Anthology 1

[Borris]

I was just thinking of Free as a Bird, I've always liked it. It was pretty emotional to hear them make a Beatles song all those years after John died and it's quite an emotional song too. It's really cool that John George and Ringo got together made the Anthology albums and TV it gave it some closure and was a nod to the life they'd shared together and with us.

Here's a great video of the making of the songs Free as a bird and Real Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6Bqb34rQ4

The Anthology CDs have kind of sunk a bit since their release, but I'd be keen to hear of bits that people love about them. I like hearing the early version of 1 after 909.

[mervap]

I remember getting quite emotional upon hearing "Free As a Bird"....for all of my music-listening life, The Beatles were a past-tense proposition. Discovering their music was great and it was all new to me, but here was a song, by the four of them, recorded during my lifetime, being heard by Beatles fans just like me, all together....

Having said that, I like "Real Love" better as a song...

[Kylenz]

Yeah, Free As A Bird was emotional for me too. But I always felt the tempo dragged in that song. I did like though, how Paul and George each took turns on a lead vocal on the song. Real Love was the one that blew me away. It was like The Beatles were back, with a classic song right up there with their best.

On the discs, some of my favourites were the various takes of Strawberry Fields, the Revolver sessions, and the stereo version of Only A Northern Song, along with the unedited version of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). One of the most surprising tracks was the swampy toned-down 'non-metal' early take of Helter Skelter!

[Borris]

For me Real Love seemed more like a solo Lennon song, nice, but Free as a Bird has some Beatles magic.

[chris]

i never cared much for FAAB. vocals sounded as if john was underwater...and singing from behind a closet door. and i never really looked at it as if it were a beatle song. not a real one. the four in a room, listening to the final mix, listening to it together, and signing off on its release.

i feel the same about RL, but i think that is a much better song.

having said that...how awesome is that anthology compliation? 

[Kylenz]

i never cared much for FAAB. vocals sounded as if john was underwater...and singing from behind a closet door. and i never really looked at it as if it were a beatle song. not a real one. the four in a room, listening to the final mix, listening to it together, and signing off on its release.

i feel the same about RL, but i think that is a much better song.

Yeah, when it comes to listening to Real Love and hearing John's voice sound like it's underwater, I scratch my head and wonder why they didn't use the better quality vocal takes, rather than the tapes Yoko gave them? I mean, listen to the acoustic version of Real Love that's on John's 'Imagine' best of - the vocal is crisp.. surely they could've lifted that vocal off the master tape and overlaid it onto a fresh newly-recorded Beatles backing track. 

[Greg]

I'm with Kylenz and Chris on all that.  The only other thing I can say is that I'm comforted to know that at least the tunes deeply touched other Beatle-Brothers and Sisters.

I wonder what John would have thought about those.  Never know, but of course if he was around those specific versions would not exist.