The Beatles Anthology 1

Apple released a series of broadcasts, studio outtakes, private recordings, interview material, live material, unreleased recordings and new version of titles with three separate volumes consisting of 3 vinyl LPs / 2 compact disc installments.

The name of the project was The Beatles "Anthology" which included television broadcasts, 10 hours of material with interviews and rare film footage (released first on VHS tapes and later on DVD) along with the recordings and a book.

The first installment "Anthology 1" was released by Apple world wide on November 21 1995 (the morning after the first television episode aired on television). The catalogue number for "Anthology 1" is Apple 34445 for both the vinyl version and CD version.

This installment covers The Beatles' music from the years 1958 to 1964. The sole exception is the very first track which is titled "Free As A Bird" written by Lennon as a demo in the late 1970s and embellished with instruments and vocals by Paul, George and Ringo. Listed as a "Beatles" recording and producers credit is to all four Beatles and Jeff Lynne. This is followed by a statment by Lennon and is then followed by two 1958 Quarry Men demos: "That'll Be The Day" and "In Spite Of All The Danger" (written by Paul and George). After a Paul statement, the next 3 tracks consist of a taped 1960 rehearsal: "Hallelujah, I love Her So/ You'll Be Mine/"Cayenne". Another Paul statment follows and then followed by the June 22 1961 Hamburg Tony Sheridan sessions: "My Bonnie/Ain't She Sweet/Cry For A Shadow". There is a statment by Lennon and Brian Epstein followed by the following 5 Decca Audition tracks recorded January 01 1962: "Searchin/Three Cool Cats/The Sheik of Araby/Like Dreamers Do/Hello Little Girl". After another Epstien speech, two tracks are featured from the first EMI recordings of June 06 1962: "Besame Mucho/Love Me Do". Unused track "How Do You Do It" from the EMI Sept. 04 1962 session. "Please Please Me" outtake from September 11 1962 EMI session. Outtake/unused version of "One After 909" from the EMI March 05 1963 session follows. "Lend Me Your Comb" from a BBC July 02 1963 recording. "I'll Get You" live version from the London Palladium October 14 1963, Lennon speech, followed by 5 tracks from a live performance in Stockholm, Sweden October 24 1963: "I Saw Her Standing There/From Me To You/ Money (That's What I Want)/You Really Got A Hold On Me/Roll Over Beethoven". Three tracks from the live performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre November 04 1963: "She Loves You/Till There Was You/Twist And Shout". Three tracks follow from the Morecambe and Wise television soundtrack recording from December 02 1963: "This Boy/I Want To Hold Your Hand and some speech". This is followed by "Can't Buy Me Love" outtake from January 29 1964 recorded at Pathe Marconi in Paris (take 2 with guitar solo from take 1). "All My Loving" is a live performance from the Ed Sullivan show of February 09 1964. Two EMI outtakes follow: "You Can't Do That"(take 6) and "And I Love Her"(take 2) ; both recorded February 25 1964. "A Hard Day's Night"(take 1) EMI session April 16 1964. The next 4 tracks are from the IBC recordings for the mimed television special "Around The Beatles" April 19 1964: "I Wanna Be Your Man/ Long Tall Sally/Boys/ Shout". This is followed by takes 2 and 3 of "I'll Be Back" from the EMI session of June 01 1964. "You Know What To Do/ No Reply" ; two demos from EMI session of June 03 1964. "Mr Moonlight" (combination of takes 1 and 4) and unused track "Leave My Kitten Alone"(take 5) both from EMI session August 14 1964. "No Reply"(take 2) is presented from the EMI session from September 30 1964. "Eight Days A Week" (combination takes 1,2,4 and 5)is presented from the EMI session on October 06 1964. Finally, the album ends with a version of "Kansas City - Hey Hey Hey Hey!" (take 2) from the EMI October 18 1964 session.

These recordings were produced by George Martin. As you can see above, most of this was either available in inferior sound on bootlegs or unreleased. It was a real treat for Beatles fans. The front cover painting is by Klaus Voorman and Alfons Keifer. The front cover painting is the left side of a larger painting that was elongated once the other installments were released. This particular cover shows faded mainly black and white or sepia toned photos of the Beatles from the time period late 50s to early 60s. Ripped images from "The Savage Young Beatles", "Please Please Me", "With The Beatles" and "Live At the BBC" are featured. The back cover looks like the back of a canvas with the credits at the upper left, the UPC code at the upper right and the track listing with the artists' logo in the center. This applies to both the LPs and CD versions. The CD installment comes with a 48 page booklet including liner notes and merchandising information. The first CD has the full Apple with the artist and title on the left and copyright information on the right. The second CD has the sliced Apple with the artist and title on the left and copyright information on the right. The bottom of both CDs has the blurb: "See booklet for details". The three LP version has a tri-fold cover with the Derek Taylor liner notes at the center with a black background and "Hard Day's Night" era photos of the Fabs in each corner. Once opened, the gatefold contains the liner notes found in the CD booklet as well as all the photographs in the center gatefold. The LP labels have a full Apple on the A sides and the sliced Apple on the B sides. The background is black. The artist and title is on the left and copyright information is on the right. The bottom of the labels blurb states: "See sleeve for details".