Anthology 2
Compilation album by The Beatles
Released	18 March 1996
Recorded	16 February 1965 – 6 February 1968; c. 1979 and February 1995
Genre	Pop, rock
Length	127:54
Label	Apple CDP 7243 8 34448 2
Producer	George Martin, Jeff Lynne, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr ("Real Love")
The Beatles chronology
Anthology 1 (1995) Anthology 2 (1996) Anthology 3 (1996)
Singles from Anthology 2
"Real Love" Released: 4 March 1996

Anthology 2 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in March 1996. It is the second of the three-volume Anthology collection, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. The opening track is "Real Love", the second of the two recordings that reunited the Beatles by means of magnetic tape. Like its predecessor, it topped the Billboard 200 album chart, and has been certified 4× Platinum by the RIAA. The Anthology albums were made available on the iTunes Store on 14 June 2011.

  Content

Anthology 2 features outtakes, rarities, and alternative performances from the 1965 sessions for Help! to sessions just prior to their trip to India in February 1968. It starts off with the second new Beatles track, "Real Love", as with "Free as a Bird" again based on a demo made by John Lennon and given to Paul McCartney by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono. The three surviving Beatles added guitars, bass, drums, percussion, and backing vocals, but unlike with the previous song, did not re-work either lyric or music. "Real Love" remained solely credited to Lennon, becoming the only Beatle song to have Lennon by himself in the writing credit.

Disc one contains three unreleased compositions, one being an instrumental entitled "12-Bar Original" recorded for Rubber Soul but subsequently unused. Two other songs recorded for Help!, "If You've Got Trouble" and "That Means a Lot", were abandoned and never returned to again by the band. The former was originally slated to be the usual vocal spot for Ringo Starr on Help!, and the latter was eventually given to singer P.J. Proby. The version of "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" from the group's famed August 1965 show at Shea Stadium but left off the documentary appears here for the first time. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "I'm Looking Through You" appear in early versions before they were remade in the forms known from their release on Rubber Soul.

Disc two contains work-in-progress versions of tracks from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour. "Your Mother Should Know" also appears in an early version different from the known release, and tracks one and 15 are demo recordings respectively by Lennon and McCartney. The take of "Strawberry Fields Forever" that made up the first minute of the released record appears in its entirety on track three. Although recorded or started during this period, "Only a Northern Song", "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" and "Across the Universe" would not see release until years later, in 1969 and 1970.

One track that remains officially unreleased from this time, "Carnival of Light", was vetoed off this set by George Harrison.^[1]

  Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B[3]
Guitarist	[4]
Robert Christgau	[5]
The Independent	Mixed[6]

Like its predecessor, Anthology 1, Anthology 2 sold well. In the United States, it debuted at #1, selling 442,000 copies the first week. The next week, it fell to #2, selling 201,000 copies, being replaced by Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. The album spent two more weeks on the Top 10, at #4 and then #8, remaining for 22 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 and then re-entering the charts twice, marking a #96 reach during the Christmas season of 1996. In all, the album spent 37 weeks on the charts (eight more than Anthology 1) and sold 1,707,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, the success was similar. Anthology 1 debuted at #2 album when released in 1995; but its successor reached #1, where it remained for one week. The album spent a total of 13 weeks on the UK Album Chart.

  Track listing

All songs written by Lennon–McCartney and in stereo except where noted.

