~She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah~
I went to bed last night at 7pm! My back is killing me...ugh.
Well, yesterday in my self imposed exile due to my brakes being worked on, I finally was able to finish watching the Beatles Anthology on DVD. My humble review is as follows.....
To any hardcore Beatles fan, as I was back in the early 1990's, the story of the Beatles is nothing new. This is just the actual band now telling it. Sometimes their memories are a little unclear about things but its the official version so to speak. I am sure there are things that happened they decided to forget on purpose and over the course of time has been lost from history. Since its their lives, they certainly have the right to tell it. As far as their history is concerned....its all old hat. A lot of detailed things were left out....wives, divorces, relationships with certain people in their history. I would think this was a way of keeping Yoko Ono out of the project entirely because she was never interviewed once during the DVD, even though her relationship with John was briefly mentioned. A lot of things were talked about in depth I thought wouldn't be....drug use for one. Neil Aspinall, the "Fifth Beatle" who now is over Apple, the Beatles archive so to speak, was given a place along with the others in the story telling process. This is only right since he was right there for it all. Two things stuck out in my mind during this DVD. Many of their performances were shown. I am talking about entire film sequences of their songs performed at concerts and other appearances shown in their entireity. This was great. A lot of footage I am sure that hasn't been shown in over 30 years. However, the most remarkable part of the whole DVD was the interviews with the Beatles themselves. These interviews were great. They showed the surviving members talking about events that happened. A great dig from George Harrison on Paul McCartney was when Harrison was saying that Paul was 9 months older than him and that he always reminded him in a roundabout way that he will "always be 9 months older". There were sequences that showed the Paul, George, and Ringo together talking both at a kitchen table and sitting on a blanket in a grassy area that I believe was at George's estate. Those interviews were the best. You could still tell that Paul, true to his personality. was leading the conversation and it was sometimes painful to see the others trying to get a word in edgewise. The best part of the whole DVD to me was the special features section. It showed more of the three of them together talking including a great story from George about meeting Elvis again in the early 1970's in New York. He said he stared at him...again in awe....but noticed that he was almost a cartoon version of himself. George said he just wanted to tell Elvis to get out of that jumpsuit, throw a pair of jeans on and grab a guitar and a stool and walk on stage and just perform his songs without the singers and the orchestra. Ringo said he met Elvis several times in Vegas and Paul said he only met him the one time when the Beatles met Elvis in '65. Some of their chats seemed strained at times like they were trying to find things to talk about. One great sequence on the special features was taken in the studio that showed George, Paul and Ringo talking with George Martin, their old producer. (Doesn't this man ever age?". Another great sequence showed the three jamming. Again this seemed a little strained at times. George even made one remark to Paul when Paul wanted to play a certain song. George remarked "ok, but only one verse ok...." or words to that effect. It just seemed that George and Paul were uncomfortable being around each other at times. Ringo remarked about when they were in the studio together making the newest song, Free as a Bird,that it was so weird for John not being there. It almost kept them from playing until they had to say to themselves that he was just gone to the bathroom or to the kitchen or something. That was the only way they were able to make it through the sessions.
All in all, a great DVD and one I am glad I got for my collection. Its definately a keeper.
Well, yesterday in my self imposed exile due to my brakes being worked on, I finally was able to finish watching the Beatles Anthology on DVD. My humble review is as follows.....
To any hardcore Beatles fan, as I was back in the early 1990's, the story of the Beatles is nothing new. This is just the actual band now telling it. Sometimes their memories are a little unclear about things but its the official version so to speak. I am sure there are things that happened they decided to forget on purpose and over the course of time has been lost from history. Since its their lives, they certainly have the right to tell it. As far as their history is concerned....its all old hat. A lot of detailed things were left out....wives, divorces, relationships with certain people in their history. I would think this was a way of keeping Yoko Ono out of the project entirely because she was never interviewed once during the DVD, even though her relationship with John was briefly mentioned. A lot of things were talked about in depth I thought wouldn't be....drug use for one. Neil Aspinall, the "Fifth Beatle" who now is over Apple, the Beatles archive so to speak, was given a place along with the others in the story telling process. This is only right since he was right there for it all. Two things stuck out in my mind during this DVD. Many of their performances were shown. I am talking about entire film sequences of their songs performed at concerts and other appearances shown in their entireity. This was great. A lot of footage I am sure that hasn't been shown in over 30 years. However, the most remarkable part of the whole DVD was the interviews with the Beatles themselves. These interviews were great. They showed the surviving members talking about events that happened. A great dig from George Harrison on Paul McCartney was when Harrison was saying that Paul was 9 months older than him and that he always reminded him in a roundabout way that he will "always be 9 months older". There were sequences that showed the Paul, George, and Ringo together talking both at a kitchen table and sitting on a blanket in a grassy area that I believe was at George's estate. Those interviews were the best. You could still tell that Paul, true to his personality. was leading the conversation and it was sometimes painful to see the others trying to get a word in edgewise. The best part of the whole DVD to me was the special features section. It showed more of the three of them together talking including a great story from George about meeting Elvis again in the early 1970's in New York. He said he stared at him...again in awe....but noticed that he was almost a cartoon version of himself. George said he just wanted to tell Elvis to get out of that jumpsuit, throw a pair of jeans on and grab a guitar and a stool and walk on stage and just perform his songs without the singers and the orchestra. Ringo said he met Elvis several times in Vegas and Paul said he only met him the one time when the Beatles met Elvis in '65. Some of their chats seemed strained at times like they were trying to find things to talk about. One great sequence on the special features was taken in the studio that showed George, Paul and Ringo talking with George Martin, their old producer. (Doesn't this man ever age?". Another great sequence showed the three jamming. Again this seemed a little strained at times. George even made one remark to Paul when Paul wanted to play a certain song. George remarked "ok, but only one verse ok...." or words to that effect. It just seemed that George and Paul were uncomfortable being around each other at times. Ringo remarked about when they were in the studio together making the newest song, Free as a Bird,that it was so weird for John not being there. It almost kept them from playing until they had to say to themselves that he was just gone to the bathroom or to the kitchen or something. That was the only way they were able to make it through the sessions.
All in all, a great DVD and one I am glad I got for my collection. Its definately a keeper.
Posted by Scotty Ice at 5:40 AM:
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