Re: A review of the "Anthology" DVD

Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 02:37:02 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles.moderated,rec.music.beatles
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In article <Mcnva.801685$3D1.448090@sccrnsc01>, dlarsson
<email-address-deleted> wrote:
> That's not what I said.
> It just means that no legitimate "reunion" was ever possible
> and if they wanted to tell their stories .. it would be
> their own accounts ... not "the whole Beatles" story in it's entirety.
Here's a news flash: if all four Beatles were still around, it would
still be just four guys' stories, not the "whole Beatles" story. As it
stands, we've got the perspective of GH, PMcC, & RS in 93-95, and
we've got John Lennon on the record throughout his adult life.
Granted, Lennon changed his mind on some things, and may have
remembered things differently at different points, but he was always
"up front" about showing the world the band "with it's trousers off" in
his memorable turn of phrase.
We will never get his comments from the nineties. 7/8s of a loaf is
enough for most of us;-)
>
>
> > McCartney, Harrison, Starr, Martin, Aspinall, Taylor. Even Yoko Ono
> > contributed by giving them John's demos and her blessings to do with
> > them what they saw fit. I contend that that group of players is the
> > MOST legitimate group that could possibly be assembled to tell the
> > real story.
>
> The Beatles without Lennon ... is like
> a sandwich with no meat in the middle.
>
> You do not have the whole story or proper emphasis
> with his mind and personality not actively involved.
But there's plenty of Lennon in the Anthology DVDs; some might argue
he's over represented, not under.
>
>
> > "Real Love" was a fully written song by Lennon and the Threatles
> > credited it as such. "Free As A Bird" was incomplete and finished by
> > McCartney, Harrison and Starr and is cerdited as such.
>
> "Free As A Bird" was played on the "Lost Lennon Tapes"
> radio program back in the late 1980s. The demo was a
> complete song .. in rough form. What the three-tles did was
> essentially no different - except for arrangement additions
> and the lengthening the song. An extra lyric phrase was
> added. It is still, by any fair measure, Lennon's composition
> with the three-tles simply .. "working up" the tune as any
> cover artist would "interpret" an existing song..
I had known FAAB from the Lost Lennon tapes for years. The difference
between the demo version played on LLT & the worked up version done by
the Threetles is like the difference between any Beatle era Lennon demo
& the final version, albeit with no Lennon input in this case.
But the distinctive wailing George guitar, the Ringo fills & rolls and
Paul's vocals make this one sound like a Beatle song to me.
You can make a case that Paul's new lyric actually changes Lennon's
intent. I have heard he wrote FAAB after getting his green card. Having
his immigration struggle over, he was able to relax and felt "free as
a bird".
We all know whatever else the Beatlemania experience made them feel,
"free as a bird" wasn't it.
Paul asks in the new lyric: "Can we really live without each other?"
To which John had cheekily responded many times, (paraphrase) "Of
course we can, yer silly git!" ;-)
>
> 1) There was no "new" Beatles music.
> John's FAAB aired on the LLT radio program
> and John's RL included on the "Imagine" film soundtrack.
>
some of us feel there was a virtual Beatles song there.
> 2) There was no "Beatles Reunion"
> The leader, key songwriter, and cultural lightning rod
> was absent from start to finish.
He wasn't absent at the start!;-)
JD
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