Disc one

1. "Real Love" (Lennon) – 3:54
   • Lennon demo recorded at The Dakota, 1979; Beatles version recorded February 1995
2. "Yes It Is" (Takes 2 & 14) – 1:50
   • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 16 February 1965
3. "I'm Down" (Take 1) – 2:53
   • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 14 June 1965
4. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (Takes 1, 2 & 5) [mono] – 2:45
5. "If You've Got Trouble" (Take 1) – 2:48
   • Tracks 4-5 recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 18 February 1965
6. "That Means a Lot" (Take 1) – 2:27
   • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 20 February 1965
7. "Yesterday" (Take 1) – 2:34
   • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 14 June 1965
8. "It's Only Love" (Takes 2 & 3) [mono] – 1:59
   • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 15 June 1965
9. "I Feel Fine" [mono] – 2:16
10. "Ticket to Ride" [mono] – 2:45
11. "Yesterday" [mono] – 2:43
12. "Help!" [mono] – 2:55
    • Tracks 9-12 recorded live at ABC Theatre, Blackpool, on 1 August 1965 for the Blackpool Night Out television broadcast
13. "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" (Carl Perkins) [mono] – 2:45
    • Recorded live at Shea Stadium, New York City, 15 August 1965
14. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" (Take 1) – 1:59
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 12 October 1965
15. "I'm Looking Through You" (Take 1) – 2:54
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 24 October 1965
16. "12-Bar Original" (Edited Take 2) (Lennon–McCartney–Harrison–Starkey) – 2:55
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 4 November 1965
17. "Tomorrow Never Knows" (Take 1) – 3:14
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 6 April 1966
18. "Got to Get You into My Life" (Take 5) [mono] – 2:54
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 7 April 1966
19. "And Your Bird Can Sing" (Take 2) – 2:13
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 20 April 1966
20. "Taxman" (Take 11) (Harrison) – 2:32
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 21 April 1966
21. "Eleanor Rigby" (Take 14) – 2:06
    • Backing string section without vocals; recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 28 April 1966
22. "I'm Only Sleeping" (Rehearsal) [mono] – 0:41
23. "I'm Only Sleeping" (Take 1) [mono] – 2:59
    • Tracks 22-23 recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 29 April 1966
24. "Rock and Roll Music" (Chuck Berry) [mono] – 1:39
25. "She's a Woman" [mono] – 2:55
    • Tracks 24-25 recorded live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, 30 June 1966

Disc two

1. "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Demo sequence) [mono] – 1:42
   • Lennon demo recorded at Kenwood, Weybridge, November 1966
2. "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Take 1) – 2:35
   • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 24 November 1966
3. "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Take 7 & Edit piece) [mono] – 4:14
   • Full song of take used for intro and first verse - recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 24 November and 9 December 1966
4. "Penny Lane" (Take 9 horn overdub) – 3:13
   • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 29 December 1966–17 January 1967
5. "A Day in the Life" (Takes 1, 2, 6 & orchestra) – 5:05
   • Basic track of master version without "psychedelic" overdubs - composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 19–20 January and 10 February 1967
6. "Good Morning Good Morning" (Take 8) – 2:40
   • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 8 & 16 February 1967
7. "Only a Northern Song" (Takes 3 & 12) (Harrison) – 2:44
   • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 13–14 February and 20 April 1967
8. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (Takes 1 & 2) – 1:05
9. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (Take 7 & effects tape) – 2:34
   • Tracks 8-9 composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 17 & 20 February 1967
10. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Takes 6, 7 & 8) – 3:06
    • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 1–2 March 1967
11. "Within You Without You" (Harrison) – 5:27
    • Instrumental backing track; composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 15 March–3 April 1967
12. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" (Take 5) [mono] – 1:27
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 1 April 1967
13. "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" – 5:43
    • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 17 May 1967 – 30 April 1969
14. "I Am the Walrus" (Take 16) – 4:02
    • Basic track of master version without "psychedelic" overdubs - recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 5 September 1967
15. "The Fool on the Hill" [mono] – 2:48
    • McCartney demo recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 6 September 1967
16. "Your Mother Should Know" (Take 27) – 3:02
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 16 September 1967
17. "The Fool on the Hill" (Take 4) – 3:45
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 25 September 1967
18. "Hello, Goodbye" (Take 16 and overdubs) – 3:18
    • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 2 & 19 October 1967
19. "Lady Madonna" (Takes 3 & 4) – 2:22
    • Composite of takes recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 3 & 6 February 1968
20. "Across the Universe" (Take 2) – 3:29
    • Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, 4 February 1968

  Chart positions

  Release history

  Notes

  External links

• Anthology 2 at Graham Calkin's Beatles Pages