This definitive Anthology expansion enthralls with a poignant new episode and expertly remastered music, making the Beatles' legendary story feel more vital and moving than ever. Essential.
A New Chapter in an Endless Story: Revisiting The Beatles’ ‘Anthology’ in 2025
Three decades ago, The Beatles Anthology did something revolutionary: it let the story tell itself. By placing the voices of John, Paul, George, and Ringo at the very center, the documentary series became more than a retrospective; it became a living, breathing conversation with history. It wasn’t just a look back, but the foundation for the band’s enduring and ever-evolving legacy.
Now, in 2025, The Beatles Anthology has been reimagined and expanded into what can only be described as its definitive edition, a multi-platform event that deepens our understanding of the band’s journey.
The Documentary: A Fresh Finale and a New Look
The landmark documentary series, which meticulously charts the Fab Four’s path from Liverpool basements to world-conquering fame, has been meticulously restored. But the most significant addition is a brand-new ninth episode. This final chapter offers a poignant, behind-the-scenes glimpse of Paul, George, and Ringo reuniting in the mid-90s to piece together their own history. Seeing them reflect on their shared past, with the wisdom of time and the warmth of old friends, adds a profoundly moving coda to the entire saga. The restoration, helmed by Peter Jackson’s team and Giles Martin, ensures the visuals and sound are presented with a stunning new clarity.
The Music Collection: The Ultimate Audio Companion
The heart of this release, especially for audiophiles, is the sprawling 8-CD music collection (also available on digital and vinyl sets). Originally curated by the legendary George Martin, these albums have been given a new life by his son, Giles. They serve as a fascinating “shadow history” of The Beatles, filled with alternate takes, early demos, and studio chatter that reveal the embryonic stages of songs we know as timeless classics. The remaster clearly beefs up the lower end frequencies as well, giving the bass guitar a fatter sound and making Ringo sound like he has a heavy foot, almost like he’s John Bonham. It stops just short of completely reimagining the sound of The Beatles.
The collection’s crowning jewel is the newly curated Anthology 4. Anthology 4, newly curated by Giles, includes 13 previously unreleased demos and session recordings and other rare recordings. It also includes new mixes of The Beatles’ Anthology-associated hit singles: the GRAMMY-winning “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love,” given new life by their original producer, Jeff Lynne, using de-mixed John Lennon vocals. These new mixes, which breathe fresh air into John Lennon’s original demos, are thoughtfully positioned alongside the band’s final single, 2023’s “Now And Then.” Hearing these three songs together—each born from John’s late-70s home recordings and completed decades later by his bandmates—creates a powerful and emotional trilogy that beautifully bookends the Beatles’ recorded output.
The Beatles Anthology 2025 8-CD Collection
The Beatles Anthology 2025 8-CD Collection
The Beatles Anthology 2025 8-CD Collection
The Beatles Anthology 2025 8-CD Collection
Anthology 4
This comprehensive 8-CD box set, containing 191 tracks in total, is not just a reissue; it’s a significant expansion. It packages the past with a respectful yet innovative spirit, ensuring that The Beatles Anthology continues to introduce the band to new generations while offering lifelong fans a new lens through which to experience their favorite story. The previous three anthology releases retain the same track lists. So it is Anthology 4 that I will focus on here. The first thing to mention is that the standout inclusions are the brassless version of “Got to Get You Into My Life” and finally the rooftop performance of “Don’t Let Me Down.” The other tracks seem less put together than these two and many are mostly overdub or instrumental versions. The most fun part about much of the material is th additional studio chatter we get ot eavesdrop on.
