The Beatles Anthology

"The Beatles Anthology" surely isn`t the last word on the most popular and influential band in rock `n` roll history. But at a staggering 340,000 words, interspersed with 1,300 color and black-and-white photos and other images, it is the most comprehensive and lavish.

And at $60 and a weight of just more than 6 1/2 pounds, it is probably the largest and most expensive of the 400-plus books about the perpetually Fab Four as well. It is also the most ambitious, even if it is maddeningly sketchy about some major and minor issues alike.

The biggest selling point, however, is that this simultaneously fascinating and flawed book is being promoted as the first time the four Beatles have told their own stories in their own words, all in first-person narratives.

This claim conveniently overlooks the fact that George Harrison published his limited-edition autobiography, "I, Me, Mine," in 1980, and that "Lennon Remembers," taken from John Lennon`s in-depth (but heavily edited) interviews with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, appeared not long after The Beatles disbanded under intensely acrimonious circumstances in 1970. Lennon`s unexpurgated Rolling Stone interviews are scheduled to be published later this month.

Not coincidentally, some of his quotes in "The Beatles Anthology" are credited to "Lennon Remembers," while the book version of his late-1980 interview with Playboy accounts for numerous other quotes. And that is this anthology`s greatest, if most predictable, flaw.

Since the most outspoken Beatle was shot to death 20 years ago this December, all of his quotes are taken from interviews - the majority previously published - that have been collecting dust for between two and four decades. They were spliced together for this chronologically sequenced book.

For example, the 17 paragraphs of Lennon`s quotes about his childhood on page 7 alone come from interviews conducted with him in, respectively, 1964, `67, `71, `74, `78, `79 and `80. None of them were done specifically for this book, of course, but all of them had to be approved for publication now by his widow, Yoko Ono, along with every other Lennon quote that appears here.

Sadly, his reflections do not have the benefit of the added hindsight and rebuttals afforded his former band mates, who were interviewed at length for this book as recently as 1995.

But that`s just one of the problems with this exhaustive and exhausting anthology, which was reportedly scheduled for publication each year between 1994 and 1997.

According to a San Francisco spokeswoman for its U.S. publisher, the latest round of delays was caused by gaining permission to use the 1,300 photos and images, nearly half of which are published for the first time. It also took far more time than expected for Ono and the three surviving Beatles to sign off on all of the quotes, while the 1997 death of the book`s editor, longtime Beatles` publicist Derek Taylor, further complicated matters.

What results is a voluminous offering about the biggest, most influential band in pop-music history - the group that single-handedly invented stadium rock and music videos, while helping to transform rock from a medium ruled by fluffy singles to one dominated by increasingly sophisticated and challenging albums with self-generated songs that inspired millions.

Nostalgia alone does not explain The Beatles` enduring, multigenerational appeal. But the frequently candid insights provided here should hold the interest of rabid devotees and casual fans, just as this book`s glaring omissions are sure to cause annoyance and disappointment.

While the roles of Ono, Linda McCartney, Patti Harrison, Cynthia Lennon and Ringo Starr`s now-deceased first wife, Maureen Starkey, are acknowledged and discussed (at great length in the case of Ono), none of them are quoted. In fact, while various women are referred to throughout, not one is directly quoted anywhere.

Unintentional or not, such inexcusable sexism robs the book of invaluable insights. If former Beatles` employees - specifically Taylor, road manager Neil Aspinall and assistant Mal Evans - are worthy of being quoted, along with India`s meditation-championing Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, then there was no reason to exclude Ono and the other women whose interactions with the Beatles were frequent and significant.

Equally egregious is the absence of any quotes from original Beatles` drummer Pete Best, whose 1962 sacking from the band in favor of Starr is still a source of unresolved controversy.

Lennon suggests that Best wasn`t very bright, while Harrison takes him to task for not hanging out much with the other Beatles during the group`s early days of almost nonstop sex, drugs and rock `n` roll in Hamburg, Germany. Paul McCartney speculates that the rift began when Best began spending nights with a Hamburg stripper, then blames Best`s inferior musicianship, before concluding: "It was a personality thing. ... Pete was a straight-up kind of guy and so the girls liked him a bit. He was mean, moody and magnificent."

