Anthology 3 [Original recording remastered]

PROS:
-This compilation features a number of tracks that never saw the light of day until the release of this compilation (except on bootlegs.) Among these are Beginning and Not Guilty.
-You get early demo versions of songs from the band's latter years, including acoustic demos of George Harrison's classics While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Something.
-The compilation features two discs of nothing but rare material, making it ideal to any big time Beatles fan.
-There are even early rare demos of songs the band members would perform in their solo careers, such as Paul McCartney's Junk and Teddy Boy, and George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.
-The original Beatles demo of Come and Get It, the song that Paul McCartney wrote for classic rockers Badfinger, can be found in this set.

CONS:
-Stores tend to jack up the prices of Beatles recordings, as well as the prices of two-disc recordings, and since this is both of those things, expect to pay quite a bit for it.
-Because of the price, I can only recommend this set to big fans of the band - this is NOT a good starting place if you're new to the band.

OVERALL:
Overall this is another good Anthology set, but as I previously stated, if you're new to the band, start elsewhere (Please Please Me or Past Masters Volume One are the ideal starting points for new fans (don't bother with hits compilations - The Beatles are NOT a greatest hits band!)) To put it simply - recommended to big fans, but not casual fans.

Some of the album's tracks taken from the band's impromptu (and final) show at the Apple HQ's rooftop, meanwhile, are quite a treat, with the band members (plus Billy Preston) seemed to enjoy performing.

All in all, the album presents a lot of different sounds and different styles, you want to imagine they're playing in another band. Which was one of the reasons why the Beatles quite unamicably broke up (musical differences, in other words). But even when they were in bitter professional and personal clashes with each other, still they managed to make really brilliant music that would make an indelible, lasting impression on and continue to inspire many music fans for generations after them and many more generations to come. It was a sad affair, but it was all for the best, and I sometimes think it is a good thing that they split while they were still very much at the peak of their artistic greatness. Anthology 3 is a gorgeous album that touches me profoundly, probably my most favorite among the three "Anthologies".

I don't know what the first track's all about, John's acoustic "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," that one's great, but it only has two of the three main parts. He also drops the s-bomb when he screws up at the beginning.

"Helter Skelter" is a take-2. It's practically an underproduced version of the album version, with worse vocals.

The first "Glass Onion" take is acoustic; its ok, though he keeps screwing up on vocals and talking gibberish. The second "Glass Onion" on this compilation is, in my opinion, better than the White album version, yet it lacks the weird string arrangement at the end though! I love that song; it ties a lot of the famous Beatles songs.

The version of "Ob-La-Di" is just horrible compared to the White album.

"Good Night"'s demo was interesting though, great piano, yet terrible vocals.

"Blackbird"'s demo was very similar to the White album's version though it lacked the (annoying) bird samples. Vocals weren't as good as the White album's though.

"Sexy Sadie" was great, better than the album version, in my opinion.

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" take is acoustic, vocals are as always an issue with these demos.

Forget about "Hey Jude"'s version, they practically ruined one of their best songs, no offense to them.

"What's the New Mary Jane" is Avant-Garde, with weird samples. It reminded me like an upbeat "Revolution #9" actually. Definatly weed influenced.

"The Long and Winding Road" take on disc 2 was great, I prefer it over the album version.

"Get Back"'s demo was horrid, and I've always hated the song.

I liked "Old Brown Shoe"'s take, while the take of "Octopus's Garden" was stupid and elementary. Literally.

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a kid's song and a horrible one too. Then there's that annoying voice where they pull a Korn and come up with gibberish words.

"Something"'s take was exceptional; excellent.

"Come Together" sounded similar to the Abby version, yet with less-perfect lyrics, and the "shoots" were unreverbed.

"Because" is skip-able; just vocals. It's a good song though, worth a listen.

"Let It Be"'s take was stupid unlike the released version (and im not talking about that horrible Let It Be Naked). However, I can't help but think of Sesame Street everytime I hear it.

"I Me Mine"'s take was ok.

and the compilation concluded with "The End"; really heavy and a great closure.

3 and a half stars.