The Beatles Anthology 3

A Personal Review for Beginners

CD 2

I've got a feeling: A great version of the Lennon-McCartney mixture of "I've got a feeling" and "Everyone had a hard year". The truth is that George Martin's production work is greatly appreciated in this song. Some additional second voices are sparkled througout the song and George's guitar is just magnificent. Too bad the take breaks down, but it's certainly worth attention.

She Came In Through the Bathroom Window: Taken out of the Abbey Road Medley, and slowed down , the song seems another. And once again as always with Beatles song... it sounds great! George's Wah-wah guitar (which he was later to use profusely in "All Things Must Pass") gives the song a characteristic feeling. By the way, listen to thw wonderful idea Paul had for the song... it would be nice if he could re-do it that way.

Dig a Pony: Essentially the same song as in Let It Be,... and yet I won't get tired to express how different these songs sound after having passed through George Martin's hands instead of Phil Spector's. After all, re-producing the whole Let It Be it's not a foolish idea, and a more than possible future Beatle project.

Two of Us: Beautiful version with two acoustic guitars (one in each channel of the stereo), Paul's bass, and Ringo's "I-can't hear-it-but-it's-there" drumming. Feedback and some minor errors leave the take unreleaseable as a final commercial track, but it was to be included in an Anthology.

For You Blue: A nice version of For You Blue, with George singing live (in Let It Be he re-recorded the vocals) The instrumentation (basicly the slide guitar) changes, but the take is as good as the released one.

Teddy Boy: One gets the impression listening to this track in the Anthology that the other Beatles didn' take this song very seriously. However it comes from a couple of outtakes used by Paul to introduce the others to the song. Quite similar in the conception to the McCartney version, but by no means a finished song.

Medley:
Rip It Up
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Blue Suede Shoes: A good demonstration that The Beatles could still rock it. Specially in the two first songs, the performance is thrilling. Blue Suede Shoes, although beeing more loose, features a great second voice by Paul.

The Long And Winding Road: Paul HAD TO DO THIS. Ever since Let It Be came out, he claimed that one of his best songs, The Long and Winding Road had been over produced by Spector with choirs and strings, his famous wall of sound. This is EXACTLY the same take... but no Spector to be found. The old, and now forgotten for good, excuses that the Beatles needed to cover up poor performance from the Get Back sessions with production work has been finally proved wrong. Paul had sure a lot to do with this track being included here.... and just to confirm that, literally from the Anthology notes "The Anthology version is "as nature intended" whereas the Let It Be version was dressed up[...] in composer Paul McCartney's absence"

Oh! Darling: Version without Paul playing piano but bass. The jam feeling dominated the whole take with John and Paul sharing almost a dialogue between lines -John's great here doing second voices and talking about his divorce from Yoko!! :) -. Very enjoyable.

All things Must Pass: George could not convince the rest to include All Things Must Pass in the Get Back project and had to leave the song for his triple solo album... and yet, this version is special... very special. 2 guitars, perfect vocals from George, recorded solo in his 26th birthday. A must hear.

Mailman, Bring Me no More Blues: An all time bootleg favourite. This mailman has almost become mythical before this anthology. The truth is that Holly's song is charming enough, and The Beatles perform a short, but convincing version. We needed this quality in this rare recording.

Get Back: Hystorical track!!! Last Beatles live performance, up in the roof of the Saville Row building. This Get Back version is not valuable musically but anecdotically. The Police was present, trying to stop The Beatles performance. At some point someone prompts them to stop (first chorus). One moment the guitars can't be heard anymore... suddenly, rythm guitar apopears again and George's does too!!!!!! John's second voice appears, and Paul seems to be saying Get Back no longer to Jo Jo or Loretta.... but to he Police... Ringo strikes the plates 3 times angrily after Paul tells "Loretta" to go back. After that Paul tells Loretta to go back since she's been playing in the roof. This is Beatles History in pure state!

Old Brown Shoe: George's demo for this song is far from the released version although it presents all the ingredients. We discover his piano skills are limited, while his guitar and vocal ones are outstanding! Curious.

Octopus's Garden: Ringo's great song with some slight differences in the guitars. Ringo's vocal, as it was to be re-recorded is not perfect although it serves the purpose of guiding the song. The drumming is great and hte guitar solo was almost definitely outlined. Interesting (Ringo thought it was superb).

Maxwell's Silver Hammer: With a softer voice than in the released version, Paul tackles Maxwell's hammer in quite a similar way, being this the basic track. No voices from George or John, and no overdubbing yet. Paul "plays" the guitar solo very personally, and finally the take is turned into a joke (note John's playing in the piano at a certain point, telling Paul he's also in the game, getting Paul to laugh)

Something: A similar demo to the While My Guitar one, but with electric guitar. Harrison shows his talent again. However, the song is less suited for a one guitar demo and the result is not as splendid. A few extra lines not included in the released Something make the take interesting enough.

Come Together: Slightly rougher version than the one relesed. John doesn't play an instrument, and his singing is just fantastic -adding also handclapping and several "shoot me"-. A good version

Come and Get It: Fantastic. Simply outstanding. One has to be a genius to record ALL INSTRUMENTS for this demo (piano, bass, maracas and drums plus vocals) in less than an hour, and get this version. The song is excelent and the sound is as well. A new McCartney song for many, and a great one too.

Ain't She Sweet: A light jam on Ain't She Sweet, mostly intreresting for the possible comparison with 1961 version issued in Anhology I. Probably one of the weakest tracks in this Anthology, although we always like the fabs playing anything.

Because: Amazing. And they knew it. In Beatles promotion programs some years ago, this Because version without instruments had already been played to astonished audiences in radio programs. Beatles harmonies, reach here an unbelievable peak. There are 9 Voices! (3 overdubs of 3 voices) and yet, they all sound as one. Just as a curiosity, you may probably hear a very distant guitar (more audible in the previous showings mentioned) that corresponds to the sound coming out of their headphones when recording. A jewel and nothing more.

Let It Be: A song that will knock you out. Fortunately, John and George DO giggle in the solo, and get a new version of Let It Be (the ones from the single and album only differ in the solo and the mixing). Specially touching are the voices by George and John, great once again. Although short of lyrics, it demonstrates once more that maybe Spector's work wasn't so vital (we don't know how much Martin has worked to leave these tracks as beautiful as they stand now). For all Let It Be lovers, great news.

I Me Mine: Although Dave was no longer with them... they managed to perform a great song. I Me Mine in its true length (without Spector editing). It seems like if George and Paul had taken special care in letting the world now how thir songs really were before Spector laid his hands on them. Not much new, just shorter.

The End: And In the End, the love they taken has just been equal to the love they gave us. A new surprising version of The End much more rocky, with more noticeable orchestra and with all 3 "guitar Beatles" sharing the solo in their final song. It was almost last in Abbey Road, and they've taken special care to place it also last in the Anthology. What a great way to finish The Beatles career .... or not?