The Beatles Anthology summary

John had started art college in 1957 – you might say he was a dreamer –  and he roped his college pal Stuart Sutcliffe into the band. Stuart wasn’t much of a musician, but he did buy a bass guitar, which was pretty much all you needed.

Oh, and they weren’t the Quarry Men anymore – John and Stuart came up with the Beatles – after Buddy Holly and the Crickets, plus a pun on “beat” music.

By 1963, the Beatles’ lives had changed, in oh, so many ways.

Stuart, for starters, had left the band. He tragically died in 1962.

Every little thing the Beatles were doing was turning to magic in the UK. But the States? That was a whole different matter – until 1964.

The Beatles were on tour in Paris when Brian Epstein got the telegram from Capitol Records, which had agreed to promote the band in the US. Brian came running into the Beatles’ room with an amazing piece of news. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” had got to number one in the US!

Movie number two was soon in the works. John wrote the title song. It sounds at first like a standard upbeat rock’n’roll number – but in fact, John later said, it really was a cry for “Help!”

This was what John would call his “fat Elvis period.” All this success was fabulous, but hard to manage: they were constantly touring or recording, and he was depressed.

Having been here, there and everywhere for years now, 1966 began with some much-needed downtime. They’d just done what turned out to be their last ever UK tour, so took a few months off to regroup and soak in some of the amazing cultural changes that were happening all around them.

But they were, you might say, only sleeping. In April they were back in the studio – with big ideas.

Until 1967, the Beatles’ albums had been quickfire affairs, tucked into a busy schedule of touring. But they’d been getting increasingly interested in the possibilities of the studio. Their ambitious first release of the year came out quickly – the double A-side “Strawberry Fields Forever”/“Penny Lane” – but their next full album ended up taking nine months. It was worth it.

The legendary concept behind Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was mainly Paul’s idea. Because they were trying to escape from themselves and the pressures they faced, Paul hit upon the idea of framing the whole album with an alter ego, Sgt. Pepper, as master of ceremonies.

Somehow, the band managed to get a whole second album out at the end of 1967 – Magical Mystery Tour, accompanying the original but amateurish film of the same name.

Their own magical mystery tour was flying to India to further their interest in meditation with Maharishi. Even though they did get some songs written, it wasn’t quite the experience they’d been searching for. Maharishi’s behavior didn’t live up to the group’s expectations – “Maharishi, what have you done?” wrote John, later changing the name to “Sexy Sadie.” Slightly disenchanted, the group said hello, goodbye separately, leaving at different times.

In later years, John would say that Yoko herself didn’t break the Beatles up. It was more that meeting her changed his own attitude: suddenly, nothing else mattered. Their coupling was so intense that she was even in the studio during the White Album recording sessions.

It was the same in January 1969, when sessions began for the album provisionally titled Get Back. A film crew was documenting the recording progress, which – along with Yoko’s presence – made for a weird, uncomfortable atmosphere. Paul was winding the others up too, by being overly proactive. Things were so bad, that George even left at one point.

The band, including George Martin, looked back on Abbey Road as a happy album – probably because it felt clear it would be the last album they recorded (although Let It Be would be the last they released).

John and Paul had so many bits and pieces of songs that they sewed them all together into a continuous medley – which became the second side of the album. Ringo penned a lighthearted original number, “Octopus’s Garden.” And George finally blossomed in full as a songwriter, with two of the very best: “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something.”

Bound up with the radical cultural changes of the 1960s, the Beatles’ decade-long career saw them skyrocket from a humble rock’n’roll outfit from northern England to the biggest act in the world. Their groundbreaking music and ever-evolving public image ensured that John, Paul, George, and Ringo left us with a wonderful legacy.