Although I haven't done so in quite a while, I used to listen to many of the Beatlegs in my collection from start to finish. I don't really think that I EVER listened to the Anthology discs from start to finish. Some of the reason might be that it had become very rare for me to listen to ANY complete album by the time the Anthology series was released. Without a doubt, some of the reason is also that I don't feel that the quality of the music is consistent enough to warrant an uninterrrupted listen.

I don't even get the chance to listen to single albums start to finish these days!

For the first time this milennium, I've taken a couple of days here to listen all 30 of my (non-bootleg) Beatles CD's. Some thoughts...(NOTE--I do NOT have any of the Capital boxed sets, EP collections, the "Love" or "One" discs, or the blue or red comps!)

1. The CD that I have played the fewest times is undoubtedly the "Let It Be...Naked" disc and bonus disc, and, given the fact that it was not issued in 2003 to promote a re-release of the movie, one has to wonder what the point was. I understand Paul's dissatisfaction with Phil Spector and all of that, and I like the addition of "Don't Let Me Down", but knowing that doesn't make me like any of the songs any better--simply put, they're not the Beatles' best. Also--Harrison's "Old Brown Shoe" b-side was better than either "I Me Mine" or "For You Blue" IMO. This ties into point #2:

2. The early Beatles albums really suffer from the fact that some of the best stuff from those sessions were issued as singles. Again, while I understand why this is so, if I had been alive in 1964, I would probably have bitching about "Hard Day's Night" soundtrack without "This Boy". "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" would have definitely improved "With The Beatles". On the flipside, as a result, the "Past Masters" discs probably rank as two of the greatest compilation CD's ever.

3. I have a newfound appreciation for the "Anthology" discs and their accompanying singles. So much attention and care went into not just the compilation of the music, but the artwork and packaging, that these discs are a pleasure to own as well as play. While the material drags in spots (the "White Album" demos and outtakes are endless) it's also nice knowing that official versions of "Leave My Kitten Alone", etc. have now been a part of the Beatles catalog for over a decade now.

4. The sound of the 1980's masters just doesn't bother me all that much. While some of the "Yellow Submarine Soungtrack" remixes are pretty cool, I just don't have any major complaints about any of this material. Part of me thinks that if you start tinkering with the sound of these songs too much, they're just going to sound blatantly different to where it becomes distracting, although I could be wrong. But I've heard far worse 80's mastering jobs.

5. "Live At The BBC"--What an absolute blast this collection is! It makes the aforementioned albums like "With The Beatles" just seem that much wimpier, and the vast track selection on these two discs gives us much more of an insight into the soul of the Fab Four than a thousand glib McCartney/Lennon/Starr/Harrison interviews. It's always kind of fun to discover a disc in one's own collection that wasn't properly appreciated when one first acquired it.

I think McCartney could finally do it the way he thought it should have been done in the first place without Spector's supporters, Lennon and Harrison, to stop him. I get the impression he does not forget grudges easily.


Similarly Revolver is an even stronger album with "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" added in the mix. And while there's a lot of debate about whether or not Sgt. Pepper is really the Beatles best album, it becomes a lot easier to argue for it if you include "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane." A fun game is trying to sequence those albums with the additional tracks - or - to sequence them with the additional tracks in place of two others.

But wasn't Let It Be...Naked mixed by a couple of guys who were too young to have been around when the original album was recorded?? They should have used one of Glyn Johns' original mixes or brought Johns back to do a new mix. I was pretty underwhelmed by Let It Be...Naked. I didn't see what the big deal was, really.

I'm happy to have the non-Spector versions of "For You Blue" with George's guitar throughout and "Long and Winding Road" without all the orchestration. I think they could've released those without the rest of the record, though. Let It Be is not the Beatles at their best in any form.