However a skeleton staff remained - including the ever loyal Neil Aspinall. Neil had worked for The Beatles since 1960 when he started to drive them to gigs. Now 10 years later he found himself as managing director of The Beatles Company - despite dropping out of accountancy school to work for The Beatles.
Neil and the rest of the staff were given the task to go through The Beatles massive film archive to assemble a film of The Beatles story. The film was going to be called ÔThe Long and Winding RoadÕ and it was announced it would be in the cinemas by Christmas 1970. The archive was kept in a building owned by Apple in Boston Place, which runs by the side of Marylebone railway station - the very same road The Beatles run down in the opening scenes of A Hard DayÕs Night. It was also mentioned by Paul McCartney in Anthology 3 when he says ÔI was a robber in Boston PlaceÕ before singing Hey Jude. Apple initially bought the Boston Place building to house Apple electronics which was run by John Alexis Mardas, who was nicknamed by The Beatles ÔMagic AlexÕ. When the division closed down the building was then given over to the Apple archive.
The film, though, remained unfinished due to all the legal problems and was unseen except to The Beatles themselves and to Apple insiders. However in the mid 1970s the film did get a private screening to non insiders. Monty Python star Eric Idle had started his own comedy show called ÔRutland Weekend TelevisionÕ. On the show he featured a spoof Beatles group called ÔThe RutlesÕ which featured former Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band member Neil Innes. The Rutles sketch received such a huge reaction that Eric was commissioned to write a whole show on the Rutles story. Both Eric and Neil were great friends of George Harrison who was very enthusiastic about the project. So much in fact that he let Eric and Neil see the Long and Winding Road film as part of their research. This explains why some scenes of the Rutles seem so close to real Beatles film footage.
It seems that at some stage of the late 1970s The now ex Beatles must have had some sort of contact with each other about reviving the ÔLong and Winding RoadÕ project. Evidence of this is that on November 28th 1980 - just 10 days before his death, John Lennon signed a legal affidavit that ÒI and the other three former Beatles have plans to stage reunion concertÓ to promote the ÔLong and Winding RoadÓ film. Apple at the time was suing the producers of the show ÔBeatlemaniaÕ and wanted to prove that they still planned live performances.
Of course the death of John Lennon put the whole project on hold for several years. Not only that but even though the legal wrangles had been sorted out amongst The Beatles themselves they were now involved in a lawsuit against EMI over control and royalties paid on their recordings. This also meant it would be difficult for any Beatles songs to appear in the Beatles story - obviously a situation that couldnÕt happen.
Then in 1989 Paul McCartney started mentioning the whole ÔLong and Winding RoadÕ project again during interviews for his world tour. He even said that the three surviving Beatles could get together again to Òdo a little bit of new musicÓ for the film. He even said that maybe he and George Òcould write some stuff.Ó
This announcement by Paul was replied to by George who accused Paul of trying to promote his own tour by saying about a Beatles reunion - a charge he even repeats in the Anthology book. He also said that he and Paul had been in The Beatles for 10 years and not written together so why start now.
Finally, in the early 1990Õs, Apple and EMI solved on their legal wranglings and any legal barriers to the film being made appeared to be over. Finally work on the ÔLong and Winding RoadÕ project resumed. A new subsidiary of Apple - called ÔApple ProductionsÕ was set up to oversee the project. However the project now was extended far beyond the original idea of a cinema film. With the popularity of video boxed sets the Beatles story didnÕt have to be condensed into the length of a feature film. As Neil Apsinall put it at the time ÒIf it takes ten hours to tell the BeatlesÕ story then make it ten hours.
Most of the time each of the Beatles was interviewed separately in a process that took several years - you can tell this by looking a The Beatles ever changing hair styles during the Anthology! Bob Smeaton also had to be very flexible. As he told ÔRecord CollectorÕ, ÒWith The Beatles itÕs like George would ring up today and say ÔI can do the interview - tomorrowÕ. It was that short noticeÓ.
The interviews took place in many different locations; Paul was even interviewed on a boat on the River Thames when he was seemingly at the wheel steering it! Many of the interviews took place at the Apple Productions offices - I wonder what the neighbours thought when they saw various familiar faces coming and going!
Although many of the interviews were edited for the videos all the tapes were kept and the transcripts form the basis of the Anthology Book. As the interviews were taking place pressure grew on the three Beatles to make some music together. As stated earlier Paul has said as early as 1989 that they might make some incidental music to go with the films. However this idea grew into the idea of recording a ÔnewÕ song - and including John Lennon.
George, though, then turned this thoughts to using John demos for a Beatles reunion and approached Yoko to see if there was any suitable demos available. Yoko agreed to the project and when Paul McCartney inducted John Lennon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Yoko handed over to Paul some John demos for Paul, George and Ringo to use.
