Don't let these great songs pass you by

In the U.S. there was a "Hey Jude" album, but when the Beatles catalogue was reissued, EMI chose to use the U.K. versions of the CDs as the Beatles picked the lineups on those. They then created the "Past Masters" CDs to collect together singles, B sides, and other material that never appeared on the original British versions of the Beatles albums.



Highlights here are numerous: "Day Tripper" has probably the most recognized guitar riff in rock, "We Can Work it Out" is probably the only time (outside of prankster 'Weird Al' Yankovic) that an accordion appeared in a rock and roll hit, "Paperback Writer" is one of Paul's better rock numbers as is "Lady Madonna" (and makes ingenious use of the Beatles themselves as almost kazoo like 'instruments'). The version of "Revolution" found here has a very distorted guitar and is far superior to "Revolution 1" on the "White Album". "Don't Let Me Down" is one of the best Beatles tunes to get relegated to a B side and "Get Back" is improved with Billy Preston's organ contribution (though I miss John's spoken "hope we passed the audition" from the "Let it Be" version). "Across the Universe" is better here. The version, taken from a charity disc for the World Wildlife Fund, adds animal sound fx, a sitar is louder in the mix, the tempo is a bit faster, and the strings from the Spector-ized "Let it Be" version are absent. "Let it Be" is another highlight as is "Hey Jude" (although overlong..there never was a need for a 2 minute fade and it's an example of the Fabs being indulgent).



Low points here come with "The Inner Light" and "Old Brown Shoe", two lesser numbers from George, "Rain" may have been great in terms of experimentation (it uses the first backwards tape ever used when this was the B side to "Paperback Writer") but it's really only a middling lyric, and "You Know my Name (Look Up the Number)" is utter garbage..the type of studio goofing off that Martin would've cut immediately (and correctly) from an album as filler.



BOTTOM LINE:

Some of their best material from 1965 on appeared only on singles or EPs so this is an absolute must have for any Beatles fan.



4 1/2 stars

The Second Half of a Career for the Ages ****1/2

Rolling Stone magazine said of REM, "Split their career down the middle and you get a musical Roger Clemens. Two hall of famers." That being true (and it is), if you split the Beatle's career down the middle you get the most influential pop band of all time (up to 1964) and the most influential rock band of all-time (1965 - 1970). This focuses on their more superior, mature, album-oriented material from the second half of their career. It does a great job summing some of the greatest singles ever and their excellent b-sides.



Most of the A-Sides "We Can Work It Out," "Hey Jude," "Day Tripper," etc. were never released on albums. And the only reason the last part of the album has songs featured on "Let it Be" is because the Beatles nor their management thought the songs would ever be released in album format. That is until (of course) "Let It Be" was issued after the band broke up. But nothing seems out of place, including the great B-Sides. What kind of a career do you have to have in order to have "Rain" not issued on an album, not issued as a single, but issued as a B-SIDE?! Listen to the song and tell me it doesn't that sums up the greatest band's legacy. And they close the album (and their career) in an unpredictable way; with humor. "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" is perhaps the funniest song in rock history. It's nice to hear that though the Beatles could no longer work together, they could still have a sense of humor about their work. Astounding...



Overall: 9 out of 10.

To Complete The Beatles Catalog

In order to complete the Beatles' song catalog, you need to have this album. "Past Masters Vol. 2" was released in conjunction with "Past Masters Vol. 1" to provide Beatles fans with songs not available on the Beatles 13 albums. Mostly singles, some terrific songs are on it such as "Revolution" (the single and more common version, not the slower one on the "White Album") and "Hey Jude" (though most people will probably already have "Hey Jude" on "1"). Worth the buy to complete a Beatles Collection. The Beatles 13 albums + Past Master Vols. 1 & 2= Beatles' entire song catalog, not including "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love", the two "reunion" songs made in the '90s for "Anthology". They are available on "Anthology 1" and "Anthology 2", respectively.