But The Beatles Anthology was not finished yet. Four years later, Chronicle Books published a massive Beatles Anthology book, structured much like the TV series. Although there were supplementary contributions from inner-circle members such as producer George Martin, Apple Corps exec Neil Aspinall, and publicist Derek Taylor, most of the storytelling came from the four Beatles, themselves: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr via new interviews conducted specifically for the Anthology project and the late-John Lennon via archival interviews, mostly extensive ones conducted in 1967, 1970, and 1980. In keeping with the project's focus on rarity value, the storytelling was also supplemented with a wealth of quotes not featured in the TV series, including a few precious ones from very-early Beatle Stu Sutcliffe, and largely unfamiliar photos. Not all that was discussed in the series was discussed in the book, though: oddly, the book leaped over the whole "bigger than Jesus" kerfuffle for some reason. Nevertheless, The Beatles Anthology book greatly expanded on the TV series with deeper discussions of the boys' childhoods, the songs they wrote and recorded, and their often-fraught, decidedly brotherly relationships with each other.
The Beatles, themselves, didn't always have the best memories (in his ironically titled 1970 "Lennon Remembers" interview with Rolling Stone, John couldn't even remember the title of Revolver!). They also tended to view their own history through a very personal, often distorted lens, often contradicting each other. So The Beatles actually aren't the ideal tellers of their own tale and The Beatles Anthology is not the ultimate Beatles biography. But it still may be the ultimate Beatles book because it gives us the greatest access to The Beatles' personalities and thoughts, as well as glimpses into their personal lives that could not be known by any third-party biographer.
Of course, most Beatles fans now know that the 2000 publication of The Beatles Anthology still wasn't the end of the Beatles Anthology project, because 25 years after that book, and 30 after the TV series and first CD set, the Anthology is now back with the series ready to stream for the first time on Disney+, the original music series returning with a new fourth volume (hopefully I'll have more on that here on Psychobabble soon), and the republication of the book.
While both the TV series and the music set are being expanded for the project's thirtieth anniversary, the book is a straight republication of the 2000 volume, the only new addition being a belly-band featuring the same image as the one on the new music boxset's slipcase. That also means that the guys' candor about their own less savory aspects—their sexism, occasional use of terms that would not be deemed acceptable today, and Lennon's violence—remain uncensored in this edition, so it retains the warts-and-all integrity that too often gets white-washed away these days.
