Paul McCartney Admitted He Had No Interest in The Beatles’ Anthology Records
After The Beatles broke up, Paul McCartney said he had little interest in returning to the band. He had a new group, Wings, and didn’t want to continually look to the past. He said he wouldn’t even listen to their anthology record. McCartney admitted he had very little interest in listening to the compilation album.
Paul McCartney said he didn’t have much interest in The Beatles’ anthology record
In 1973, Apple Records put out 1967–1970, a compilation album featuring Beatles songs from that time period. McCartney admitted that anthology records like this one did little to grab his attention.
“I didn’t take an awful lot of interest in them, actually,” he told Rolling Stone, adding, “I still haven’t heard them. I know what’s on them because I’ve heard it all before, you know.”
He said that his contentious dealings with his former bandmates and their manager, Allen Klein, sapped him of any interest in revisiting the Beatles’ music. After the band broke up, McCartney sued them in order to wrest control over their catalog from Klein. The matter dragged on and soured the relationship between the former band members.
“I haven’t really taken much interest in Beatles stuff of late just because there has been this hangover of Apple and Klein,” he said. “The whole scene has gone so bloody sick. The four ex-Beatles are totally up to here with it. Everyone wants it solved so everyone can get on with being a bit peaceful with each other.”
Paul McCartney was involved in The Beatles Anthology in the 1990s
Two decades after this, the dynamic between the three remaining members of The Beatles was nowhere near as combative. McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr collaborated to complete some of John Lennon’s unfinished recordings. They eventually released the song “Free as a Bird” as a single.
“I did not break up The Beatles, but I was there at the time, you know? Now I’m in a position where I could bring them back together and I would not want to hinder that,” Yoko Ono said, per The Beatles Bible. “It was kind of a situation given to me by fate.”
In 1995, The Beatles Anthology documentary series aired. They followed this up with three anthology albums and a book.
He said he didn’t want to go back to the band after their split
While McCartney said he was too exhausted with band dealings to listen to their anthology record, he hoped to work with his former bandmates again. He didn’t want the band to reunite, but he wanted to collaborate.
“So I’d like to see that cooled out and restored to its kind of former greatness, agree that it was a good thing and continue in some kind of way,” he said. “I don’t see gettin’ the Beatles back together – there’s certain things we could do quite quietly and still produce some kind of ongoing thing. I don’t think you’ll ever get anyone to give up all their individual stuff now; everyone’s got it going too well now.”
