The Beatles – Anthology Highlights Review

Sitting rigidly on the fence as the run-up to Anthology 4 is the safest place to be. Excitement is not exactly brimming for The Beatles’ fourth instalment on the Anthology project, but neither is resentment. Anthology Highlights is a peculiar release, compiling the best of the four packages before the fourth has even been released. Anything to peddle a strong, new mix of Free as a Bird. Anthology Highlights cropped up on Spotify all the same and offers an hour-and-a-half taster session. Pointless, really. Those interested in the Anthology project will likely already have the time to spare on a full listen. Like any compilation, the trouble is in adapting to modern times. Nearly every artist has their whole discography available on one platform or another. A listener can make their own compilation. Playlists replaced the need for compilations, and yet they persist.  

A limited, but slightly useful experience is what Anthology Highlights offers. Listeners can pick out the moments of interest and follow that song to other recordings from the same session. It seems like a slight extension of the previous Anthology Highlights release, a forgotten entry into The Beatles’ compilations from 2011. A stripped-back version of One After 909 brings out the old school beat which had influenced the band in their early years, a song John Lennon had written just before The Beatles had been established. You can hear those splashes of influence for the period on this version, a nice, sparse alternative to the version featured on Let It Be. That older, rocking way can be heard on a live version of Roll Over Beethoven too, a George Harrison-led rendition which fits in nicely on this compilation. A stretch of live versions and the infamous Ed Sullivan Show are featured here. These are quality remasters of legendary performances. 

Anthology Highlights gets that balance right. It’s a fine line to walk between shedding some light on The Beatles’ work as a live unit and the alternative versions of songs from the studio. Hearing how a song like Yesterday and Tomorrow Never Knows can develop after a few takes is a magnificent walk through history for those interested in hearing it. You should be. This is history in motion. It’s easy to take that for granted. Contrast these versions of Strawberry Fields Forever, the first take and the twenty-sixth take are still a way off the final version. But the latter take has the instrumental flourishes and genre-pushing fundamentals in place. Hearing that is quite the experience, especially for dedicated fans of Magical Mystery Tour. Even those who are not as interested in this period of The Beatles, the chronology of the set means you can dive into whichever session you like.  

But why settle for that when Anthology offers much the same, and more variety? There is the case of cutting it down to the essentials, the great moments of interest, to make it easier for a listener to understand what they have on their hands, or where to start, but there are few who will want a measured, slower approach to such riches. Dive into the deep end of Anthology and swim against the tide of valuable material. That’s the only way to experience the mega package of The Beatles’ work. Anthology Highlights is there more to be used as an example, a sampler session for those without the time to dedicate to Anthology. But those who do make time for that, no matter how long it takes, will inevitably be better off than those who listen to this strange but solid compilation.