Disc: 1
1
Free As a Bird (1995 Mix)
2
John Lennon Speech 1
3
That’ll Be the Day
4
In Spite of All the Danger
5
Paul McCartney Speech 1
6
Hallelujah, I Love Her So (Home Demo)
7
You’ll Be Mine (Home Demo)
8
Cayenne (Home Demo)
9
Paul McCartney Speech 2
10
My Bonnie
11
Ain’t She Sweet
12
Cry for a Shadow
13
John Lennon Speech 2
14
Brian Epstein Speech 1
15
Searchin’ (Decca Audition)
16
Three Cool Cats (Decca Audition)
17
The Sheik of Araby (Decca Audition)
18
Like Dreamers Do (Decca Audition)
19
Hello Little Girl (Decca Audition)
20
Brian Epstein Speech 2
21
Besame Mucho (June 1962 Version)
22
Love Me Do (First Version)
23
How Do You Do It
24
Please Please Me (First Version)
25
One After 909 (Takes 3,4 and 5)
26
One After 909 (Edit of Takes 4 and 5)
27
Lend Me Your Comb (BBC Recording)
28
I’ll Get You (Sunday Night at the London Palladium)
29
John Lennon Speech 3
30
I Saw Her Standing There (Live in Stockholm)
31
From Me to You (Live in Stockholm)
32
Money (That’s What I Want) (Live in Stockholm)
33
You Really Got a Hold on Me (Live in Stockholm)
34
Roll Over Beethoven (Live in Stockholm)
Disc: 2
1
She Loves You (Royal Variety Performance)
2
Till There Was You (Royal Variety Performance)
3
Twist and Shout (Royal Variety Performance)
4
This Boy (The Morecambe and Wise Show)
5
I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Morecambe and Wise Show)
6
Speech from the Morecambe and Wise Show
7
Moonlight Bay (The Morecambe and Wise Show)
8
Can’t Buy Me Love (Take 2 with Solo from Take 1)
9
All My Loving (The Ed Sullivan Show)
10
You Can’t Do That (Take 6)
11
And I Love Her (Take 2)
12
A Hard Day’s Night (Take 1)
13
I Wanna Be Your Man (Around the Beatles)
14
Long Tall Sally (Around the Beatles)
15
Boys (Around the Beatles Session)
16
Shout (Around the Beatles)
17
I’ll Be Back (Take 2)
18
I’ll Be Back (Take 3)
19
You Know What to Do (Demo)
20
No Reply (Demo)
21
Mr Moonlight (Takes 1 and 4)
22
Leave My Kitten Alone (Take 5)
23
No Reply (Take 2)
24
Eight Days a Week (Takes 1,2 and 4)
25
Eight Days a Week (Take 5)
26
Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (Take 2)
Disc: 3
1
Strawberry Fields Forever (Home Demo Sequence)
2
Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1)
3
Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7 and Edit Piece)
4
Penny Lane (Remix)
5
A Day in the Life (Takes 1, 2, 6 and Orchestra)
6
Good Morning Good Morning (Take 8)
7
Only a Northern Song (Takes 3 and 12)
8
Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! (Takes 1 and 2)
9
Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! (Take 7)
10
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Takes 6,7 and 8)
11
Within You Without You (Instrumental)
12
SGT Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Take 5)
13
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) (Stereo Remix)
14
I Am the Walrus (Take 16)
15
The Fool on the Hill (Demo)
16
Your Mother Should Know (Take 27)
17
The Fool on the Hill (Take 4)
18
Hello, Goodbye (Take 16)
19
Lady Madonna (Takes 3 and 4)
20
Across the Universe (Take 2)
Disc: 4
1
Real Love (1996 Mix)
2
Yes It Is (Takes 2 and 14)
3
I’m Down (Take 1)
4
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Take 5)
5
If You’ve Got Trouble (Take 1)
6
That Means a Lot (Take 1)
7
Yesterday (Take 1)
8
It’s Only Love (Takes 3 and 2)
9
I Feel Fine (Blackpool Night Out)
10
Ticket to Ride (Blackpool Night Out)
11
Yesterday (Blackpool Night Out)
12
Help! (Blackpool Night Out)
13
Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby (Live at Shea Stadium, New York)
14
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Take 1)
15
I’m Looking Through You (Take 1)
16
12-Bar Original (Take 2 Edited)
17
Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1)
18
Got to Get You Into My Life (Take 5)
19
And Your Bird Can Sing (Take 2)
20
Taxman (Take 11)
21
Eleanor Rigby (Take 14 – Strings Only)
22
