Greetings,
So it is my final post for "Documentary Week", and I wanted to end big. I think I have chosen well. All this week I have been titling my posts as movie reviews, but this last documentary isn't really a film. No, no, it was an event!
I was fifteen when The Beatles Anthology first aired in 1995, and it had a major impact on my life. Before then, I knew who the Beatles were, and I knew about their music. Of course, I did. But this gave me a whole new insight on their story. It ran over three nights, so it obviously had a lot of info in it. I won't go into detail too much, because then this post would be a mile long. But I can pinpoint the highlights and then tell you all to see it.
A good place to start with a story about the Beatles would be at the beginning, so that's what they did. We got a bit of detail about their pre-band lives, but not too much. The show really took off once they formed their legendary group and began their rise. One of the best aspects of this part, though, were the very rare musical recordings that we get to hear. I mean, these things were ancient, and you could barely hear anything, but somehow you could still feel the potential of what was to come.
We see some good footage of their earliest performances at the Cavern Club. I hope the boys appreciated them, since it was about the last time they would be able to hear their own music while performing. Oh, sure, people cheered, but it was nothing compared to the psycho teenage girls breaking their lungs and the eardrums of poor security guards that was in store for them. And those girls were a big reason why they had to stop touring. I suppose that was an important thing that The Anthology let us know. It was the fact that the Beatles cared deeply about the art of making their music and their fans did not!! Okay, I get that that is a bit harsh, but this seriously made me want to build a time machine and go back to 1964 everyday. Each time, I would find a young Beatles fan and say to her, "Hey, if you really like the Beatles and you want them to be able to make great music, then the next time you and your little friends go to one of their concerts, SHUT IT!". Yeah, I would do that.
Now though I enjoy the entire landscape of Beatles music, it was when they stopped touring and concentrated more on the true art of the music and what they could do in the studio that I became very interested. We did get a spark of that with Rubber Soul and Revolver, which I believe were made when they were still touring, but The Anthology really went in depth on how much no longer going out on the road changed them. Thankfully for the better.
As it went on, we are exposed to more about the Beatles outside the realm of their music. We get footage of their trip to India for transcendental meditation, proving that some people who are desperate to have something in which to believe will pretty much believe anything. We also go behind the scenes, if you will, on the Magical Mystery Tour movie, which basically bombed. Ringo said it was because it was shown in black and white. Yeah, I can see how that might have had an effect, since that really wouldn't suit this movie. But I think there may have been other reasons, too. Still, we can stamp it with the legacy of eventually being appreciated as an art film.
Oh, yeah, and of course, we had to bring up Yoko. I really wish she could have kept her hands off here,but if you're going to talk about how a band got together, you have to talk about what drove them apart. And a lot of people think that thing was Yoko. I don't. I don't think she broke up the Beatles as a band. I think she broke up John, Paul, George and Ringo as friends. And there is a difference.
As The Anthology draws to a close, you get this odd feeling. With the rooftop concert and the recording of Abbey Road, you can actually feel a sense of finality for everything you're experiencing, even though it had happened twenty-five years earlier. And so it ends with slow motion footage of the Beatles, not long before their break-up,, and the sound of them singing the words to the song "The End", which I don't know if I am legally allowed to include here, so I won't. But we all know them. It may have been obvious and predictable, but there really was no other way to finish.
So there are a couple more specific things I really like about this. Of course, I loved getting the sort of new Beatles songs "Real Love" and "Free as a Bird", the latter of which had a phenomenal video. And I loved the interviews. Why? Because for The Beatles Anthology, they basically just talked to the Beatles. We did get some good interviews with a few people who were very close to the band. Those people included Neil Aspinall, their road manager and personal assistant, and of course, George Martin, because when you really think about it, if you don't have George Martin, you don't have the Beatles. But for the most part, all the information, all the stories come from the band members themselves. That is exactly how it should have been because no one knows them or the experience better than they do. It makes me remember this special I saw about ten years ago about the Beatles, and they interviewed the most random people to talk about them. I just didn't get it. I mean, does anyone really give a crap what Kate Hudson has to say about the Beatles? I certainly do not. If I want to learn things about them, I'll go straight to the source.
I suppose I have to bring up the commercial aspect of The Anthology. It was initially released as a VHS collection, and of course, later on DVD. There were also three double CD collections where you get some of those old recordings I mentioned as well as studio outtakes, a few more interviews and some funny moments. And yes, I do own these things.
If you haven't seen this, you should. Whether you're an insane Beatles fan or not, you'll probably find the stories and performances very interesting and entertaining. It's been nearly twenty years since this came out, and no one has been able to do anything better. I doubt anyone ever will.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