Come again?

Starr was the better drummer, as recordings attest, and his warm, self-deprecating personality was the missing link that made The Beatles click. But Best`s instrumental deficiencies weren`t nearly as pronounced as those of erstwhile Beatles bassist (and former Lennon art-college roommate) Stu Sutcliffe, who died in 1962 and was highly regarded by the other Beatles even as they disparaged his subremedial bass playing. Unlike Best, however, Sutcliffe, is quoted.

Later on, Eric Clapton and Billy Preston are credited for their contributions to the late-1960s recordings of, respectively, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Get Back," and for buoying the spirits of the then intensely feuding Moptops.

But neither musician is quoted. Nor is any mention made that Preston played with The Beatles throughout their final performance on the rooftop of the band`s Apple Records` building in London or that he soon made a solo album for the label. And while much space is allotted to the battle between McCartney and the other three Beatles over his opposition to having Allen Klein manage the band, virtually nothing appears about the massive litigation that ensued.

A brief chapter is devoted to The Beatles` instruments and their playing styles. But no mention is made here or anywhere in the book about Starr being a left-handed drummer playing a right-handed drum set, the most important reason for his highly distinctive style.

Other gaffes range from the absence of a table of contents to the questionable decision to include selected captions at the rear of the book. This move means that many readers will turn back and forth, only to discover too often that the caption information they are seeking isn`t included.

But what "The Beatles Anthology" does well, it does very well, indeed. And the opportunity to compare and contrast the recollections of each Beatle in copious detail is a treat.

New light is often shed, even when they discuss topics or incidents familiar to many fans. In marked contrast with the unsatisfying 11 1/2-hour "Beatles Anthology" home video, which was released in late 1995, all four Beatles speak candidly about most of their experiences with marijuana, LSD and other drugs. (A notable exception is Lennon`s heroin use, which he mentions twice in passing but never explains.)

The joys and frustrations each Beatle experienced in the band`s early days are as palpable as the group`s heady rise to superstardom and prolonged - and often contentious - dissolution. To their credit, none of them mince words about their many differences, and they often contradict each other.

McCartney still bristles about being regarded as the lightweight musical yin to Lennon`s edgy yang, while Harrison is still irked that Lennon and McCartney stifled him creatively. Lennon takes potshots at everyone, except Ono and Starr, the salt-of-the-earth drummer who provided the band`s rock-steady foundation, musically and personally.

That the remaining Beatles continue to quibble in print may seem petty. But it`s also endearing, if only because they still care enough to worry about a legacy that will easily outlive them all.EXCERPTS from "THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY"

George Harrison: "I don`t remember about John saying he wanted to break up The Beatles. I don`t remember where I heard it. Everybody had tried to leave, so it was nothing new. Everybody was leaving for years."

Paul McCartney: "John needed to give space to his and Yoko`s thing. Someone like John would want to end The Beatles period and start the Yoko period; and he wouldn`t like either to interfere with the other."

John Lennon: "I was married from before The Beatles left Liverpool; that never made any difference. ... The Beatles were disintegrating slowly after (band manager) Brian Epstein died, it was slow death and it was happening."

Ringo Starr: "Yoko`s taken a lot of (crap), her and Linda; but The Beatles` breakup wasn`t their fault. It was just that suddenly we were all 30 and married and changed. We couldn`t carry on that life any more."

George Harrison: "I had a couple of Ferraris and later John suddenly decided that he wanted a Ferrari, too. We used to race together but I always regarded myself as slightly better because, first of all, John was blind as a bat and, secondly, he was never really very good at driving."

Paul McCartney: "It could have gone another way. I say to people, `Hey, if The Beatles were really bad, we could have played Hitler`s game. We could have got kids to do anything, such was our power.`"

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Author: George Varga