Past Masters Volume Two - Beatles (The) (CD 1988)

Aside for being arguably (well not by me mind you) the greatest band the world has ever known, The Beatles were also a band very much of the nineteen-sixties. Now, I realize that to anyone not living under the proverbial rock for the last forty years, this is hardly a revelation but I do in fact have a purpose in stating such a blatantly obvious and well-known fact. The thing to remember is that much like most sixties bands, The Beatles had a nasty habit of releasing singles that are in no way connected to the albums that followed them. This is of course in stark contrast to bands of today who tend to release a single that does extremely well and then taking that very song, repackaging it, throwing a bunch of second rate filler together with it and calling it an album . In the sixties it seemed that record companies (or at least the English ones) trusted the bands of the day enough to use a single as a way of giving the public a taste of what was to come, while allowing the albums to actually speak for themselves. Great as this may be, there was an inevitable and rather problematic side effect to this: in order to hear some of the greatest music to come out of the period, one has to hunt down dozens of separate singles, a hunt that could become quite tedious, time-consuming and - as time continues to march on - expensive. The Beatles did release several compilations to try and fix this problem but even then, there was never a single compilation that housed all of the band s non-LP material. At least there wasn t until the glorious year of 1988, just a few years after the advent of the Compact Disc. Making superb use of the medium s greater storage capacity, a two-disc compilation, Past Masters, was released collecting everything the band did not release on their (British) releases into a very manageable package. Well, two packages anyway. Now, I don t know why I m doing it this way but I ve decided to review the second volume first but then again it probably has something to do with the fact that this is very simply one of the GREATEST albums you could ever hope to buy.

Past Masters vol. 2 collects all of the non-album material that the Beatles put out between the years 1965 and 1970. Everything that is except for the 1967 singles that were already collected on the second side of their phenomenal Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack album. As I may have mentioned already these songs rank among the very best the band ever released. In fact, I m not really sure why I m reviewing it at all. After all, all I really need to do is print out the titles of the fifteen songs collected herein and let them speak for themselves. As it is though, seeing as how you re reading this review, I m assuming that you may actually be interested in what I have to say for some reason or other. So with that in mind lets move onto the stars of the show, the songs themselves!

The collection opens with the greatest riff the Beatles ever recorded, one so great that even the great guitar-maestro himself, one Jimi Hendrix, decided to cover it during one of his live shows. This riff is of course the one that John Lennon built what is easily the definitive song about one-night stands around, that classic of classics, Day Tripper. Aside for that superb little riff, the song also boasts some typically melodic Paul McCartney bass playing and similarly typical exquisite vocal harmonies and driving drum work. We then move onto Day Tripper s flip side, the quite beautiful We Can Work It Out. This still being 1965, We Can Work it Out showcases some of that legendary (McCartney/ Lennon or Lennon/McCartney if you like) interplay with Paul singing (and presumably writing) the more optimistic sections with John countering with some very Lennon-esque pessimism. The melody is quite unsurprisingly perfect, both during McCartney s sunnier part and during the bleaker Lennon bits and is backed up by some heartbreaking lyrics.

Moving onto 1966 and the third and fourth tracks, we get a typically great Beatles single and its flip-side, a song that many consider to be the Beatles finest b-side. Paperback Writer is a beloved Beatles hit for good reason. It s a pop-rocker with all the Beatles trademarks in place: a flawless melody, great if somewhat light lyrics, fluid basslines, awe-inspiring vocals and some perfect, no-nonsense guitar playing and drumming. More interesting though is Paperback Writer s b-side, Rain. This acid-drenched psychedelic rocker may not be as obviously enjoyable as it s a-side but in its own way it is far more impressive. It is far and away the trippiest song the band ever released. Everything from the instrumentation to the lyrics to the melody to the vocals is absolutely drenched in drugs culminating in an overall atmosphere that the Beatles never quite reproduced. Honestly, I don t understand why people spend so much time worrying over whether or not Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is about LSD, when the band had already released a far more blatant LSD song a year before with Rain. Is it the Beatles greatest b-side? I m not sure but considering that most of their singles were released as double a-sides, it is a distinct possibility.

From the hallucinogenic to the mundane, we now find ourselves in 1968 with Paul McCartney s tribute to women, Lady Madonna and its b-side, George s very Indian song, The Inner Light. The former hardly needs any introduction but needless to say it is yet another thoroughly enjoyable Beatles pop song with immaculate performances. It is admittedly one of the collection s weaker tracks but that does have more to do with the ridiculously high level of the material here than any really problems I may have with the song itself. The latter, on the other hand, is one of the Beatles most obscure tunes so it perhaps deserves more attention here. It s not exactly George Harrison s first Indian song but it may well be his most beautiful. Admittedly I find the Indian chanting more than slightly off-putting. I realize that it is the song s most distinguishable attribute but it actually detracts from the actual beauty of the song proper. George has come up with a truly stunningly beautiful melody that he employs during the normal parts of the song and a spiritualized lyrical message that is delivered with simple poignancy by his distinctive, nasally but almost sensual singing.

