The Beatles Anthology

This is a staggering, fantastic eight-part documentary on the history of the Beatles as a group and as individuals, an oral history by them and those closest to them, including George Martin and Neil Aspinall, their tour director.

Besides the Beatles music showcased so beautifully throughout the anthology, probably the best thing is the filmed discussions of Paul, George, and Ringo sitting around a kitchen table discussing their shared past. For me, the other remarkable thing is how they, in fact, seemed to have invented the music video without realizing it.

The anthology goes into quite a bit of detail not only about how the guys grew up, got interested in music, got together, and got started but also a lot about what it was like to be "The Beatles" and how they collaborated. Their story is remarkable because, unlike a lot of other groups, they were always together -- not only making music but on vacations, in India, making movies, and in hotel rooms. They were kids together. And when they grew up, the band ended.

There's not much else to say because if you're a Beatles fan, a baby boomer, whatever you are, you have to see this and experience it in all its brilliance. The end, with "Free as a Bird," is heartwrenching.

This anthology is exciting, funny, bittersweet, sad, entertaining, and thought-provoking. What can I say? It's the Beatles.

Four DVD and it features all that made the Beatles the only historical force in the world of rock.It does not pass over in silence the less glorious moments (for example the Philippine episode or the doomed let it be sessions) .Some will complain because Lennon's comments had not the "Threetles"' hindsight ,but was there another way to deal with that? The fifth DVD is less interesting but it's a bonus so why complain?Its the equivalent of the Anthologies 1,2 and 3 released on CDs in 1995-6 All the important groups and solo artists should have an anthology like this one.It goes without saying that only the greatest ones deserve it!

The Beatles were the center of the Pop Music universe for the eight years they were actively recording, an anchor from which all other 60's music radiates. If you are interested in how the best 14 albums ever made came to be, you have to see the whole thing.

The story is told in the words of the Beatles themselves, and a couple others like George Martin and Neil Aspinall (their chief roadie). Along with footage from concerts and their movies, it's several interviews editted together, but you never hear the interviewers, you only hear Paul or George or Ringo or John's response to the question, and it comes together into a seamless history of the greatest band Rock and Roll ever knew.

This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...so help me God. The Beatles Anthology is historical, remarkable and I'm glad to have seen it and own it before I die.

Miss you John and George and love you Ringo and Paulie-- and thanks for fulfilling my life with great music.

For a Beatle fan (like me) this 10 hour documentary was both thrilling and just a little disappointing.

Thrilling because all the music has been re-mixed, re-mastered and sounds great, because there are lots of details that, even as I fan, I didn't know, because there's more insight than offered elsewhere into their breakup, and more important, into what held them together.

A good job is done of combining new interviews with the then 3 living Beatles, and recorded interviews with John from many sources, so his views and insights aren't missing.

The last couple of hours go deeper than I suspected, and were quite moving.

On the disappointment side there are a few issues. First, at least for me, much of the first half got repetitive. Not much new insight into the birth or meaning of Beatlemania, just lots (and lots and lots) of concert and TV footage, often of them playing the same songs, sometimes obviously just lip-syncing to records.

Also, their personal lives are left out entirely. I understand not focusing on relationships, etc, but there's virtually no mention of wives, divorces, affairs, children, or how any of that intersected with their music and work.

Last, I was sorry it didn't go deeper into the creation of the music itself. While there are lot of great tidbits from the group and George Martin about specific songs, considering there was 10 hours of program, I didn't get enough of how they worked, how they wrote, how they influenced each other. Nor do we get much of their personal views of the world, politics, etc. And somehow the sense of how much their brief 7 years meant to music and to world culture seems missing, or at least not really explored.

Yet, whatever was missing, I tore through the 10 hours in 2 nights, and would have happily seen more.