PAST MASTERS VOLUME 1

Not as interesting for me as the Volume Two of this "Past Masters" series. Both Volumes were released in March 1988. This Volume One has all the songs which were released only on singles in the U.K. (mostly B-sides between 1962 and mid 1965), plus the four songs from their "Long Tall Sally" EP from 1964 ("Long Tall Sally", "I Call Your Name", "Slow Down" and "Matchbox"), two songs recorded in 1964 for the German market in their language ("Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" and "Sie Liebt Dich"), and one song which only appeared in the U.K. in a compilation LP called "The Beatles Oldies...But Goldies!" in late 1966 ("Bad Boy", recorded in 1965). By having both Volumes and all the re-issued albums on CD between 1987 and 1988, the fans had on CD by then all the officially released songs by the band (on EMI anyway). The Volume Two of this series (which has songs recorded between late 1965 and early 1970) was more interesting for me because their music became more elaborated than in their early years. But for me this Volume One is also interesting because it has the version of "Love Me Do" which was recorded with Ringo on drums and was first released on the first pressings of the single in 1962 before being replaced by the version which was recorded with Andy White on drums (and which appears on their "Please Please Me" album). Also, the four songs from the "Long Tall Sally" EP are very good. But as a whole this Volume One is a good compilation.