''Anthology 1'' is a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

of music by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, released on 20 November 1995 by

Apple Records Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists inclu ...

as part of ''

The Beatles Anthology ''The Beatles Anthology'' is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and R ...

'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, including songs with original bass player

Stuart Sutcliffe Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a British painter and musician from Edinburgh, Scotland, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a pa ...

and drummer

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (; born 24 November 1941) is an English retired musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed shortly before the band achieved worldwide fame and is one of several people referred to as a ...

. It is the first in a trilogy of albums with ''

Anthology 2 ''Anthology 2'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 18 March 1996 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the 1965 sessions for ''Help!'' until the se ...

'' and '' Anthology 3'', all of which tie in with the televised special ''

''. It contains " Free as a Bird", the first new Beatles song in 25 years, which was released as a single two weeks after ''Anthology 1''. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart and was certified 8× Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. It reached number 2 on the UK albums chart. The ''Anthology'' albums were remastered and made available digitally on the iTunes Store on 14 June 2011, individually and as part of the ''Anthology Box Set''.

Content

The album includes material from the Beatles' days as

the Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several school friends, the ...

, through

the Decca audition The English rock band The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, north London, on 1 January 1962. They were rejected by the label, who instead signed a contract with Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. The audition ...

to sessions for the album ''

Beatles for Sale ''Beatles for Sale'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised ...

''. It is of historical interest as the only official release of performances with Best and Sutcliffe in the band – Sutcliffe, the band's original bass player during 1960, and sporadically during the group's second Hamburg season, appears on the disc-one tracks " Hallelujah, I Love Her So", " You'll Be Mine" and "

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

"; while Best, who was the official drummer from just prior to the group's first departure for

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

in August 1960 until 15 August 1962 when he was replaced by

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

, is on Disc One, tracks 10–12, 15–19 and 21–22. Disc One, tracks 10–12, were recorded at a session in Hamburg where the Beatles served as the back-up band to the English

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

musician

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

. Some songs from this session were released on the 1962 album ''

My Bonnie ''My Bonnie'' is a 1962 album by English rock and roll singer-songwriter and musician Tony Sheridan. Sheridan, then playing in clubs in Hamburg with the Beatles, was discovered by producer Bert Kaempfert and subsequently signed with him to reco ...

'', credited to Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers. The song "

" would be their introductory single in England, featuring Sheridan on lead vocal and guitar. Tracks 21–22 are the only surviving recordings of the Beatles' first EMI session. Track 22 is the original recording of " Love Me Do", which would be re-recorded by the group four months later for their first single. Track 24 features EMI session drummer Andy White in place of Starr. Disc Two contains performances from comedy duo Morecambe and Wise's popular television programme, '' Two of a Kind'', as well as the opening song from their famed performance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', which introduced the band to most of the US in 1964. The flash-point for the album came with the song "Free as a Bird" – the three remaining Beatles

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

and Ringo Starr re-working a

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

demo recording given to McCartney by Lennon's widow,

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

. Produced by Harrison's

Traveling Wilburys The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 1988, consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. They were a roots rock band and described as "perhaps the biggest sup ...

bandmate

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

, the three added additional music and lyrics, instrumentation and backing vocals, with McCartney and Harrison both taking a turn at a lead vocal. Released a week after the compilation, the CD single featured three exclusive B-sides. The live

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

recording of " Lend Me Your Comb" was held back from '' Live at the BBC'' for inclusion on this album, but it was later also included on '' On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2''.

Album cover

The cover of ''Anthology 1'' is the first third of the ''Anthology'' collage made by

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German graphic artist, artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, includ ...

and Alfons Kiefer. Various photographs and album covers are torn and collected together. Pete Best's face was torn away from the ''Savage Young Beatles'' record jacket in the centre of the album cover, revealing the face of his successor, Ringo Starr, below. The bottom leftmost photograph on the ''Anthology 1'' cover does feature an unobscured Best. The missing portion of the photo was subsequently used on the cover of Best's 2008 album '' Haymans Green,'' an act described by one fan as "Pete Best's revenge".

Reception

The album was a large success throughout the world. It was the first Beatles album to enter the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart at number one. It sold 855,473 copies in its first week, the 27th largest one-week sales in the Soundscan history, succeeding '' Fresh Horses'' by

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

. In its second week, ''Anthology 1'' sold 453,000 copies and maintained the top spot. This was repeated the following week, with 435,000 copies sold. In its fourth week, the same quantity was sold, but the album fell to number two, behind

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

's ''

Daydream Daydreaming is a stream of consciousness that detaches from current external tasks when one's attention becomes focused on a more personal and internal direction. Various names of this phenomenon exist, including mind-wandering, fantasies, a ...

''. In the following week, the album fell to number three but with 601,000 sales. ''Anthology 1'' was certified 3× Platinum by the

after six weeks in the US market. In all, the album spent 29 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200, reaching cumulative sales of 3,639,000 sales as of April 2001. In the UK, reaction was similar, but the album peaked at number two, behind Robson & Jerome's eponymous album. In Australia, the album spent two weeks at number one in December 1995.

Track listing

Spoken word tracks in ''italic''. All tracks in

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

, except spoken word tracks and where noted.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Personnel

;The Beatles *

– vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica, piano on "Free as a Bird" *

– vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar; synthesizer and piano on "Free as a Bird" *

– harmony and backing vocals, lead guitar; ukulele and slide guitar on "Free as a Bird", lead vocals on "Roll Over Beethoven", "Three Cool Cats", "The Sheik of Araby" and "You Know What to Do" *

– drums, percussion, lead vocals on "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Boys" *

– drums on "My Bonnie", "Ain't She Sweet", "Cry for a Shadow", "Searchin'", "Three Cool Cats", "The Sheik of Araby", "Like Dreamers Do", "Hello Little Girl", "Bésame Mucho", and "Love Me Do" *

– bass guitar on "Hallelujah, I Love Her So", "You'll Be Mine", and "Cayenne" ;Additional musicians * Colin Hanton – drums on "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger" * John Lowe – piano on "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger" *

– lead vocal and lead guitar (guitar solo) on "My Bonnie" * Andy White – drums on "Please Please Me" *

– backing vocals and electric guitar on "Free as a Bird"

References

{{Authority control 1995 compilation albums Albums produced by George Martin Albums produced by Jeff Lynne Albums recorded at IBC Studios Albums with cover art by Klaus Voormann Apple Records compilation albums Compilation albums published posthumously The Beatles Anthology The Beatles compilation albums Albums recorded in a home studio Albums produced by John Lennon Albums produced by Paul McCartney Albums produced by George Harrison Albums produced by Ringo Starr