Past Masters - Vol.1 & 2 [VINYL]

*** PAST MASTERS 09/09/09 - STEREO and MONO Comparisons ***

After the 13 official British albums by The Beatles were first reissued on CD (February to October of 1987), all the non-album tracks on UK 7" singles, the exclusive 4-songs on the "Long Tall Sally" EP and any other stragglers were then gathered up onto two separate CD compilations called "Past Masters" (Vol. 1 & 2) and issued globally on 8 March 1988 to compliment the main catalogue.

This 9 September 2009 reissue of "Past Masters" combines both of those Volumes into one 2CD set. They've been taken out of their clunky jewel cases and given a tri-gatefold card sleeve (black in colour), new 2009 remastering (mostly Stereo) and a vastly upgraded booklet. Of the 33 tracks, 29 are in STEREO with 4 being in MONO - "Love Me Do", "She Loves You", "I'll Get You" on DISC 1 and "You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)" on DISC 2.

However, there are differences between the old and new issues... The 1988 version of Disc 1 had 7 MONO tracks and not 3 (Disc 2 has remained the same) - the 4 now replaced with STEREO versions are "From Me To You", "Thank You Girl", and the two singles sung in German. But therein lies a further anomaly...

Beatles chroniclers will know that prior to the issue of "The Ballad Of John & Yoko" in May 1969 - ALL of their UK 7" singles were issued in MONO-ONLY ("The Ballad Of John & Yoko" was their first STEREO single in the UK, while their first STEREO 7" in the US was as late as "Get Back"). So while the vastly improved liner notes talk knowledgably about each British single - this set is in STEREO when they were only ever issued in MONO! Some would therefore say that this whole compilation only compounds the mistake of the 1988 issues and is a further historical travesty. But I'd argue that accuracy's loss is the listener's gain - because these NEW STEREO REMASTERS are simply astonishing soundwise - they really are.

The original masters tapes have been remastered by GUY MASSEY, STEVE ROOKE, PAUL HICKS and SEAN MAGEE with the whole project overseen by ALLAN ROUSE and they've all done a stunning job. "The Inner Light" by GEORGE HARRISON (the B-side to "Lady Madonna") is a good example of the sound improvement - it's just BEAUTIFULLY CLEAR - it's loud yes, but not amplified to a point where hiss drowns out the song (there's none). And listening now to Disc 2 especially, you're struck with awe at how good they were - these were only SINGLES for God's sake! Most bands would kill for a double whammy like "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" or "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down". Soundwise - literally everything seems up for grabs - and in a thrilling way...

The 2nd variant of "Past Masters" is ONLY available in the expensive "The Beatles In Mono" Box Set (not surprisingly it's been renamed "Mono Masters" - its white in colour). I mention this because if you actually want to accurately line up the British singles as released, then this is the place to start. In fact, it's probably already occurred to most dedicated fans by now that if you want the FULL UK 7" SINGLES PICTURE (1 to 19 in MONO, 20 to 22 in STEREO), you'll need BOTH variants, even if it costs...

Here's a breakdown of their differences...

Past Masters - STEREO - Disc 1 - 18 Tracks (42:31 minutes)
Mono Masters - MONO - Disc 1- 18 Tracks (35:56 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 18 are the same names on both discs

Past Masters - STEREO - Disc 2 - 15 Tracks (51:00 minutes)
Mono Masters - MONO - Disc 2 - 16 Tracks (48:35 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 8 are the same names on both discs
Tracks 9, 10, 11 and 12 on the MONO set are - "Only A Northern Song", "All Together Now", "Hey Bulldog" and "It's All Too Much" (they're 4 songs from Side 1 of the British "Yellow Submarine" album)
Tracks 13, 14, 15 and 16 on the MONO set are "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down", "Across The Universe" and "You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)"

Given the absence of the Red & Blue 2CD sets in this reissue series, for me this rather dull looking double is the best of all the 09/09/09 releases - the song quality is incredible from start to finish and it also rather eloquently shows The Beatles extraordinary development from pop ditty songsters in 1963 to pure rock genius by 1969.

OK, so "Past Masters" is not historically accurate, but I suspect for the average listener this will not matter - they'll be too busy enjoying the brilliance coming out of their speakers to care about chronology.

To sum up (and despite niggles), for me the new STEREO "Past Masters" 2CD set is a winner - fab indeed - and thoroughly recommended.

PS: For fans I've typed a detailed track-by-track breakdown in the 'comment' section attached to this review

'The Beatles: Past Masters' collects both volumes of the previously issued 'Past Masters' CDs, in remastered form and an attractive gatefold sleeve. For the uninitiated, these discs collect the commercially released Beatles tracks not featured on any of their albums - mostly singles and B-sides, including such legendary tracks as 'From Me To You', 'She Loves You', 'Paperback Writer', 'Hey Jude' and many more besides, as well as the German re-recordings 'Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand' and 'Sie Liebt Dich'.

The main benefit with this reissue - besides both discs being available together for the first time - is that the tracks, like the rest of the Beatles catalogue, have been extensively remastered. In some cases, the differences aren't obvious, and it's occasionally hard to tell the difference between the original CD versions and the new ones - mainly on the earlier material. But in some cases, the difference the remastering makes is astonishing - 'She's A Woman' being the most obvious example, which is now so much clearer that I was able to detect a whole piano part I hadn't previously been aware of. As with all the other remastered releases, there's a glossy booklet filled with background information, though unlike the albums, there's no additional video content, presumably due to the wide ranging nature of the material, which it would be difficult to do justice in a 4 or 5 minute featurette.

If you own the earlier 'Past Masters' CDs, I'd say there was certainly a benefit in upgrading to the remastered edition - and it's certainly better value than before. If you don't, then there's no better time to explore this fantastic collection of popular classics and a few hidden gems.

This CD contains all the officially released tracks (in the pre- Anthology age) from 62 to 65, which were not featured on the original albums and thus provided a way for the cd collector to own all the official recordings. The result inevitably is somewhat mixed - 'Love Me Do' (the original single version with Ringo on drums) is still, however catchy the harmonica, a rather inane song, and the two songs in German ( versions of 'She Loves You' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' respectively) have little more than novelty to recommend them. Having said all that the balance of the album shows why the Beatles are still held in such awe. A great deal of attention has been paid to the Beatles later work but just listen to the energy they can summon on 'She Loves You' - not an wasted moment from that first drum break. It is amazing today that they could afford to leave such great singles as this ,'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and 'I Feel Fine' off their albums. What is even more astonishing is that a track as brilliant as 'She's A Woman' - a track ANY other band would have died for - could be relegated to a b-side, or that Paul's blistering version of 'Long Tall Sally' should be allowed to slip into semi-obscurity as an ep track. And to round off the CD 'I'm Down' - surely no-one could have had more evident fun recording a track.
Rather than buy '1', buy this and it's companion CD. So much more enjoyable.