McCartney Times

From the start, the Beatles‘ Anthology series was going to be a three-part deal. The first volume arrived in November 1995. Less than four months later, on March 18, 1996, Anthology 2 was released. And that’s when things got interesting.Because the series — which was the group and record company’s official way of fighting bootleggers who were putting out studio leftovers and concert appearances — was arranged chronologically, the first volume chronicled the Beatles’ early years with low-quality live performances, sketchy demo recordings and alternate takes of songs that were performed several times to get something worth issuing.It’s an intriguing part of the band’s history, but there’s not much on Anthology 1 (besides maybe the outtake “Leave My Kitten Alone”) that could be considered an essential missing part of the catalog. And while Anthology 2 includes only three songs that were previously unreleased in any form — Ringo Starr‘s Help! leftover “If You’ve Got Trouble,” Paul McCartney‘s “That Means a Lot” from the same sessions and the instrumental “12-Bar Original,” left off of Rubber Soul at the last minute — the Beatles’ new focus in the studio reveals some significant turning points in the group’s aesthetic during this fertile period.

Source: 20 Years Ago: The Beatles Head Back Into the Vault for ‘Anthology 2’