Beatles

When the Beatles' much-hyped "Anthology 1" was released last fall, it was fully expected not only to blow right onto the pop albums chart with a No. 1 debut, but also to break a flurry of sales records. It easily met all expectations. The recent release of the second installment in the Beatles' trilogy - the much-less-hyped "Anthology 2" - sparked just one question: How could it possibly compete with the phenomenal numbers racked up by "Anthology 1"? The answer: It couldn't - but its performance was still impressive.

Wonder upon wonders, "new" material from the Beatles is still springing forth — on Apple apps, videodiscs, CD, and soon at a movie theater near you. Material evidence George Harrison was the gearhead of the group — quite a good photographer and gadget lover — and also a media hoarder. Evidence comes to the fore Tuesday with the home-video release of Martin Scorsese's documentary film "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" and the simultaneous release of the Abrams Books multitouch iPad/iPhone/iPod e-book of the same name.

Yellow Submarine, an inspired piece of animation in more than one way, was the Beatles' last major collaboration for the screen before the band broke up in 1970. Because of the genre and its associations, the third Beatles feature doesn't command quite the popularity of those two exuberant and quintessentially '60s movies Help! and A Hard Day's Night. In many ways that hardly seems fair. And not just because the score for Yellow Submarine is mostly from the group's landmark album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

THE BEATLES 1962-1966 The Beatles (Apple) THE BEATLES 1967-1970 Re-released today - exactly 20 years after their debut on vinyl - these two double-CD greatest-hits collections go a long way toward encapsulating the power that was The Beatles - the most creatively inspired, revolutionary and enduring pop/rock band in history. Even the Fab Four couldn't explain their chemistry - though high-toned musicologists such as conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein were quick to define their music as mathematically perfect constructs wedded to universal, utopian lyric themes - from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "All You Need Is Love.

With only three of the Fab Four left, there is no chance of a true Beatles reunion and about the same probability that Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison will ever make another movie. But if you can't have a new movie starring the Beatles, will you at least settle for one starring a Beatle? You certainly will when you find out who's going to direct it. Philadelphia's Richard Lester, who made A Hard Day's Night and Help! with the Beatles in the '60s, is planning a reunion of his own with McCartney.

WRTI (90.1/FM), Temple University's mostly jazz station, is kicking off its spring fundraiser today and is asking listeners to groove with it by sending some serious scratch to the station. The fundraiser runs through April 12 and the station has set a goal of $87,000. There will be the usual gifts of coffee mugs, T-shirts, picnic blankets and other items for those pledging $30 or more. To make a pledge call 787-8900. THE ONE AND ONLY Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby.

"I'm an acquired taste - I'm anchovies. And not everybody wants those hairy little things. If I was potato chips, I could go a lot more places, but I'm not. " - Singer Tori Amos, in Rolling Stone magazine Yeah, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were all there in the same room. And they did sing. From their respective pews. Accompanied by 700 other people. So you could say the hyped/hoped-for "Beatles reunion" occurred in one sense yesterday, but of course the Fab Three had gathered together for something much more serious: to pay respects to McCartney's late wife Linda, who died April 17. Her memorial service, held at London's landmark church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, brought out the usual celebrity mourners, like Sir Elton John and Sting.

David Mason, 85, a classical musician best known for his distinctive piccolo trumpet solo on the Beatles' recording of "Penny Lane," died April 29 after a brief battle with leukemia, according to the All Music online database. The Beatles' Paul McCartney was looking to embellish "Penny Lane" when he saw Mr. Mason on television playing the trumpet on Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major. The next morning, producer George Martin recruited Mr. Mason to record with the Fab Four.

The best examples of the Beatles' ability to reflect the doubts and aspirations of the 1960s can be seen in the dozen or so videotapes starring the Fab Four. Watching the tapes reminds us just how neat John and Paul and George and Ringo were yesterday, and what life was like as we waited for their moment to arrive. "THE COMPLEAT BEATLES" (MGM/UA Home Video, $19.95) is a 6-year-old, two- hour compilation documentary. Unfortunately, there are no Ed Sullivan clips (just Ed's introduction)

What promises to be the most detailed radio documentary on the Beatles ever made, featuring rarely heard music by the fabled group, will debut later this month. Westwood One Radio Networks' The Beatle Years debuts nationally the week of March 29. It'll be carried here by WYSP-FM (94.1), which has not set an air date. Years is hosted by Elliot Mintz, who did Westwood One's highly successful Lost Lennon Tapes series. It will be a weekly examination of the career of the most influential group in pop-music history, and will include performances broadcast on BBC radio as long as 30 years ago but seldom or never aired in the United States.

