A deluxe, multi-volume chronicle of the complete history of the Beatles, THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY is the definitive documentary, featuring 10 hours of footage culled from interviews, live concerts, studio sessions, feature films, home movies and more. Twenty-five years after the Beatles' breakup, Paul, George, and Ringo reunited to offer new perspectives on their lives and their bitter 1970 separation. ANTHOLOGY traces the roots of the group with striking archival footage and photographs. The collection offers a wealth of unreleased early Beatles material, some of it long presumed lost and some previously available only on bootlegs--from pre-Ringo practice sessions to early-'60s tracks with fabbed-up versions of pop standards like "Ain't She Sweet" and "Besame Mucho." The live side of the band is well represented too, by such unforgettable items as Ringo tearing through "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Boys" at a 1964 TV taping, and John ripping into "Twist & Shout" at the band's 1963 Royal Command Performance.

Broadcast over the ABC Television Network November 19, 22, & 23, 1995.

wo new songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love", debut in this documentary.

The compact disc went on sale in the USA at midnight, November 21, 1995.

The CD is a collection of rare and unreleased Beatles recordings. Among the rare materials on the first CD volume are recordings by The Quarry Men (a band featuring a teenaged John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison); five songs from The Beatles' unsuccessful audition for Decca Records on January 1, 1962; live tracks from various television appearances; and alternate versions of several early Beatles songs.

"The Beatles Anthology" was nominated for the following Emmy Awards: Best Documentary Series; Outstanding Informational Series; Outstanding Picture Editing; and Outstanding Sound Editing

Writer Bob Smeaton was also the series director.

The DVD release contains a bonus disc featuring a further 80 minutes of rare and previously unseen material. Extra footage includes a 46-minute performance by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, filmed when the three briefly reconvened in the Summer or 1994. The material they perform reverts back to songs originating from their early club days in Liverpool and Hamburg, including "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Ain't She Sweet," "Sweet Georgia Brown," and many more.

Archival material for the production was obtained from the following sources:
Estate of John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon
MPL Communications, Ltd.; Apple Corp. Ltd.; Archive Films; BBC Sound Archive; BBC Television; Jerry H. Bishop; British Movietonews Ltd.; British Pathe News Ltd.; CBC; CBS News Archive; The Daily Mirror; Dennis Elsas; The Evening Standard (Solo Syndication Ltd.); Flower Films; Granada Television Ltd.; Huntley Film Archives, Ltd.; ITN; Larry Kane; KCNC-TV 1994 NBC Subsidiary; KLOS-LA; KRON TV; Las Vegas News Bureau; Mark Lewisohn; Lumiere Pictures Ltd.; The Manila Chronicle; Brian Matthew; MGM Inc.; Elliot Mintz; NBC Inc.; Reuters Television Library; David Sheff; Sherman Grinberg Film Libraries, Inc.; Sony Music; Subafilms Ltd.; Tyne Tees Television; Walter Shenson Films Ltd.; WCPO-TV Cincinnati; Scripps Howard Broadcasting; Jann S. Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine; WGN-TV; WISH-TV; WNEW FM; Worldwide Television News Corp.; WPLJ FM; WTMJ; and Footage from the 1968 Comeback Special courtesy of Lightyear Entertainment and Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Excerpt: "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands, and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." (John Lennon to the audience at The Royal Command Performance in 1963)

DVD Features:

Region 1
5-Disc Boxed Set
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
DTS Surround 5.1 - English
PCM Surround 5.1 - English

Bonus Disc:
Additional Footage - 1. THREETLES IN GARDEN ("Ain't She Sweet" and "Baby What You Want Me To Do" performances, plus stories)
2. THREETLES JAMMING ("Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Thinking of Linking," and "Raunchy" performances)
3. GEORGE MARTIN IN THE CONTROL ROOM (Playing back an extended "A Day in the Life (Take 1)" and discussing the song)
4. THE THREETLES AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS - MAY 1995 (listening to take 1 of "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" with producer George Martin)
5. Never-before-seen recording of "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love"
6. Interviews - 1. George Martin, Neil Aspinall, Derek Taylor, and the Anthology editing staff
7. The Making-of "Free As a Bird" video
8. "Real Love" music video version 2

Geoff Wonfor: TV Director/"Beatles..."

Bob Smeaton: Director, THE BAND (1997)

"...This Fab Four collection is a permanently valuable bookshelf reference trove and a rapturous docu-musical entertainment. It's also the video event of the year..."
"...The aptly named ANTHOLOGY remains the definitive Beatleography....The doc puts all its stock in the insights from the only men who really knew what it meant to be a Beatle..."
"[A]s candid as you'll get..."