Get Back: The Magical History Tour
By Peter Grant
Liverpool Echo
November 18. 1995
Ladies and gentlemen, will you welcome four lads from Liverpool, a quartet of Scousers who continue to shake, rattle and rule the world. The Anthology is their story.
"We thought it might be good from the inside out rather than the outside in", said Paul McCartney.
Ringo Starr says, "I enjoyed telling the story. It brought back a lot of good memories and gave me the chance to hang out with Paul and George again."
And as for George Harrison, "It was fun. It was good because enough time has gone between 1969 and now."
More than 25 years ago, John Lennon said "the dream is over", but on the television screens, the nasal sounds and sharp humor of the mop tops is very much alive. The dream goes on. The biggest band the world has ever known and will ever know are back in a six part documentary. It is the television event of the decade, a lovingly created account by The Beatles, BY the Beatles.
Series director Geoff Wonfor told the Echoes Get Back Special: "Questions put to John in the past are on archive footage. So what we did was put them to the three other Beatles.
"It starts with their Liverpool childhood and into when the Beatles split. Their home movies have never been seen before and are just fantastic. Everyone will have the chance to rediscover the band. They were so tight, and some of the harmonies were breathtaking."
The driving force of the Anthology is one dedicated man, who Beatles producer George Martin says deserves the title of "fifth Beatle", Neil Aspinall. Neil personifies loyalty, a keyword in the Beatles bibliography from Brian Epstein onward.
Neil, their former road manager, became head of Apple in 1968. His original documentary concept, The Long and Winding Road, was shelved. Now Neil is executive producer of The Beatles Anthology, which is broadcast on Sunday, November 26, on the ITV network.
Says Neil, "I said to Paul, George, Ringo, and Yoko, 'Let's do it'.
"I realized that the one thing we had that no one else had was access to interviews with the three surviving Beatles and all John's interviews with Yoko's consent."
Even with a production team of 10, the mammoth task of researching nearly 10,000 pieces of footage and music was no mean feat. "The project contains new songs featuring all four Beatles", says Neil. "It was always one of Paul's things, that if they were going to do it, it would be nice if they could somehow do some new music, even if it was only incidental music, to go behind a piece of footage."
And that developed into "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", which is a real bonus for everybody.
So, ladies and gentlemen, will you climb the helter skelter for a magical history tour? Beatlemania is back.
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