excellent box set,if you are a beatles fan it gives you a brilliant insight into the fab fours lives during the days up to, and including their rise to fame.
A comprehensive and facinating insight into all things Beatles. Not your usual documentary written and presented by outsiders but a mix of archive and present day interviews with the band members themselves and those closely associated with them (sound engineer, tour manager etc). It is structured more or less in chronological order from their birth to present day (well 2002!) and all the psychedelic madness/genius in between. If you are a fan or not this series gives a fantastic insight into a unique band and an era long lost to us.
The Beatles Anthology was initially broadcast as a TV miniseries to run alongside the series of three Anthology double-CD albums. This set of eight documentaries has the heft and scope of one of Ken Burns' expansive projects. Still, you may find yourself with more material--particularly about the Beatles' early lives as lads in Liverpool--than you'll want to watch. The documentary material is copious, including early performance films and tapes, at the point before they found their true voices. The actual Beatlemania years--beginning in 1963 and concluding in 1970--feature extensive performance films, as well as home movies and archival material. The best parts, of course, are the interviews with the Beatles themselves, who produced the entire thing. Along with reworking two previously unreleased John Lennon tracks as "new Beatles songs", the Anthology includes some unseen Lennon interview tapes so that his acerbic voice can be heard as well. This stands as a comprehensive document of that heady period, the second coming of rock & roll, as the Beatles took what Elvis had started and expanded upon it exponentially. This box set gives a solid sense of the historical context and the way these four musicians changed the world around them in the 1960s
I bought this for my boyfriend. It's great because you see alot of behind the scenes stuff.. Like- when they're practacing., concerts and photos. It shows indepth detail of how they started thro' to when they finished... Great Interviews on- How they felt about each other, how they met and what they thought of the Beatles..
This is an essential "must have" for any Beatles fan giving a detailed history of the band from their inception to break up in 1970. Woven into the footage of concerts/news footage/film documentary are detailed interviews with the surviving band members, including George as this was compiled before his sad death earlier this decade and also archived interview footage from John woven into the film. An added bonus comes in the guise of the bonus, fifth disc with the three surviving Beatles getting together, chatting about the glory days and jamming a few numbers. Also on this disc are the recordings "Free as a bird" and "Real Love" with video footage and documentary on how the videos were compiled. Great stuff and a purchase I am pleased with to put it mildly.
This really is a great value for money boxset, will make you laugh and cry in equal measures. Amazing Stuff. I have watched through 10+ times already and still enjoy as much as the first time. Cosmic.
I am an avid Beatle fan and felt that this would add to my collection. I already have it on VHS video but I've always wanted this on DVD too. So I am more than happy with my purchase.
This was bought for my sons Xmas present, as he is a beatles fan. I am not into these things so I cannot comment from my point of view, but he was very pleased and that is all that matters.
I was really pleased to find a copy of this DVD at such a low cost on ebay. When I received the item, there was a "buff" mark on one of the Discs but this did not effect the playing of the disc. I decided to purchase the DVD set because I had always wanted to own my own copy on DVD as I only had a copy on VHS that I had made myself when the programme was aired on TV. The transaction was very smooth and I was very pleased with the item.
What an absolutely fabulous band the Beatles were.
This Rock documentary is done by Paul, George and Ringo, giving an insightful behind the scenes look at what was the life of the Beatles was really like.
The Anthology is a huge volume of work with unseen footage, interviews with the band & music. Listening to them talking about their life and times in the band is fascinating it almost seems a simpler world geared by their simple love of all things musical.
On the one to one interviews in was an absolute master stoke to get “Jools Holland” to interview them, rather than a more mainstream interviewer, each of the boys seem totally relaxed in his company and talk openly and frankly about their life……warts an all.
The DVD’s are packed with archive film footage, no nasty voice-overs by some unknown “Star” this is just the boys themselves with a few close behind the scenes guys such as Neil Aspinall, George Martin etc.
Seamlessly mixed together the Anthology brings you interviews, archive footage their films, music video’s and of course their songs, an absolute delight to watch leaving you immersed in the Beatles phenomenon wanting to more, I bet you end up buying a Beatles CD after watching the DVD’s.
Fantastic could not have hopped for better……..Highly Recommended.
The definitive must-have for Beatles fans!! Like many people I've listened to the albums, read the books and seen those dire unofficial Beatles videos for hire from the library or on sale in your local music store. This is offcial! This is as good as it gets!!
We have has the VHS version of the anthology for some years having watched the original series on TV. I thought the extras DVD would be 'it' as for new items not seen from the VHS tapes. To our delight every section has been extended, including showing the promotional films in their entirety. it is a great story of a great band
I can still remember over forty years later the incredible excitement in air when "She Loves You" was first released- for me it marks the beginning of the sixties. All the following Beatles singles form a musical diary for those who happened to be around at that time. To put it simply this is a well filmed documentary of the greatest, and by far the most influencial, band in the history of rock. The music they made was not for any one time or era and nobody who loves music will be dissapointed by this work. It charts the history of the what was to become the Beatles from childhood friendships in their native Liverpool right through to the breakup of the group, and in between records some of the greatest music ever recorded. This series was first broadcast on TV in the mid 1990's so George was still around to record his memories. Each of four DVD's contain two parts of the series at around 70 minutes per program. The Fifth DVD contains special features added for the DVD release. All in all highly recommended!
The Beatles Anthology has to be the best rockumentary I've ever seen!
It's fascinating to watch the story of the band starting from the early beginnings in the fifties, through their amazing journey of unprecedented fame and celebrity. The music is undeniably brilliant, and the story is told without any of the usual voice-overs which you normally get on these sort of documentaries. It's just film footage of performances, the Beatles themselves and a few very close associates talking (e.g. George Martin and their Tour Manager), plus various promotional videos (in their entirity). Absolutely brilliant!