PAST MASTERS (REMASTERED)

Past Masters was originally released in 1988 as a double-album on LP and cassette, but as two separate CDs (as Volume One and Volume Two) since 2009, the two-CD set has been the standard, and it's the version I'll discuss here.

What makes the Beatles' Past Masters unique among compilation CDs is that it's absolutely essential to the group's fans - - even casual fans. Regardless of the quality of the tracks, it contains one or both sides of fourteen non-LP singles - - 24 songs in total - - plus five other non-album songs (the other four tracks are alternate versions of album cuts, including three from Let it Be). Since the group decided against including bonus material on the CD versions of their albums, Past Masters is, in effect, the "home album" of these 29 songs.

Of course, we could consider the quality of the tracks. By my count, the Beatles had roughly 20 truly great songs, and a quarter of them are here: "She Loves You," "Day Tripper," "We Can Work it Out," "Hey Jude," and "Lady Madonna." There are plenty of other gems, like "This Boy," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine," "Bad Boy,"* "Paperback Writer," the hit version of "Revolution,"** and "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

The remainder of Past Masters's 33 tracks aren't at the same level (but really, how could they be)? There aren't too many lemons, but in some cases you could see why a song here or there was left off of that year's album. The German singles are strictly for completists, and the alternate versions, even of all-time classics like "Get Back" and "Let it Be," are for serious fans only; none varies significantly from its respective album version.

On one hand, every one of these cuts could've fit comfortably and sensibly as a "bonus track" on one of the standard Beatles albums. That would've translated into lost profits, though, and some would have complained about the integrity of the original LPs. But at least a kitchen-sink philosophy was used in compiling these non-LP tracks: Past Masters includes everything applicable: the proverbial good, band, and ugly. As a result, the album doesn't have a Greatest-Hits feel; there's a twelve-song run on the first disk, for example, which contains just one hit ("I Feel Fine").

But especially given the fact that the compilers had very little say in song selection - - and none in song sequencing - - Past Masters stands on its own as a very good album, and a fine edition to the record collection of any fan of rock music.

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*Technically not a non-album song in the US, where it appeared on Beatles VI. The story of the songs from the Long Tall Sally EP is similar. Anyway, since the Beatles UK albums were the ones committed to CD, these are all non-album tracks.

**I'm counting this as a non-album song even though there was a very different arrangement on The Beatles.