Record producer Giles Martin has spoken about giving new life to the Beatles' 'Anthology' ahead of the new episode of the TV series, which features an extra disc of music on the compilation.
Anthology 1, the original series which aired in November 1995, arrived around the same time as an eight part documentary and some of the first new music from the Fab Four since the tragic death of John Lennon. This music shows Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison working with Jeff Lynne on 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love'.
In 1996, two more albums followed, appropriately names Anthology 2 and Anthology 3.
Now, a new instalment, The Anthology Music Collection, will arrive, which sees the documentary series restored, remastered and is to include a new Episode Nine. It has been remastered and restored by technicians at Peter Jackson's Park Road Post in Wellington, New Zealand, as well as Apple Corps production team.
Originally released by George Martin, this collection has been remastered by his son Giles, who is also a longtime Beatles collaborator. This release will include a new 'Anthology 4, with 13 previously unseen demos and recording sessions, along with new mixes of 'Real Love', and 'Free As A Bird'.
Speaking to NME, Giles Martin said that the audio-visual quality has improved greatly, with this collection providing viewers with that real sense of togetherness from The Beatles.
“The episodes first came out in the ‘90s in the days of things being shot on video,” explained. “Peter Jackson’s team can restore everything. It’s amazing with the benefit of hindsight. In the years before ‘Anthology’ first came out, no one was talking about The Beatles in that whole chasm of time. Since then, that triggered a plethora of stuff".
“My dad brought me in on it, but even he was telling me back then that he hadn’t worked on anything to do with The Beatles since 1970".
Elsewhere, Martin added that using this new technology used from the epic 2021 docu-series, Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson, enabled him to restore and remix a lot of Beatles live material.
“It sounds great,” he said. “The difference with Shea Stadium and the Washington concert is incredible. People heard a bit of that in The Beatles ‘64, that Scorsese film I did. I was doing mixes, but I wasn’t sure what they were for. Now it’s certainly listenable. It’s funny how if you listen to Shea Stadium, what was released was really rough. There were no drums, and now we can restore that".
“I always believe that you can bring people back to the place they were, or the place they never were. You can get people close to the action using technology, and that’s the whole point. All of what we do is about revealing the humanity".
This collection arrived today (November 21).