The first song attempted by ÔThe ThreetlesÕ was ÔFree as a BirdÕ and sessions began on February 11th 1994 at Paul McCartneyÕs studio ÔThe MillÕ. Producer for the new song is Jeff Lynne. Although every other Beatles song was produced by George Martin it is thought Jeff is needed for this production as much digital cleaning up is need on JohnÕs original tape. Also George MartinÕs hearing was going and although he was approached by Paul about the possibility of producing it he turned in down.
However the sessions for ÔFree As a BirdÕ did not go smoothly. John hadnÕt finished the lyrics for the song and Paul and George had to write some extra lyrics - but canÕt agree on what they should be and an argument ensues. Finally an agreement is made and the song is finished.
On Friday June 23rd 1994 Paul, George and Ringo got together again at George's FPSHOT studio at Friar Park for some more recordings. At first they planned to record a new version of Let it Be but it is decided that they couldnÕt do it without John. They therefore jammed on some rock n roll oldies including ÔLove Me DoÕ, Ô Saw Her Standing ThereÕ and the very early Lennon/McCartney song ÔThinking of LinkingÕ. None of the jam session is featured either in the Anthology videos or CDs but a very short t part of the Elvis standard ÔBlue Moon of KentuckyÕ is later featured on ABC TV in the States.
On February 6th and 7th 1995 Paul, George and Ringo reconvened at PaulÕs studio to record a second John song called ÔReal LoveÕ. This time, unlike the session for ÔFree as a BirdÕ, the Anthology TV crew were invited to film the recording session for the accompanying video.
Yet more ÔThreetlesÕ recording session take place on March 20th and 21st 1995 when another John demo called ÔNow and ThenÕ is attempted, and May 15th and 16th when a McCartney/Harrison song ÔAll For LoveÕ is started. However the sessions for the latter go badly wrong and both songs were unfinished and further recording sessions shelved.
Just a few months later it was George Martin himself that announced has was to begin work going through all the out-takes for The Beatles Anthology. In early 1995 George Martin moved into the Penthouse Studio at Abbey Road to assemble the Anthology CDs. Also on his team were: Geoff Emerick, who, of course, had worked with George on many Beatles records; Alan Rouse, the Beatles coordinator at Abbey Road; and Paul Hicks, son of Tony, a member of the Hollies.
One of the first decisions made by the team that the tracks should be assembled on equipment from the 1960Õs. One of the biggest problems was finding a mixing desk from that period. Luckily former Abbey Road engineer Jeff Jarrett had bought an old console from Abbey Road and was still using it at home. It was basically the same desk that had been used on the Abbey Road album. The old equipment was moved into the Penthouse Studio and the new state of the art equipment moved out!
Incidentally Jeff still has the old mixing desk, it is now in his computer room in his home. How do I know this? Jeff published my book ÔThe Abbey Road Cafe Guide to the Beatles LondonÕ. When worked on the book the console was in the corner of the room we were in. Having it there and knowing such great music was recorded on it was both inspiring and daunting at the same time!
As work got under way on the Anthology CDs Paul, George and Ringo came to Abbey Road whenever they could to see how the work was going. Then on March 31st 1995 Paul, George and Ringo visited Abbey Road together for the first time since January 1970. They were in the control room of Studio Two to listen to some playbacks. All three were taking photographs and videos and really enjoying themselves.
Eventually enough material was found to fill three double CDs - a bit more than the Ôone or two interesting variationsÕ that George Martin said existed. The release of the three CD sets made 1996 the best year ever for The Beatles in terms of record sales - even beating their best years in the 60s.
In the fall of 1995 I was lucky enough to visit the new Apple offices in Knightsbridge, London, along with a TV crew from US TV. I was their consultant and went with them to interview Derek Taylor about the Anthology. Derek told us he was in the process of compiling the book and his office was full of Beatles photos, concert posters documents etc that were being considered for the book.
However during the visit it became obvious that Derek was not in good health. He regularly had to halt the interview to use an inhaler to help him breathe. Unfortunately his health got progressively worse and he died of lung cancer in 1997 - before the book was completed.
Also working on the book was Genesis Publications, who specialise in producing deluxe hand-made books. it was the editorial team at Genesis, led by the owner, Brian Roylance, that compiled the book. However Brian himself became ill and the book was delayed.
Finally a draft of the book was finished but rumours began circulating in The Beatles fan world that the Paul, George and Ringo were having problems agreeing on the final text, delaying its publication even more. This was confirmed to me by Pauline Sutcliffe, StuartÕs sister.
The Beatles Anthology has been a long and winding road with many obstacles along the way. However the project is finally nearing completion. It was been worth the wait.
Richard Porter