The Beatles Anthology Box Set—Hey Boomers, This One's Probably Not For You! (But Maybe It Is)

'Anthology 4' Available As a Separate Release Is

If you already own the earlier edition of Anthology 1, 2, and 3, this new box set containing those plus Anthology 4— 13 previously unreleased tracks and 17 songs selected from super deluxe versions of five classic albums plus 2025 Jeff Lynne mixes of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love"— might not be enough to get you to buy it yet again but maybe the additional 26 never before released on vinyl tracks will entice you to buy the separately available Anthology 4.

Then again, there's the sound and pressing quality of the original first 3 Anthologies to consider, compared to the reissues in this box pressed at Optimal.

Based on the credits, only Anthology 4 has been remixed by Giles Martin, perhaps using the "de-mixing" technology implemented on previous reissues, but apparently the upcoming video series has mostly been remixed/refurbished where necessary using that technology.

But...

I first compared the 1996 Japanese issues of Anthology 1, 2, and 3 (TOJP 60601-03, TOJP-60104-06, TOJP 60107-09) to the new box. These go for a lot of money on Discogs—especially, for some reason, that edition of Anthology 1.

The Japanese Anthology 1, 2, and 3 sound incredibly bright, compressed and unpleasant (unless your system sounds soft) compared to this new edition and that's true from the opening "Free As A Bird", where you can now better hear and appreciate the harmonies, right through to side 2's ending "Please Please Me."

While there's no indication that the first 3 volumes have been "de-mixed" and are not different mixes, all are so much more enjoyable! Much better overall remastering by Alex Wharton. Only the new Anthology 4 credits Giles Martin. ("Alex" appears in the lead out groove area only on the final side of Anthology 4 but I suspect he cut them all.)

However, even the vintage tracks sound far superior to the originals on the Japanese set, and then I discovered I have the original UK set because that's what was offered in America on vinyl as well. I hadn't opened or played it in a really long time but when I opened Anthology 1 I found this, which you might enjoy reading. It's now more than 30 years old—and conspiracy theorists note the day!

And when I paid further attention I realized that a great deal of work had been done to most if not all of the tracks on the original Anthology series to seriously upgrade the sound—even if just better equalization and less compression, though there were other enhancements.

For instance, on the original "That'll Be the Day" taken from a noisy acetate cut at a Liverpool electrical goods shop, there's the usual crunchy background noise. It's been completely eliminated on this new box and everything from old sources to new sounds remarkably better—some of the older material even "vivid" and enveloping— to where you can sit and enjoy the material from beginning to end and not as moldy old artifacts. "Cry For a Shadow" (the only full instrumental The Beatles ever recorded), recorded in Hamburg and produced by Bert Kaempfert, with bass either restored or added sounds positively spectacular. I had to return to the Japanese and UK originals to hear how compressed and shrill those sounded.

This Anthology box is not a slipshod repackaging with one new additional set. It's a total reworking of the material in order to provide everything in the best possible sound; some of it almost miraculously better.

The Beatles' progress from the early days to Abbey Road is something to marvel at but so is the first record in Anthology 1 where the boys (really men by then) go from covering The Coasters, and almost embarrassing songs from their parents' record collections ("Bésame Mucho," "The Sheik of Araby," etc.), to writing and performing "Please Please Me" and "Love Me Do"—songs seared into Boomer memories—not that we heard those demos (luckily!) until years later.

After Buddy Holly died and rock turned into Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell, I figured at 16 that I’d grown up and started listening to jazz. The record store clerk handed me Coltrane’s My Favorite Things and it was scary until I understood where the melody had gone! Then one day driving to high school with an older neighbor in winter ‘63, “She Loves You” came on the radio. An adrenaline rush and I exclaimed, “It’s back!” The Ed Sullivan appearances a few months later are seared in memory. At the time we didn't know that The Beatles and the other English imports had drenched themselves in the same American "teen music" we had—not to mention the music in our parents' collections. In a recent interview Pete Townshend discussed growing up on his folks' Broadway show tune collection and how it affected his song writing. We didn't want to hear that in the mid '60s!

That the Beatles' active era lasted just 6 or 7 years is difficult to sort out even today more than a half century later, and lives were shattered when they broke up. I remember “kids” then in their 20s in the aftermath feeling disoriented and not knowing what to do with themselves. I wouldn’t trade being an adolescent during that time for that many years now!

So what's on Anthology 4? An unreleased "I Saw Her Standing There," "Money" minus George Martin's piano overdub, a pair of "broken" "This Boy"'s that sounds more immediate and satisfying than any version you've ever heard and it's fun to hear the mistakes—as well as those on a pair of "Tell Me Why"'s that are equally immediate and slammin'.

I'm not going to go through the lot, but there are raw and thrilling versions of "If I Fell," "Matchbox" (with Ringo singing and drumming live), "Every Little Thing," " I Need You," "I've Just Seen A Face," "In My Life," "Nowhere Man," a rehearsal for the BBC broadcast the next day of "All You Need Is Love", and so much more that will absolutely delight Beatles fans including a live take of "You Never Give Me Your Money," the final of 36 takes recorded at Olympic Studios with Glyn Johns at the desk. There's group greatness throughout but what really stands out is how great a drummer Ringo was/is.

The final side features the new mixes of "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love," with the set concluding with "Now and Then," which topped the UK charts 61 years after the release of "Love Me Do." The "de-mix" technology does improve spatiality but as in previous uses, it creates a "detached," less solid feel to images—at least that's how I hear it.

So if you're in the Boomer generation and own the first 3 Anthology sets (which maybe you've played a few times at most, be honest!), you probably should pick up Anthology 4. It's a great collection of tunes, sounds superbly raw and immediate yet somehow polished and Giles Martin's annotation is as good as his mixes or prep or whatever he did to the tapes— and they are really good. And if you want all of it in far superior sound, the full box is worth considering.

Younger Beatles fans who missed the original Anthology series (30 and under) might consider the full box. Though at $374.98 (for a dozen LPs plus attractive slip case) it's a heavy lift, the improved sound makes going through it far more pleasing than before, and at the end between listening and reading, you will have much of the story told in music and excellent annotation. Beatles fans won't regret buying Anthology 4. It's nice having a side of posthumous with your main course. And the most serious won't regret buying the box.

Finally, note that all 12 records were physically and sonically perfect and this was a sealed box not a "reviewer special!"