And now, keeping within the same year, we come to the reason that I was so desperate to review this compilation before many of their actual albums: the greatest song I have ever come across in all my years of listening to popular music, Hey Jude. If there is a more perfect song than Hey Jude out there, I am yet to hear it. It s not simply that it has an amazing melody or great lyrics or superb arrangements but it s that all of these elements (and many more besides) combine together into the single most perfect expression of hope and optimism that pop music (at the very least) has ever known. Paul McCartney managed to take a very personal song and turn it into something truly universal. What started off as a message of reassurance to John Lennon s son, Julian (the song was originally supposed to be called Hey Jules), who was caught in the middle of his parent s very messy divorce but soon transformed into something far greater. Nothing says this better than Paul and John s reaction to the song. After hearing it Paul came to the very definite decision that he was writing a song about himself after all whereas John took the song as a message meant specifically for him. Hey Jude is a song that through some ingeniously simple but somewhat ambiguous lyrics manages to touch whoever listens to it in a most personal way. This is a song that elevates my spirits profoundly by the time it is done with me and tends to give me a small extra dose of hope to deal with life s challenges. Many cite songs like Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven as being rock and roll s finest moments but even if these songs can match Hey Jude on melody, structure, performances, etc. they do not come close to having anything close to this sort of profound personal effect. Incidentally, as for the controversially extended coda, to any of its detractors I offer the following piece of advice: either hit the next switch on your remote if you get bored or maybe consider just what Paul McCartney intended Hey Jude to be - an anthem of hope that uses the coda to drive the message home. Music, any music, very simply does not get any better than this.

Revolutution, Hey Jude s flip side, obviously doesn t come close to the sheer, relentless greatness of that song but it s a top-notch political rocker nonetheless. The song opens with a burst of frantic, chaotic electric guitar produced noise before settling down slightly with one of the bands most driving melodies and most energized performances ever. Lennon s highly political lyrics are well thought out and interesting adding a deeper level to a fun, energetic little rocker. As a side note, there is a much less impressive version of this song on the White Album that was meant to be the only version of this before Paul McCartney and producer, George Martin decided that it needed to be livelier and more energized to be a successful single. We then move onto another rocker, this one from 1969, a song that meant to signal a return of the Beatles to their roots, Get Back. I m not going to dwell on this because I already reviewed it for the Let it Be album (found elsewhere on the site. Sorry, I m too lazy to link to it) but it is a phenomenally enjoyable roots-rocker. The only changes with this single version are the far clearer production and a nice little coda that was missing on the album release, making this the definitive version of the song.

Next is one my favourite John Lennon written Beatles song, Don t Let Me Down. This impassioned number comes with the usual great melody, faultless production and simple but to-the-point lyrics but it is the performances that truly elevate it. John Lennon offers us his most passionate vocal performance this side of his Plastic Ono Band album; George Harrison gives us some more of that wonderful, subtle work that he is so known for; Ringo s drumming could not fit the song more perfectly if he tried and Billy Preston makes a memorable guest appearance on keyboards. Best of all though is Paul McCartney s inspired, fluid, melodic, rock-solid and for all intents and purposes perfect bass playing. This wonderful musicianship continues onto the next track, the Ballad of John and Yoko, a very autobiographical song written by John about his relationship with Yoko Ono. It has a cool stop-start type melody and though there is little to say about it that I haven t said about dozens of Beatles songs already, it is definitely a keeper but then, this is the Beatles we re talking about here, that is kind of obvious.

Unfortunately the next song is probably my least-favourite song here (there is simply no way I m going to bring myself to saying worst ), Old Brown Shoe is arguably George s weakest late-period Beatles song. There s nothing really wrong with it, mind you, everything does seem to be in place but it just doesn t grab me in the way that Something or even Piggies does. Moving on, we come to two more alternate versions of songs that were released on Let it Be. The first, Across the Universe is one of Lennon s most interesting songs lyrically and beautiful musically but the only really differences between the two versions is the clearer production and slightly faster tempo on this version. Let it Be is a song that I truly don t need to review again but I ll say this: I like this one almost as much as I like Hey Jude. Differences this time include a different but weaker guitar solo and far superior production values. Capping off the collection is Let it Be s truly odd b-side, You Know My Name (both are from 1970 by the way). It s pretty much a silly little comedy number with weird joke vocals and everything but it is, to be fair, quite enjoyable. A strange way to end the collection perhaps but enjoyable nonetheless.

Anyway, what are you waiting for? You absolutely, positively need this CD in your music collection, which is something that I can honestly not say about many comps. Hell, get it just for Hey Jude, if you are so inclined but PLEASE get this.