PAST MASTERS VOLUME 2

When the Beatles back catalogue was finally released on CD, this was issued as the second in the Past Masters series which collected all the remaining non-album songs together. This one contains all the singles and B sides from 1965 onwards, starting with the magnificent Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out double A side.

Paperback Writer and Rain date from the Revolver sessions, Rain being notable for the use of Lennon's backward vocals at the end.

Lady Madonna was McCartney's boogie-woogie jazz number and features Ronnie Scott on sax. The Inner Light was another of Harrison's Indian numbers.

Of the other mostly well-known songs, Old Brown Shoe is a Harrison curio and Get Back and Across The Universe are the single versions as opposed to the versions on the Let It Be album.

You Know My Name is possibly the strangest song in the entire Beatles catalogue. Conceived by Lennon as a sort of mantra, repeating the title over and over again, it was recorded over several years and nearly became a single for the Plastic Ono Band. This version is shorter than the one on the Anthology and is in mono. It has the gospel intro, the night club crooner and the Lennon nonsense sections, but omits the ska section.

A valuable collection for songs such as Rain and You Know My Name, which are hard to get elsewhere.