Ah, look at all the happy people. Where do they all come from? If the Philly Pops is smart, it got their e-mail addresses, those young(ish) fans who came to hear what conductor Michael Krajewski called "authentic recreations" of an English band that broke up 43 years ago. Members of the Classical Mystery Tour, arrayed in hippie garb, sang and played Lennon and McCartney favorites in Verizon Hall Friday while Krajewski and his band played backup....

Ravi Shankar, 92, the sitar player and composer described as the "godfather of world music" by Beatles guitarist George Harrison, has died. Mr. Shankar, who first performed internationally as a child, devoted his adult life to Indian classical music. His audience widened after Harrison, who introduced the sitar into rock music by playing the instrument on the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," sought out Mr. Shankar's tutelage. "It's with a very heavy heart that I confirm this sad news," his manager, Earl Blackburn, said in an e-mail Wednesday.

Staring old age in the eyes and laughing, the Rolling Stones rocked a London crowd of 20,000 Sunday, reminding anyone who has even just tolerated their blues-influenced pop and shamelessly commercial music of the raw power of rock-and-roll. And this on their 50th anniversary tour. The theatrical Mick Jagger swiveled his hips a little less quickly and wasn't quite as acrobatic as when he satisfied crowds in Philadelphia's old JFK Stadium 31 years ago, or at the equally vintage Live Aid concert, when he danced with the formidable Tina Turner.

During gift-giving season in the digital age, boxed sets are absurdly anachronistic - and more essential than ever. Sure, it's ridiculous to lust after doorstop-sized consumer goods when the sounds therein could easily fit on a flash drive the size of your fingernail. But then what are you going to give the music lovers in your life who need to hold a tangible treasure come the holidays? Boxes cater to obsessives, and there's always more in the vaults. This year, there are a number of sets in which a single classic album has been padded with extras to fill a box, including the Michael Jackson Bad set reviewed here, as well as sets dedicated to The Velvet Underground & Nico and The Beach Boys' Smile . The concomitant trend is to compile absolutely everything an artist recorded for a label in one foreboding package.

EVEN 50 YEARS ON, Ken Scott can't really deal with the notion that the music he helped to create has affected millions of lives, has truly changed the world. Nor can he fathom that many of those life-altered listeners would be curious enough to come hear the legendary record producer/engineer lecture (as Scott's doing Tuesday evening at Drexel University) or read his newly published memoir, Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust (Alfred Music Publishing, $24.99), written with a little help from Bobby Owsinski.

WONDER WHERE the old-fashioned heart and humor at the core of Paul McCartney's music came from? Answers can clearly be found in his recent foray album into jazz-tinged American pop standards, "Kisses on the Bottom," featuring ditties like "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive. " This is music McCartney was spoon-fed as a Liverpool lad, "especially at New Year's Eve parties at Uncle Joe or Aunt Jan's where they'd roll the carpet back, get the piano out and sing all these songs," he recalled.

HAMBURG, Germany - They're just steel silhouettes, but instantly recognizable, an iconic lineup of four figures striking familiar poses with their instruments. Revelers passing through this busy intersection on Hamburg's so-called Sinful Mile gravitate toward them, posing for photographs alongside the Fab Four: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and a drummer who represents both Ringo Starr and original percussionist Pete Best. "I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg," Lennon once said, referring to the more than 300 nights the Beatles spent playing in clubs along the notorious Reeperbahn red-light district of this north German port city in the early 1960s.

LONDON — With his carefully tended hair, tight trousers, and perfect harmonies, Robin Gibb, along with his brothers Maurice and Barry, defined the disco era. As part of the Bee Gees — short for the Brothers Gibb — they created dance-floor classics like "Stayin Alive," "Jive Talkin'," and "Night Fever" that can still get crowds onto a dance floor. The catchy songs, with their falsetto vocals and relentless beat, are familiar pop-culture mainstays. There are more than 6,000 cover versions of the Bee Gees' hits, and they are still heard on dance floors and at wedding receptions, birthday parties, and other festive occasions.

Wonder upon wonders, "new" material from the Beatles is still springing forth — on Apple apps, videodiscs, CD, and soon at a movie theater near you. Material evidence George Harrison was the gearhead of the group — quite a good photographer and gadget lover — and also a media hoarder. Evidence comes to the fore Tuesday with the home-video release of Martin Scorsese's documentary film "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" and the simultaneous release of the Abrams Books multitouch iPad/iPhone/iPod e-book of the same name.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Davy Jones, 66, the leading heartthrob of the much-loved pre-fab 1960s rock band the Monkees, who sang many of the made-for-TV act's biggest hits, including "Daydream Believer," died Wednesday in Florida. Mr. Jones died of a massive heart attack in Indiantown, Fla., where he lived, his publicist Helen Kensick said. Detectives with the Martin County Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division were conducting a death investigation, but said foul play was not suspected.