I’m Only Sleeping (Rehearsal)
23
I’m Only Sleeping (Take 1)
24
Rock and Roll Music (Live in Tokyo)
25
She’s a Woman (Live in Tokyo)
Disc: 5
1
A Beginning
2
Happiness Is a Warm Gun (Esher Demo with False Start)
3
Helter Skelter (Take 2 Edited)
4
Mean Mr Mustard (Esher Demo)
5
Polythene Pam (Esher Demo)
6
Glass Onion (Esher Demo)
7
Junk (Esher Demo)
8
Piggies (Esher Demo)
9
Honey Pie (Esher Demo Edited)
10
Don’t Pass Me By (Take 3 with Take 5 Vocal)
11
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (First Version – Take 5)
12
Good Night (Rehearsal and Take 34)
13
Cry Baby Cry (Take 1)
14
Blackbird (Take 4)
15
Sexy Sadie (Take 6)
16
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Acoustic Version – Take 1)
17
Hey Jude (Take 2)
18
Not Guilty (Take 102 Edited)
19
Mother Nature’s Son (Take 2)
20
Glass Onion (Original Mono Mix)
21
Rocky Raccoon (Take 8)
22
What’s the New Mary Jane (Take 4)
23
Step Inside Love / los Paranoias (Studio Jam)
24
I’m So Tired (Edit of Takes 3,6 and 9)
25
I Will (Take 1)
26
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road (Take 4)
27
Julia (Take 2)
Disc: 6
1
I’ve Got a Feeling (Apple Studio)
2
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (Apple Studio)
3
Dig a Pony (Apple Studio)
4
Two of Us (Apple Studio)
5
For You Blue (Apple Studio)
6
Teddy Boy (Apple Studio)
7
Medley: Rip It Up / Shake, Rattle and Roll / Blue Suede Shoes (Apple Studio Jam)
8
The Long and Winding Road (Apple Studio)
9
Oh! Darling (Apple Studio)
10
All Things Must Pass (Demo)
11
Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues (Apple Studio Jam)
12
Get Back (Third Rooftop Performance)
13
Old Brown Shoe (Demo)
14
Octopus’s Garden (Take 2)
15
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Take 5)
16
Something (Demo)
17
Come Together (Take 1)
18
Come and Get It (Demo – 1996 Remix)
19
Ain’t She Sweet (Studio Jam)
20
Because (Vocals Only)
21
Let It Be (Apple Studio)
22
I Me Mine (Take 16)
23
The End (Remix with the Final Chord of a Day in the Life)
Disc: 7
1
I Saw Her Standing There (Take 2)
2
Money (That’s What I Want) (RM7 Undubbed)
3
This Boy (Takes 12 and 13)
4
Tell Me Why (Takes 4 and 5)
5
If I Fell (Take 11)
6
Matchbox (Take 1)
7
Every Little Thing (Takes 6 and 7)
8
I Need You (Take 1)
9
I’ve Just Seen a Face (Take 3)
10
In My Life (Take 1)
11
Nowhere Man (First Version – Take 2)
12
Got to Get You Into My Life (Second Version – Unnumbered Mix)
13
Love You to (Take 7)
14
Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26)
15
She’s Leaving Home (Take 1 – Instrumental)
16
Baby, You’re a Rich Man (Takes 11 and 12)
17
All You Need Is Love (Rehearsal for BBC Broadcast)
18
The Fool on the Hill (Take 5 – Instrumental)
19
I Am the Walrus (Take 19 – Strings, Brass, Clarinet Overdub)
Disc: 8
1
Hey Bulldog (Take 4 – Instrumental)
2
Good Night (Take 10 with a Guitar Part from Take 5)
3
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Third Version – Take 27)
4
(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care (Studio Jam)
5
Helter Skelter (Second Version – Take 17)
6
I Will (Take 29)
7
Can You Take Me Back? (Take 1)
8
Julia (Two Rehearsals)
9
Get Back (Take 8)
10
Octopus’s Garden (Rehearsal)
11
Don’t Let Me Down (First Rooftop Performance)
12
You Never Give Me Your Money (Take 36)
13
Here Comes the Sun (Take 9)
14
Something (Take 39 – Instrumental – Strings Only)
15
Free As a Bird (2025 Mix)
16
Real Love (2025 Mix)
17
Now and Then
The Beatles Anthology 2025 is Restored & Expanded to Four Volumes: 12LP Vinyl, 8CD & Digital Collections November 21 from UMG.
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This definitive Anthology expansion enthralls with a poignant new episode and expertly remastered music, making the Beatles' legendary story feel more vital and moving than ever. Essential.The Beatles: Anthology 2025 8-CD Collection Review
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