Anthology 1 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in November 1995. It was released as the first part of the Anthology trilogy of albums with Anthology 2 and Anthology 3, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. It contains "Free as a Bird", billed as the first new Beatles song in 25 years. The album topped the Billboard 200 album chart and was certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA. The Anthology albums were made available on the iTunes Store on 14 June 2011.
From rare recordings with Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best in their short time with The Beatles to the band fine-tuning their live skills from Hamburg to Sweden, the first in the Anthology series is filled with historic milestones and incredible music. <i>Anthology 1</i> leads off with “Free As a Bird”, originally a demo recorded by John Lennon in 1977 and reworked by George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney in 1994. From there, this collection chronicles the band’s fiery, R&B-fueled years from 1958 through 1964 and features previously unreleased recordings, live versions, alternate takes and interview snippets of the band as they began to set the world aflame.