The Beatles – Free as a Bird (2025) Review

One of the worst-kept secrets of the last week has been the impending announcement of Anthology 4. A fourth instalment to the gold mine of The Beatles’ earliest and remastered recordings. It remains a project of Herculean efforts, one which seemed to be capped off nicely two years ago with Now and Then. But there is more in the archives. More worth sharing. We hold our breath and wait for Carnival of Light to be snatched out of the vault by Paul McCartney, dressed as a cross between Indiana Jones and the man on the cover of Trout Mask Replica. While we wait for this heist to take place, presumably after the North American Got Back dates, we have a remaster of Free as a Bird. It was certainly in need of sprucing up. There was nothing wrong with the original, though the new technology Peter Jackson has used on previous Fab Four projects is notable.  

Free as a Bird is amplified with this mix. A clearer sound is presented, and that, effectively, is the major change. But what a change it is. A necessary one, too. We should not take for granted just how different a sound comes from this and the original. Free as a Bird, one of three originals worked on during the Anthology project, is given a touch-up, which brings a cleaner sound not just to John Lennon’s vocals but the acoustic guitar work, too. Those layers of instrumental brilliance are that little bit clearer. We can use this Free as a Bird remaster as an indication of how the rest of the project will sound. Granted, there will be changes here or there, not because of studio personnel but because of tape quality. Free as a Bird sounds magnificent, though. It doesn’t have that slight, uncanny valley feeling Now and Then had, nor the awful music video.  

Vocal similarities between this and the work Paul McCartney featured on Flaming Pie is clear. You can tell it’s from the period, but the cleaner production injects new life into it. George Harrison, too, sounds fantastic. The vocal quality is continued, the three Beatles harmonising over some steady, crashing drum work from Ringo Starr. Like Now and Then, it’s as close as many generations will get to a fresh-sounding Beatles track. An added tambourine is the big change here. How a little instrumental flair can make such a major change is truly inspiring, and it works well here. It gives the song a lighter flourish, a detail which feels like more than an easter egg for returning listeners. It’s a change which breathes a little bit of new life into the song but does not overwhelm it, nor turn it into a whole new project.  

Walking the line, not falling into hailing the old versions or overriding them either, is tricky. But trust in the Anthology process and hear out those changes. They are for the better, and a slightly louder, more present instrumental range, is clear. Remastering can often feel like a non-event, just take a look at the Pink Floyd discography, but it is the subtleties of these changes which can revitalise a song. Free as a Bird sounded good in ‘95, it sounds better in ‘25. Tech has come a long way in thirty years, and those touching lyrics Lennon penned on a tape still hold incredible meaning. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr all sound magnificent, be it in their vocal work or, in Ringo’s case, the instrumental steadiness. All of it sounds just right. A perfectly balanced remaster which is far stronger than the original.