Disco de The Beatles: “Past Masters Volume One”

This features rare Beatles classics, mostly pre 1965. I remember this was released in the UK and called Rarities, because most of the songs are not on any other Beatles albums, and were either B sides or EP tracks.

This is early Beatles at their rocking best. Almost all these songs are uptempo, with the exception of Yes It is and This Boy which are slower and feature excellent harmonies.

I can listen to this album without even thinking about pressing the skip button.

There are too many highlights on this album to number, but here goes:

1. Paul McCartney doing his Little Richard impersonation on Long Tall Sally.

2. The German versions of She Loves You and I want to hold your hand.

3. Lennon and the beautiful 12/8 rhythm on This Boy.

4. Lennon on I Call Your Name

5. McCartney singin She's A Woman.

6. The cover version of Bad Boy

7. The Little Richard style screamer I'm Down

8. Those B side rockers Thank you girl, I'll get You

9. From Me To You.

If I couldn't take the White Album to a desert island this would be a good second choice.

I hope this review was helpful.

It's taken me years to fully recognize the brilliance of Ringo Starr's drumming.

Listen to the intro and fills on "From Me To You," a tune which was lost in the mania in the US, but became a standard in the UK, where the Beatles used it as their signature tune on the BBC. More obviously, listen to the drum intro to what I consider the greatest early Beatles record, "She Loves You," and the thunder cracks Starr throws when the band returns to the intro prior to the second verse. He could swing, and when people talk about the BEAT in Beatles, they're talking about Starr.

There are 16 good reasons to grab this CD, if you don't already have theses singles in some other form. For my money, the volume pedal George uses on "Yes It Is," Paul's hair-raising Little Richard vocals on the rockers, John's over-the-top ferver on "Bad Boy," and Ringo's drumming throughout are great reasons to own this CD. "She Loves You" is easily one of the very best records ever made.

The German versions of two Beatles tunes are nothing more than a curiosity.

This album and volume 2 are just brilliant. Some people here have said it's like a duplication of the red and blue albums. But that is so not true. These are songs that were B-Sides, singles and other rarities. Even the songs that were hits that are on this album are the original single versions and not the same as the album tracks. The 12 page booklet contains interesting information on each and every track. One thing I don't understand though, is that my cd contains 18 tracks while Amazon only lists their's as 17. "Slow Down" is on my album but not on Amazon's. Is the U.S release different to the one I bought in Canada? But all the other songs are the same.

Too often, the Beatles early period is forgotton. Everyone focuses on their later albums. Sure, all of those albums are masterpieces, but what doesn't anyone ever talk about the music of 1962-1964? When people talk about this period, more often than not, they talk about Beatlemania and screaming girls. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC? Listen to this album! Look how good the music was, even back then. The Beatles didn't get famous for the studio experimentation. They got famous for making catchy rock n roll. They did it better than anyone.

Every song on this album (with the exception of the unnecessary German versions of 'She Loves You' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand') is absolutely wonderful. All of the huge hits are included here, and you'll see why they were so big. 'Love Me Do', 'From Me to You', 'She Loves You', 'I Want to Hold Your Hand', and 'I Feel Fine' all went to #1 on the charts. And rightfully so! The songs are catchy and fun and completely BEATLES.

But the crazy thing about this collection of non-album songs is that the B-sides are just as good as the singles. 'Thank You Girl', 'I'll Get You', 'This Boy', and 'She's a Woman' are all great songs! Also included on the album are songs that were recorded, but pushed aside to EPs of the time. 'Long Tall Sally', 'Slow Down', 'Matchbox', 'I Call Your Name', 'Bad Boy', 'Yes It Is' and 'I'm Down' all fall into this category and they too are fantastic. They have this indescibable energy to them.

You have to get this CD to have every song by the Beatles and it's well worth it!

Surely nowadays nobody discusses the productivity of The Beatles as creators of music. They were more prolific than any contemporary artist, and possibly than any artist *ever*. So at the time of their popularity peak they would not include singles on their albums (the UK Parlophone albums, because those are the real ones - don't listen to what Capitol says), even if they were huge hits, like other artists. That left a huge gap in their discography when it was released on CD; even releasing their 13 albums their official output was still not complete.

Fortunately someone thought about the fans at that time and gathered together a 2 CD-set collection of "the missing link" tracks, and, as the booklet sets, "if you have the 13 CDs, plus these two, you have everything that The Beatles [...] officialy released".

So this CD, spanning through 1962 to 1965 (and its sister volume, covering the later years from 1966 to 1970) isn't really a 'conceptual' album, it's really a collection of non-LP songs, both non album huge hits ("From Me To You", "She Loves You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "I Feel Fine") and the more 'obscure' tracks:

"Love Me Do", included in its single-version, with Ringo drumming (!) and no tambourine, slightly different from the Please Please Me CD version;

"Thank You Girl", the B side to "From Me To You", an innocent sweet pop song dedicated to the fans;

"I'll Get You", the fantastic B side to "She Loves You", also including a contagious refrain ("oh yeah, oh yeah"), with intriguing lyrics about a love that should come in the future, just because the singer believes in it (The Beatles were beginning to experiment with songs surpassing the 'I love you, you love me' barrier), and also containing one of the biggest double-tracking mistakes by John Lennon in the middle eight (!);

"This Boy", incredible B side to "I Want To Hold Your Hand", featuring terrific three-part harmonies, a stage favorite from those years;

The german versions of "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand", even if only worth listening because of their historic value;

"Long Tall Sally" (sung by Paul McCartney), "Slow Down" (sung by John Lennon) and "Matchbox" (sung by Ringo Starr), three rock'n'roll covers extracted from the one and only UK LP with exclusive material (Long Tall Sally), and in most cases surpassing the original version;

"I Call Your Name", one of the most underrated Lennon compositions, intriguing and with a very interesting ryhthm change in the middle-eight, unusual for those times, from the same Long Tall Sally LP;

"She's A Woman", a McCartney screamer including a piano track, B side to "I Feel Fine";

"Bad Boy", another underrated Lennon cover of Larry Williams, this time joined by terrific lead guitar 'responses' by George Harrison, and only released originally in the US;

"Yes It Is", three-part harmony B-side to "Ticket To Ride"; and

"I'm Down", possibly one of the best rocking tracks The Beatles ever made, including a compelling McCartney lead vocal, great work by Harrison on the guitar and a wacky organ solo by Lennon.

Although the songs are remastered, most of them are in mono mixes and the audio quality screams for remastering/remixing, there are no flops in this one, no bad tracks. If you're a Beatles fan you should get this, in order to complete your collection. If you're only a casual listener, you'll enjoy the hits and will also be surprised by some 'hidden gems' in here, made by what's undebatably the best band ever. So "everyone wins in the end". Get it.