BEATLES BEAT: Beatlemania ’95 failed to grip...

BEATLES BEAT: Beatlemania ’95 failed to grip Great Britain with the intensity it did America--at least at record stores. Despite saturation-level media coverage and the airing of “The Beatles Anthology” TV documentary, the “Anthology 1” album only managed a No. 2 showing on the British charts for its first week of release.

At No. 1 is the hugely popular debut by Robson & Jerome, two actors-turned-crooners who found fame via roles on the top-rated TV soap “Soldier, Soldier.”

Meanwhile, the British rock press has generally given the new Beatles collection a hostile reception, with the “new” song “Free as a Bird” being widely dismissed as dull and lethargic. Several commentators have noted that John Lennon himself never summoned enough enthusiasm for the track to finish it and consistently rejected the notion of a Beatles reunion right up through interviews conducted in the last week of his life.