{"id":3476,"date":"2025-11-23T17:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=3476"},"modified":"2025-11-23T17:05:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:05:27","slug":"beatles-anthology-best-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2025\/11\/23\/beatles-anthology-best-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Beatles Anthology Best Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]
\t
\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tFEATURE<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Beatles Anthology Best Songs<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”||0px|||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

MOJO sifts through the previously unreleased tracks unearthed in the new Anthology 4 set to select the fab-est of the fab gear within.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/The-Beatles-1967_crop.jpg” alt=”The Beatles” title_text=”The-Beatles-1967_crop” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Bringing their Anthology series up to date in what is billed as \u201cit\u2019s ultimate form\u201d, The Beatles finally release the fourth and possibly final deep dive of out-takes, curios and aborted versions of songs from throughout their career. Anthology 4\u2019s 36 tracks include new mixes of Real Love, Free As A Bird and \u201clast Beatles track\u201d Now And Then that boost John Lennon<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2019s vocals from ghostly cypher to a fuller sounding performance, but most people will concentrate on the other 33.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Running from the second take of I Saw Her Standing There on 11 February 1963 to the isolated and outrageously gorgeous strings recorded for the Abbey Road album\u2019s Something on 15 August 1969, the album follows an alternative history of the band. Not everything is previously unheard: Take 26 of Strawberry Fields Forever, for instance, was included on the \u201csuper deluxe\u201d 2017 edition of Sgt Pepper<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, while other tracks are being reclaimed from long-available bootlegs. Although some legendary recordings, however, remain unreleased – the avant garde Carnival Of Light and the 27-minute jam version of Helter Skelter in particular – Anthology 4 really does seem to be the final word in The Beatles\u2019 story without reaching the barrel bottom.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The album is released as an 8CD, 12LP boxset with Anthologies 1-3, along with an updated edition of the book and a re-release of the Anthology TV documentary, featuring a new final episode, on Disney Plus. You can read MOJO\u2019s review of the new episode\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. In the meantime, here\u2019s our pick of the best tracks unearthed from the vaults for\u00a0Anthology 4<\/em>\u2026<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

This Boy (Takes 12 And 13)<\/strong><\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Recorded: EMI Studios, London, October 17, 1963<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Originally the B-side of The Beatles\u2019 breakthrough US single I Want To Hold Your Hand, both tracks were recorded the same day using the newly installed four-track desk at EMI Studio (now Abbey Road). Neither song appeared on the band\u2019s then-nearly completed second UK album With The Beatles<\/em>, but in the US Capitol Records chose to include them on its initial LP release, Meet The Beatles!<\/em>. Written by Lennon as an attempt to emulate Smokey Robinson<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, it was mostly a vehicle for his three-part close harmonies with McCartney<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and Harrison<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. These two takes both begin with those harmonies locked in tight, but break down as they trip over switching between \u201cThis boy\u201d and \u201cThat boy\u201d, confusing themselves to the point on Take 13 of mistakenly singing \u201cThas boy\u201d before collapsing into giggles.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Tell Me Why (Takes 4 and 5)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Recorded: EMI Studios, London, February 27, 1964<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Recorded in eight quick takes just a few days before filming began for A Hard Day\u2019s Night – it appears at the end of the film, opening a medley with If I Fell and I Should Have Known Better – Tell Me Why has always been loose and spirited. As the tape starts rolling for Take 4, McCartney and Lennon are caught in prickly discussion about how to sing the harmonies. Take 4 breaks down after just a few seconds as their vocals quickly go out of tune, but they immediately crack into Take 5, a much more raw, joyous and slightly quicker tempo version than the one on the album. Lennon\u2019s crackling voice is high and bright in the mix, as is Starr\u2019s backbeat masterclass: his drumming seldom swung freer than it does here.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

I’ve Just Seen A Face (Take 3)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Recorded: EMI Studios, London, 14 June 1965<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The country influence on The Beatles is often overlooked, but nothing came as close to them emulating their beloved Everly Brothers as I\u2019ve Just Seen A Face, written about McCartney\u2019s then-girlfriend Jane Asher. Like many of the tracks on Anthology 4<\/em>, I\u2019ve Just Seen A Face is more spirited than the eventual released version, and with Starr\u2019s swishing train track shuffle, Harrison on 12-string, Lennon strumming so hard he breaks a string, this freewheeling take is almost a campfire thrash. The first song recorded on the final day of the Help!<\/em> LP sessions – I\u2019m Down (the b-side of the Help! single) and Yesterday were recorded the same day – it didn\u2019t appear in the US until it was added as the opening track of Rubber Soul<\/em>.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

