Long ago, The Beatles ceased to be just a band: they have now passed into the realms of legend. And like most legends, a lot of the original reality has been distorted and turned into mythology. Even the music, once the cornerstone of the Beatles’ existence, has started to change. Once upon a time, there was an official canon of Beatle music: it started with Love Me Do and ended with Let It Be, and that – a few oddities apart – was it. But in the nineties, reality began to warp.
The three remaining Beatles got back together to rework some old John Lennon demos, including Free As A Bird and Real Love, released them as Beatles singles, and put them on three new compilations. The Anthology CDs weren’t pure archive either: they featured remixed songs, backing tracks, and Frankenstein assemblies of different takes.
