Money (that's what I want) (The Beatles) (LP 4206 - 4209)

The Beatles  Anthology 4 (2CD, Apple Records, 2025) ****  

The Beatles  Anthology 3 (2CD, Apple Records, 1996) ****  

The Beatles  Anthology 2 (2CD, Apple Records, 1996) ****  

The Beatles  Anthology 1 (2CD, Apple Records, 1995) ****  

Genre: Rock, Beatle pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Cry Baby Cry (Anthology 3)

Gear costume: Helter Skelter (Anthology 3)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Shockingly, when I went to buy Anthology 4, JB Hi Fi couldn't help me. They had no copies in the Palmerston North or Hastings' stores, and they told me they only had one copy in the country - in their Levin store. So, I went on-line to get a copy from Real Groovy.

Like the others in the Anthology series, it features some unreleased demos and remixes and other rarities, but unlike those other three, it does duplicate some already released items.

For me, that's a bit of a letdown. Even after 4 double CD sets there are still some unreleased gems in the vaults, yet to see the light of day. It's a bit like the cover - incorporating the other three sets - bit lazy, bit disappointing. But hey!! This is The Beatles - I'll take what I can get, so all is forgiven.

Having trawled my way through this blog, it looks like I haven't written about the other three editions yet, so this post aims to rectify that.

The other editions were revelations when they appeared thirty years ago (Beatle fans are very patient!). Anthology 1 included material from the Beatles' days as the Quarrymen, up to the Decca audition to sessions for the album Beatles for Sale. The studio outtakes are the most interesting aspect for me - all the laughs! The fun they were having in the studio clearly carried over to the finished products and helped make them unique.

Anthology 2 features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the 1965 sessions for Help! until the sessions immediately prior to their trip to India in February 1968. Again, it's the studio sessions that are fascinating, but also the live performances included on Anthology 2 indicate a band still delivering in a live setting as well.

Anthology 3 is the most interesting for me, as it looks in detail at their final two years. It includes rarities and alternative tracks from the initial sessions for The Beatles (a.k.a. the White Album) to the last sessions for Let It Be and Abbey Road.  This obviously includes a few extracts from the rooftop performance. Spotify has the full performance of this - Anthology 3 has cherry-picked some of it which is frustrating.

All criticisms are minor - this is a fascinating collection (8CDs so far) that is vital food to a Beatles obsessive like me.

Where do they all belong? Anthology 5? Will Carnival of Light ever see the..erm..light of day?