“It’s almost impossible to get the definitive story,” Paul McCartney theorizes in the brand-new addition to “The Beatles Anthology,” which sparked a mid-’90s wave of Beatlemania. “Because people look at things from different points of view.” It’s a telling line, one that explains why, 30 years on from the original’s premiere, and a further 25 years since their disbanding, the Fab Four’s past is still being meticulously explored.
Since the turn of the decade alone, there’s been two documentaries about their exploits in India, the Martin Scorsese-produced origins story “Beatles ‘64,” and Peter Jackson’s deep dive into the recording of “Let It Be.” And let’s not forget Sam Mendes’ forthcoming four — yes four! — individual biopics.
Of course, “The Beatles Anthology” can lay claim to being the don of the Merseysiders’ vast filmography. Born from an archival, and unreleased, doc produced the year after their 1970 split, the project was then intended to accompany a reunion concert John Lennon had reportedly been planning just days before his murder. However, it later evolved into an all-encompassing multimedia affair, including an album, book, and prime-time TV series which not only boasted the full blessing of the surviving members, but their modern-day reflections. And from the heart of their back catalogue, Abbey Road Studios, too.
Getting by with a little help from longtime obsessive Jackson’s production company, Disney+’s latest love-in restores this footage, and alongside breaking its six parts into eight, adds a ninth assembled from the cutting room floor. The question is, was there anything really worth salvaging?
Well, it’s fair to say not every once-lost insight was a lost gem. “It was crazy times, but great times, I had a really good time, but it was crazy,” Ringo Starr summarizes arguably the most impactful period in pop cultural history, the kind of vague platitude which perhaps explains why lyrical duties were left to his bandmates. Moreover, several anecdotes which may have felt more revelatory back in 1995 have since become part of Beatles lore.
Yet director Oliver Murray, whose largely musical resume also includes 2023 “The Last Beatles Song,” has still found plenty of wheat among the chaff. Receiving the lion’s share of screentime, George Harrison reveals the idea to record new material using Lennon’s home demos stemmed from his time in The Traveling Wilburys, when the death of Roy Orbison prompted Elvis Presley’s estate to offer the King’s posthumous services. “It seemed a bit gimmicky,” he explains why the supergroup politely declined.
Musos will be especially fascinated by the performances of bluegrass favorite “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and McCartney’s first notable composition “Thinking of Linking,” and when producer Sir George Martin — who describes the whole anthology process as a “fairly traumatic time” — sits at a mixing desk isolating contributions to “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “You Never Give Me Your Money”: the astonished reactions of the surrounding Beatles provides one of the episode’s highlights.
Likewise, the glimpses of the sessions which spawned “Free as a Bird,” “Real Love,” and eventually “Now and Then,” the latter of which only surfaced 28 years later to chart-topping, Grammy-winning success. There’s a pleasing sense of closure in knowing the trio’s creative woes were belatedly resolved. But it’s also a joy to watch when the band and producer Jeff Lynne — who talks of spending weeks painstakingly cleaning up the source material — realize they’re already onto a winner. “It sounds just like The Beatles,” Starr notes in amazement on hearing one of the finished products.
This encore is most compelling, though, when it looks toward its absentee. Harrison expresses his sadness that Lennon was robbed of the chance to partake in a project he’d previously spearheaded (“I think he would have enjoyed this opportunity to get together with us”). Meanwhile, McCartney recalls requiring a hankie on first hearing his old partner-in-crime’s singing voice from beyond the grave. In another touching studio scene you’d have expected to make the edit first time round, he also admits to fantasizing Lennon has simply popped out for lunch (“Even though John’s not here, he’s here”). As the camera pans to an empty chair, you may well be drying your eyes, too.
Unsurprisingly from what’s essentially a retrospective of a retrospective, Lennon himself isn’t quite as visible as in the previous eight episodes, the archivel footage which previously helped complement his bandmates’ recollections kept to a minimum. Instead, Murray wisely allows us to enjoy the sight of three bona fide legends — here in their casual, denim-clad, fifty-something era — clearly reveling in each other’s company (six years before his untimely death, Harrison’s closing quip about the future of their relationship takes on an extra poignancy).
And they’re in fine form throughout, whether jokingly announcing plans to launch a stadium tour as mud wrestlers, acknowledging the anthology would have been disastrous if made in the ‘70s (“We were at war then”), or jamming to their hearts’ content on a picnic blanket overlooking the Thames.
“It’s been really beautiful and moving, I like hanging out with you two guys,” Starr sweetly tells McCartney and Harrison in the anthology’s new closing words. Although the 51 minutes that have gone before could never be described as essential, it’s a sentiment which most fans will share.
The restored “The Beatles Anthology,” including a new episode, starts streaming on Disney+ on Wednesday, November 26. Episodes 1-3 of the series will launch on November 26, followed by Episodes 4-6 on November 27, and Episodes 7-9 on November 28.