In My Life (Take 1)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Recorded: EMI Studios, London, 18 October 1965<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The song Lennon considered his \u201cfirst major piece of work\u201d is remarkably fully formed on its first studio take. Stripped of the bright three-part harmonies that spark the version on Rubber Soul<\/em> (there is a McCartney harmony deep in the background), Lennon\u2019s vocal becomes even more wistful and nostalgic, sounding deeply tender despite him already chewing through the odd mid-Atlantic burr retained for the finished version. Missing, too, is the baroque, Bach-like piano bridge written and played by George Martin, recorded at half speed then sped up for the overdub to sound like a harpsichord. For once, the song is all the better for the absence of Martin\u2019s contribution.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Something (Take 39 – Instrumental – Strings Only)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Recorded: EMI Studios, London, 15 August 1969<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Classically trained musician George Martin doesn\u2019t always get the recognition he deserves for the orchestral arrangements that he could seemingly knock out at will. It began of course with his suggestion to McCartney that they use strings on Yesterday, but few of his orchestral contributions were as beautiful as for Harrison\u2019s Something, which even Lennon was once happy to acknowledge as possibly the best song on Abbey Road<\/em>. Played by a 21-piece ensemble that included 12 violins, it\u2019s so epic it required two of the eight studio tracks available at the time. McCartney called the finished track, \u201cThe best song George has ever written\u201d, a comment that could be applied to either Harrison or Martin.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Got To Get You Into My Life (second version \u2013 unnumbered mix)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EMI Studios, London 6 & 11 April 1966<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

This is complicated. The Beatles originally recorded an earlier arrangement of McCartney\u2019s love song to weed on 7 April with organ, acoustic guitar and drums. The next day they changed it completely, reimagining it as a Stax-style stomper, which this appears to be an early version of, although its lack of numbering makes it hard to be certain where this particular mix sits in the development timeline. Instead of the Memphis Horns-style stabs of the _Revolve_r version, Harrison plays rudimentary guitar riffs with a fuzz pedal as a guide for later horns, not unlike Keith Richards<\/a><\/strong><\/span> originally did on (I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction, intending to substitute horns for the guitar later. Eventually Take 8 was chosen as the bed track for overdubbing with extra guitar, another bass line and falsetto backing vocals from Harrison and Lennon. Even without the horns, this version still kicks butt.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EMI Studios, London, 8, 9, 15 and 21 December 1966<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Take 26 of Strawberry Fields Forever has appeared before, but unless you forked out \u00a3100+ for the 2017 Sgt Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band Super Deluxe Edition<\/em> you may not be familiar with its original form. Famously spliced together with Take 7 to create the landmark 1967 single (Take 7 appeared on Anthology 3<\/em>), Take 26 had to be slowed down to make it the same pitch as Take 7, only for the tempos to also, miraculously, match. The creation of Take 26 is miraculous in itself, however, bouncing multiple earlier takes down onto single tracks which were run backwards beneath other versions then bounced down again, eventually arriving at what became the second half of the single version. Before it breaks down into thudding, percussive chaos towards the end, Take 26 is startlingly uptempo, jauntily skipping through those famous fields and sounding positively childlike instead of filtering through Lennon\u2019s stoned third eye.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

All You Need Is Love (rehearsal for BBC broadcast)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EMI Studios, London, 24 June 1967<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Playing live to an audience of 350 million viewers on five continents is a hell of a way to promote your new single. Asked by the BBC to perform a new song for a worldwide, groundbreaking live satellite broadcast, little was left to chance. All You Need Is Love was meticulously rehearsed, with three desk tracks already filled for on-the-night playback. This final rehearsal includes Lennon\u2019s live lead vocal with the orchestra for the first time, which the next day would fill track four. There\u2019s nervous-sounding larks before the orchestra and backing tracks kick in, but Lennon\u2019s vocal is, as on so many Anthology versions, sweeter and warmer than the eventual release. A month earlier BBC producer Derek Burrell-Davis had confirmed The Beatles\u2019 involvement to project co-ordinator Aubrey Singer with a telegram that included the phrase, \u201cHappening hoped for\u201d. And then some.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Hey Bulldog (Take 4 Instrumental)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EMI Studios, London, 11 February 1968<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u200b\u201cVeering between yer blues and yer comedy,\u201d quips Lennon as this early take of Hey Bulldog finally breaks down after just over three minutes. Always intended for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, and included on the album but cut from the movie until its 1999 re-release, it took just 10 takes plus overdubs in 10 hours to nail Hey Bulldog while a camera crew recorded the band working as a promo film for – of course! – their next single Lady Madonna. Although Take 4 ends with Lennon\u2019s dismissive comment, it\u2019s not clear who it\u2019s directed towards, if indeed anyone in particular. Even so, this purely instrumental version, with nary a dog bark in hearing, sounds remarkably similar to the finished bed product six takes later, showing just how perfectionist The Beatles had become in the studio.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Helter Skelter (Second Version \u2013 Take 17)<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EMI Studios, London, 9 September 1968<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cKeep that one! Mark it fab!\u201d says a breathless, exhausted-sounding McCartney at the end of this take for The Beatles\u2019 most notorious track, made forever apocalyptic by its eventual association with Charles Manson. Originally arranged in E minor and played much slower (hence \u2018Second Version\u201d), Starr recalls the band recording the restyled song in \u201ctotal madness and hysterics in the studio\u201d after changing the key to E major and upping the tempo. In spite of the messages Manson claimed to hear within the song, the lyrics were largely nonsense, McCartney simply trying to out-Who The Who<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u2019s Pete Townshend<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in volume. Although more thrashing, this version is close to what eventually appeared on \u2018The White Album<\/em>\u2019: the final take, number 21, became the bed track, by which time McCartney must\u2019ve been on the verge of collapse.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Images: Apple Corps Ltd.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOJO sifts through the previously unreleased tracks unearthed in the new Anthology 4 set to select the fab-est of the fab gear within.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mojo-presents"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"akindell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3476"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3497,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3476\/revisions\/3497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}