatles fan. It's more enjoyable with each passing day.

Just got the "Anthology" yesterday, and let me throw a few words at you:

Hefty. Dense. Comprehensive.

Pictures? It's crammed with them.

Is it readable? While most books made up of interview quotes can be frustratingly Helter Skelter, the quotes in "Anthology" are edited so that the book flows in a highly readable narrative style.

I feared that this book might be a cheap cashing-in. Rather, it's a beautifully mammoth effort.

Wow. First off, one can't help but marvel at the fact that this book is HUGE! This makes every other Beatles biography look rather pathetic in comparison. The sheer number of superbly reproduced, and more often than not never-before-seen, photographs is mind-boggling. This is the absolute definitive story of the Beatles, as told by them, so all the speculation and conflicting stories that have surfaced in previous books is completely irrelevant. If you are a Beatles fan, then this book is an absolute MUST. And believe me, once you buy this book, you will be able to retire any and all of your existing Beatles biographies for use as coasters, placemats, puppy training papers or the like. I also strongly encourage you to look into the new CD, "Beatles 1." All 27 of the original number 1 singles have been digitally remastered (spectacularly, I might add!) and the sound is unbelievable.

With the wealth of info already out there on The Beatles, one may ask "Do we need more?" In some cases, the answer would be... "No." In this case, I say "Welcome."

This book is huge for one thing. There are a lot of pictures you've seen before, but a lot of personal pics seen for the first time. Like the video Anthology, we get to see a more personal side to The Beatles in this book. One drawback is that you'll notice some of the same images from the video as you do in here. Also, in terms of content you'll often just see written quotes from the video. Regardless, there is plenty of new material here to make this a "5 star" effort. Having read almost every Beatle book out there, I would have to say this is a definite buy.

Final Note: Once again, only drawback is some overlap with the video Anthology which is expected.

I was going to give this book 4 stars, until half-way through I was struck by the pure genius of it all. Why? It's like a cover song - when someone else plays a Beatles song, does it ever really sound as good as the original? Rarely. "Anthology" is a huge tome of a book comprised entirely of interviews and snippets from the Fab Four themselves, with a very few extras from their manager, studio producer, etc. It seems like a coffee table book, but it certainly isn't - over 350 large pages of fine print.

The reason why this book ALMOST got 4 stars is because of the inherent nature of a book made entirely of quotes - natural conversation doesn't translate well onto the printed page, especially when so many people are quoted from different periods in their lives. The book never says "In 1964, the Beatles recorded Rubber Soul" or anything like that. Instead, the quotes gradually roll around to telling you, until you realize "Oh, we're in the studio again". Often this book is disjointed and hard to follow, especially if you don't anything about the Beatles.

However, few people know nothing about the Beatles! After the first 30 pages, you get used to the style of presentation, and later on you realize the beauty of it all - these boys are down-right inspiring. Worked in with all the tours and stories and pranks and bad rumors and other nonsense are wonderful descriptions of their music and how it was written, what its inspiration was, and the trials that were faced to create it. The Beatles didn't idolize themselves, not like their fans do, so the words just flow out effortlessly and pure, just like their music did. This was their lives, no big deal, this is what they did. The creativity is catchy.

If you are a die-hard Beatles historian, I'm positive that nothing new is said in this book. There is no "myth-making" in these pages - their fights and disagreements are very bluntly presented - but you can see a "No Big Deal" kind of attitude formed. It's is only natural, the survivors are turning 60, after all. Like the video series and the CDs, this version of Anthology is a warm revisit of a wonderful little rock'n'roll band. Check it out.

As the Beatles are one of the most enduringly popular bands ever, still selling albums at full price (in the UK anyway), yet another Beatles book has to offer a great deal to stand out. And this book does. The quality and quantity of what is inside is outstanding. As to authenticity, it is difficult to argue with the words of the Four themselves, with the three living members making contributions from their personal archives.

Given the competition with published works on the band, this book does stand out for its look and feel, which is tightly packed with images and quotes. Graphically, the style might be called `busy', so I don't suppose I could read it cover to cover in one go. Their career is cover year by year, my favourite being the fateful 1970 with the live rooftop Apple Studio performance as they look so contemporary.

You may well come away from this book as I do, humming the songs.

In my mind.... rather in my reality and in the reality of others this book is merited the award for Best book ever (if I said so myself). This book offers more than just a good read and amazing rare photographs....it offers the hard work solely belonging to the beatles themselves, achieving a rather important stage in their life together and apart from each other. this book made me buy two copies at once never having a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't regret this. the Beatles giving their words, their pictures and their lifes to us goes to show how important it is that this book must be read by all.

the book is like others, but only because it tells the story about the Beatles from beginning to end. recounting their number one hits, their incounters with love-peace-drugs-spirituality and politics and because it demonstrates a peculier sense in telling the story it self. But in nowhere can you ever find the complete works of all four Beatles + george Martin, Mal evens, derek taylor and brian epstein all together in one writing. the pictures themselves could take on the honour of representing the beatles in a fashion never before witnessed.

the book was great and deserves for billions to be bought.

thank you beatles I hope we read from you again.

First of all, I would like to say that I was not a huge Beatles Fan before I read this book. I mean, I liked the Beatles and I had a couple CD's, but the thing was I didn't really know enough about them to like them. This book changed all that.

I actually purchased this book for a speech that I had to do in school on "The Musical Journey of the Beatles." I started out using it like a refrence book. You know, look in the index, then go the page and read about the subject you want to put in your speech. I soon found, however, that this was impossible. It was so interesting that I just kept on reading after I had found the topic I was looking for. And reading and reading and reading and.... well, you get the idea.

There are so many little factoids here that you can't find anywhere else. Like, where Sgt. Pepper came from. "The orginal idea for Sgt. Pepper came from Paul. While on a trip to the West Coast, he encountered a trend of long group names. 'People were no longer The Beatles or The Crickets, they were suddenly Fred and his incredible shrinking greatful airplanes' as John explains in THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY" That's a line from my speech, and there are tons more like that.

So, it doesn't matter if you are or if you are not a Beatles Fan. If you have even gotten to this page, you have some intrest in them, so go ahead, spend that $36.OO (it's a 40% discount!!), and invest in the single most useful tool to prevent Beatles ignorance.

(By the way, just in case you cared, I got an A on my speech!)