This project brought together a much awaited reunion from the Beatles. Accompanying the 8 set, 10 hour movie are 6 cds of unheard material. Two songs off of those are particularly important: "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love". Each of these is an unreleased Lennon song that all of the Beatles contributed to. Each of them are beautiful, and show that the Beatles haven't lost their touch for great music.
The project began in the early 90s without John, of course, and it was intended to be the most cummulative Beatles video ever. This is true as it is also the longest that I know of. What makes this different is that the Beatles tell their story on it. They tell of things that weren't mentioned before,as well as inspiration for songs, their reaction to certain events as well as shows some very interesting clips. Of course some having them tell the story would not be objective and their is some bias, and also John is not their to present his thoughts, so it is lacking but these things cannot be overcome.
The movies are very in depth and begin with each Beatles childhood and the formation of the Beatles to what happened in the end and the video to "Free As A Bird". Each album is explained, as is each movie and many songs are explained as well. Their side of events like how it felt to be touring, the reaction from John's "Christ Statement and the Philipinnes disaster, their quitting touring, making Sgt. Pepper, the visit to India, and the breakup make this movie a key to have for all Beatles fans. Despite that their are also numerous video clips of songs performed live that cannot be compiled anywhere else as well as videos that have been produced but all of them are collected into this massive project.
John is not neglected as his comments from interviews are frequently shown to point out his view. That is hard to get correct as John changed his opinoin about the Beatles and their work often. George Martin, Neil Aspinall and Derek Taylor, 3 very important people that worked with the Beatles are also interviewed and their details are also essential. Derek Taylor wrote the synopsis of each video, as well as the introductions to each cd. Sadly, he died very soon after the completion of this video of cancer. Mark Lewisohn provides details from each song in the album booklets. This man is the recognized Beatles genius as he knows nearly everything about them and his books are considered the best source for information. Klau Voorman, the Beatles friend from the days in Hamburg and the designer of "Revolver" designed the album covers of the movie and cd. When placed in order, the make a picture of scaps that show the Beatles at all different stages. Also a puzzle is the "Free as a Bird" video at the end. The symbols for their songs are endless and it takes numerous viewing to see them all. The video is very grainy and it shows the Beatles walking around to places of importance as well as interweaving clues to songs on the way. You must watch this video very carefully to catch each one. I have provided a link that tells some of the symbols in the video, and it is very interesting to see. It is: FAAB Video References.
This set of movies is a must for all Beatles fans. If you should get any movie of the Beatles, this one is it, although it is the most expensive. But it is very complete and contains pieces of other videos. |
